[PKFFW]

Originally Posted by Elfwreck

These sites prove people will write without being paid.

Obviously, money isn't the only reason people write. In fact, they do so in the face of threats of legal action and public denouncement as perverts.

I am confident that, with so many people wanting to write regardless of money, and with other people who want to read, and are willing to pay money or attention or offer other inducements, some method of encouragement will be established.

As the very next part you quoted me specifically states, I'm not talking about those who want to write for the fun of writing, who do so in their spare time around their day jobs.

Of course there will always be people who write because they want to. I occassionally try my hand at it even though I know I suck at it something fierce! That's besides the point though.

My point is why should we put in place a system which forces everyone to do so because we know that there will always be people who choose to do so?

Originally Posted by Elfwreck

Right now, he has to do "something extra" on top of writing: he has to deal with contracts, and publicity events, and document formatting, and possible scheduling updates, and rewrites to an editor's preferences. If he wants to self-publish, he has to research formats, sales websites, establish an online presence, and exercise some accounting skills.

And when the book hits the market one is expected to pay for the privilege of reading it.

What is being suggested is that once the book hits the market the author should then be required to do even more to convince people to pay for it.

It really is no different to your employer saying "glad you've done all your duties and taken care of all your work required to get to this point, now do something more for me to convince me to pay for that work you've already done".

Originally Posted by Elfwreck

The writers at those archives don't have to deal with any of that. They get to "just write."

And anyone who wants to do this is free to do so right now with copyright law still in existence.

Originally Posted by Elfwreck

Changing the "extra stuff" will change which authors are financially successful; it won't change the amount of creative content available. Right now, there are authors languishing because they can't negotiate a contract, but could easily write a script to include a semi-customized note inside each emailed copy of a novella. ("This ebook was bought by [name] on [date]; thank you for your support!" With extra details yanked from a webform.)

And yet again, anyone is free to publish as they wish now and give it away for free and not bother with any of that tiresome contract stuff even though we still have copyright law.

I don't see that as a reason to insist everyone do it that way.

Originally Posted by Elfwreck

Magically? No. With great stress and much yelling and a number of talented authors' works getting lost to history. And other authors & artists, currently held back by copyright, free to flourish.

Suppose someone wants to release "the complete annotated Harry Potter & the Sorcerer's Stone," with every paragraph marked with meanings, references, citations of fanfiction that refer to it, real-world incidents connected to it, and so on. Right now, nobody would attempt releasing such a book--the lawsuit would bankrupt anyone, even if the ruling went in their favor. Reproducing an entire Harry Potter book, even for research purposes, would be a hard argument for fair use.

And fanfic would be legal to sell. I grant that the vast majority of the over 500,000 Harry Potter stories at Fanfiction.net are not worth publishing beyond a devoted fanbase, but some would stand alone as excellent novels, and being able to sell them, even if only with the added value of personal notes or chatroom discussions, would encourage those authors to write more.

I'd love to see a well-written rewrite of the Harry Potter books from Ron Weasley's point of view. It may already be written. It'll be available for sale in no more than another hundred and fifty years, barring strange medical advances.

Insisting that copyright protects authors and artists ignores the ones being suppressed by it--the ones who could be wealthy if they loved Dickens instead of Rand, the ones who want to make movies of Batman instead of Robin Hood, the ones who want to write about the characters they grew up with, not the ones their grandparents grew up with, the ones who want to perform and re-interpret the music that shaped their youth.

Focusing on "what would we lose if copyright vanished" misses the explosion of artistic works that would suddenly be available to share, and sell in any way the creators could come up with.

Yes there would be alot of creative and even worthwhile derivitives if copyright were abolished. But seriously, should we say to creators "sorry you can't have any control over your creations because someone else wants to use it to make money rather than using the wealth of other stuff currently available".

Just as there will always be people who want to write for the joy of writing there will be people who would love to have their characters co-opted into other people's stories. But should we force everyone to do that? Why can't those people who want to write for the joy of writing get together with the ones who like to have their characters used and have a great time? Why should we force Rowling to let her characters be used just because someone else wants to?

Cheers,
PKFFW