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Originally Posted by Worldwalker
By the way, very few authors, percentage-wise, have ever gotten rich. In fact, very few authors have even been able to make a living from writing. This is not just an artifact of the era of ebooks; this has always been the case. Even authors who attract the interest (and advances, sales promotion, etc.) of a publisher aren't guaranteed a living, let alone riches. In the field where I'm most familiar with authors -- science fiction -- all but a handful of authors have full-time jobs. Few are able to support themselves solely by writing, and those few -- like the late Jack Chalker, for instance -- write prolifically (55 books in 25 years after he quit his day job), are extremely well-known in their genre, and heavily promoted by their publishers. And there are very, very few of them; most writers don't make anything close to a living at it.
And the cold, hard fact is that indie ebook writers surviving through self-promotion make even less. Some make little. Some make nothing. We can argue whether J.K. Rowling's problem is piracy, but Joe Schmoe's problem is not. Joe Schmoe's problem is that he is not J.K. Rowling. Nobody has ever heard of him. They walk into Borders and his books are not on the "new and notable" rack. They go to Amazon and his books are not in the "recommended for you" list. They go to the library, the used bookstore, the charity book sale, and they don't see his books. Not only does the NYT Book Review not cover them, but neither does the dude who writes a book column for the South Podunk Chronicle or the one who writes that blog they read once in a while. In order for piracy to impact your sales, you have to have sales for it to impact. In order for customers to decide whether or not they intend to pay for your books, they have to be customers in the first place. Once that's dealt with, then the question of whether people who would otherwise give you money are not doing so for some reason can be addressed.
Also ... saying you'll take your toys and go home doesn't impress anyone. Seriously, it doesn't. It makes me think of Anne Rice and Laurell K. Hamilton. That's not company I would want to be in.
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This is exactly my point. No one knows him. This is why I said piracy was free publicity. I may be wrong in that but thats the way I see it. As an author, thats the way Id see it. Nobody knows me, why not? Id take it as a compliment. Packing up and going home wouldnt be an option, thats the easy way out and were not even in the big leagues yet. Id hate to see how youd react if you started getting bad reviews on Amazon.
Id say LKH buys into her own hype but she doesnt have any these days. I find it amusing how many people bash her books. And for good cause, pick one up lately? Its horrible. It cant even be classified as good porn, the book does nothing right! And Anne Rice, what in the World is her deal? Ive read a few things from both, every single time Im awestruck.
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Originally Posted by ApK
That's not true. The damages might be hard to prove in a lawsuit, and of course, we'd need one of Mr. Ploppy's wormholes to get real numbers, but despite all the rationalizations, it is a fact there are people who will take stuff for free, if they want it and don't think they'll be punished, and can get it easily, rather than pay for it, and who would give in and pay for it if they can't. These are potential sales lost. The fact that other kinds of pirates also exist in no way means that this kind does not, and no rationalization about giving the author free publicity changes it.
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Has that ever been proven? You already said its hard to prove in a lawsuit. We know that some download just for kicks. How do you know its a lost sale? This is why I say to just move on. You can kick that concept around all you want. Thats time you could be promoting yourself, trying to write another book, make yourself a little well known. You want to blame pirates go right ahead. Your sales are affected because of you, bottom line.
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Originally Posted by cfrizz
Most of Anne Rice's books, especially her vampire books has been her ongoing battle with herself about religion/Catholic church etc. Her latest meltdown was her proclamation of leaving the church...again. Her proclamation before that one which coincided with her religious books was how she was going back to the church.  
This is the first I have heard about LKH issues.
Sigh, such talented women, who also happen to be such whack jobs! |
Ah yes, I remember. Anne Rice left the church this time due to their strict anti-Gay policy. Many found that amusing that she didnt know of that going in. Dont want to open that can of worms in this thread, just wanted to say that in case anyone wanted to know.