Quote:
Originally Posted by Phogg
As with music, I as a consumer intend to see that nobody who wants a slice of the pie be barred from it. For a long time the cost of entry kept many people out. That wall has fallen. In desperation the old publishers will likely try to come up with some scheme to limit who may apply for copyright. I intend to help block it when it comes.
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I've heard people compare writing to brain surgery, and claim that reading the "wrong" author is like getting brain surgery from an unlicensed brain surgeon. Of course, there really are things that a brain surgeon needs to know in order to perform brain surgery, and the consequences of picking an unqualified brain surgeon could be fatal.
But with books, the reader determines what is a good book to read. If they like it, they have made the right choice. There are books that I don't think are very good, but ultimately, it is the reader who judges. If someone did attempt to limit who could write in order to divide the writing income among a smaller pool of writers, I'd fight that as hard as I could.
Even if we did that, it would most likely result in the money spend on books decreasing, it is not a fixed amount of money. If people couldn't get the books they wanted, they are as likely to spend their money on something else entirely as they are to spend it on some other author's books. Limiting choice tends to strangle a market. And those that want to limit who can write might well find them among the excluded authors.