Quote:
Originally Posted by Liviu_5
Right now the number of professional fiction writers is quite low, most writers have day-jobs and we are profoundly lucky to have an affluent society that allows that. I do not see any reason to believe that even if e-books become mainstream that will change. There will still be pro writers and they will get paid.
The big problem for writers is still obscurity, and to me all this sky-is falling talk about piracy and books seems quite overblown. Judicious use of e-books in the meantime increases exposure, audience, profile and if the author is good enough sales.
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I buy most of that. The problem I have with it is on a formal level, and the idea that someone could believe writers or other artists (musicians, who pay for studio time and production) should not be reimbursed for whatever reason. All the discussion about whether DRM is a bogus technology or anything other is irrelevant to me in the purview of this discussion, unless they offer a moral alternative to taking an author's work. If not, they are only excuses; maybe good ones, but still excuses for acting in a way that takes the creators work without compensation. Central to this point is the argument that copyright exists to protect not knowledge, which should be shared for all (who can copyright 2+2=4?), but ideas, or art. I agree that copyright may suck as we know it. I agree that DRM is a nightmare if misguided good intentions. What I don't agree with is that it is morally right to take another artist's work, without compensating them in some way, and for that reason, the intent of copyright in its pure, unadulterated state is to protect that art for the sake of the creator, while not chilling a free marketplace of ideas.
As an aside, I have a degree in English Ed. and my editor is still a very valuable commodity. Likewise, when people see books from my publisher, they can assume certain things about mine; genre, quality, feel, and production. The publisher does all the work of marketing the work, packaging the work, and distributing the work. I won't say you couldn't do that alone, but it would take a chunk of time which many authors don't have. They are still some of the services they offer and help justify their cut. They don't operate to hose you, because they are much like agents; it can be assumed that what is good for you is good for them.
That is totally aside and unrelated to the concept that artists should be fairly compensated for their work.