Quote:
Originally Posted by Kali Yuga
It won't happen overnight, but if ebooks continue to grow in popularity then there's no doubt that more material will be available.
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A great many more will be available from among in-print copyrighted works created in the computerized typesetting era. But books written in the 1930's through 1960's? Not so much, until such time, if ever, when they go under public domain.
I think you underestimate the legal costs of figuring out who owns the copyright in books long our of print. The cost of legal research, plus negotiating royalties, plus paying for proofreaders makes for bigger barriers than I think you acknowledge in the case of the long dead author. Living authors need royalties, or they can't afford to write. Deceased authors need public domain, or society can't afford to make their works available to the public.
I'd like to read about an author who had writers block when copyright ended fifty years after death, but was motivated to overcome it when they added the extra twenty years.