Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve Jordan
Check around sometime. You'll see that authors don't just get one lump sum for a single work, they get continued royalties for additional printings beyond a specified level... in other words, they get paid for each instance of a book being sold. Their publishers get paid for each instance of a book being sold. It's nonsensical to assume that an author should only be paid once when his book is sold twice.
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...as my cousin is a singer-songwriter and my father-in-law is a published author
That said...if it is nonsensical to assume a book sold in paper, bounded form is of equal value to one that is not because there are not the same thing.
But you know, you don't have to convince me. You have to convince people from whom you wish to extract cash from.
That authors and such receive residuals and royalties is of no consequence to the consumer...they made that deal and quite frankly, I think its a sucker deal. It is the way it is because authors and songwriters and such do not assume the greater risk of producing the product in question. Blame the system or produce yourself to cut out the middleman.
I mentioned Prince before. He fully acknowledges that without major backing he sells FAR LESS product. However because he assumes the greater risk in this arrangement he gets paid at least an order of magnitude more and as a result has made more cash in hand.
Writes should take a page from Sinatra. Tired of the "unfair treatment" and "devaluation" of actor's and director's talents...he started his own studio to address this.
Do writers have their own publishing houses?