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Originally Posted by BeccaPrice
I'm not sure what to make of this argument. Am I somehow cheating authors because I recently chose to re-read a mystery series rather than going out and buying new books? What's the difference between that and buying books at a used book store? or choosing to get public domain books at Gutenberg?
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In my opinion you are not cheating authors by rereading books, or buying books used. I think that it is perfectly legitimate to do so. My point is that authors need to sell books to earn a living, and when people read out of print books for free, there are that many fewer customers for current authors.
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Originally Posted by QuantumIguana
It doesn't siphon off money, because it is my money, not yours. If those new authors wrote better books, those books would sell. People aren't going to buy low-quality books just because the public domain books aren't available.
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We seem to be going in circles. I agree that low quality books may not sell regardless of competition. However, if part of the book market is being satisfied with free books, then there is that many fewer new books sold. This means less money for authors.
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Originally Posted by QuantumIguana
But it has not gone away. The quality of live theatre has certainly increased. I have no shortage of live theatre to choose from.
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Many other people have a shortage of live theatre options.
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Originally Posted by QuantumIguana
You seem to be promoting eliminating competition from public domain books. That's supression.
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I am promoting copyright, and keeping copyright materials in copyright.
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Originally Posted by MrsJoseph
Wow. And here I thought that Amazon has a Publishing Arm.
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They certainly encourage authors to self-publish their books on Kindle.
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Originally Posted by MrsJoseph
Thank you for helping me to understand that all new books written or new songs composed that are still within copyright are by hacks that can't compete. We should get right on that old book or old track burning tour asap. Can't have these poor hack authors and musicians starving out there!
end sarcasm
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I am sad that you missed my point. I most certainly do not claim that all new works are by hacks, and can't compete. However, competition from out of copyright material does exist. It makes it that much harder to make a living as an author.