Quote:
Originally Posted by Elfwreck
That implies there are only two groups' interests involved: publishers and book-reading customers. There are also authors, whose interest in customers is similar but not identical to publishers' interest; they, too, are looking for ways to connect with customers to make profit. But they're often concerned with more than raw income--they want some level of recognition (most authors wouldn't agree to take a large lump sum for a single book and burn it, never releasing the text to anyone), and they want their works to enter the collection of literature available. "Wants to be read" means a willingness to take a risk of less profits, or less immediate profits, in order to find readers. The fact that happy readers are usually future customers is a nice followup.
|
I don't consider authors who want recognition over income as part of this equation; if they don't care what money they make, they can give their books away, or pay to have them distributed, or just shout to the skies that they've written a book.
The ebook pricing debate has nothing to do with them. It's a debate between those who primarily want a practical income from books in order to sustain a business, and those who primarily must pay for books.
The debate does have bearing on independent authors who want a practical income, and therefore, are on the same side with publishers in trying to maximize their profit for their work.
To be honest, if someone came to me and said, "We want to option your book for a possible movie, Jed Hackerson is set to direct, it will mean taking it out of circulation, but here's a check for $20,000 for the rights"... I'd take the cash. And buy a car. And wouldn't care if no one ever read that book again. That's because I have no pretentions about my work, but I know it's good, and that's good enough for me. (Maybe I'd negotiate a time clause allowing me to re-release the book if the movie deal falls through after some period of time.)