[Elfwreck]

Originally Posted by petrucci

I believe that writing as a profession is very much in danger. The example from the newspaper industry certainly suggests this.

The newspaper industry shows that what newspapers thought was their main commodity--investigative reporting, presumably well-researched and well-written--was not what people wanted to read.

Are you proposing that bloggers should be unable to offer their writings for free? Because that's what's killing newspapers. How much do you think bloggers should be required to charge?

It would be a shame if the only people who can afford to write are the very wealth. This would set back hundreds of years of advances in society.

*looks at Livejournal*
*looks at Dreamwidth*
*looks at Facebook*
*looks at Twitter*
*looks at fanfiction.net*
*looks at archiveofourown.org*

Somehow, I don't think there's any shortage of people on tight budgets who will find time & energy to write, nor any shortage of people who want to read what they write.

No, I am not proposing that readers are forced to pay for books that they do not want.

My mistake. You're proposing that authors be forced to charge for books that they want to give away. (How extensive is that? Do they have to charge their family members? Their coworkers? Are they allowed to use coupons?)

I would assume that the author appoints an heir. If this is not the case, most governments have laws pertaining to unclaimed assets.

Government laws dealing with unclaimed assets are a *mess* when applied to copyright. There is no "copyright auction" to get rid of the huge number of orphaned works currently in existence, and no easy way to track down potentially dozens of copyright owners a few generations after the author's death. (Multiply by number of creators; movies can have hundreds of claimants: scriptwriter's heirs, original-book-author's heirs, composer's heirs, recording studio's heirs...)

I am worried that people will not be able to earn a living writing fiction. I suspect that lack of professional writers will reduce the amount and quality of writing.

You haven't offered any evidence to support these conclusions, just a vague sense of dread. Yes, newspapers and magazines are having big problems--but authors, as a class, are not. Some types of publications are not doing well in the face of technological advances, but there is no indication at all that authors are less likely to find payment for their craft.

I think that this is reason to produce a drastic change in economics. Such changes have been enacted to control the prices of other goods.

I cannot think of any industry that *requires* payments for goods or services if the owner wants to give them out for free. If you have examples, please elaborate.

I know of several industries that have minimum-prices for the marketplace--but none that disallow gifts. Several that require licensing and quality standards, thus strongly discouraging gifts, but again, nothing that requires a payment. I could be missing something, though; feel free to give details of industries that don't allow their contents to be given away.

Not, "that require a license etc. to acquire." You can't give certain medicines without a prescription--but that doesn't mean the pharmaceutical company is required to charge for them.

As I stated the poor will not go without books. There are public libraries, and other charities that offer books to the poor.

I think you know nothing at all about the reading habits of the poor, nor how inadequate libraries are in rural areas. And it's ridiculous to say "charities can help them"--right now, AUTHORS are helping them. Why should the author have to go through a third party to donate books to the poor? (Or anyone else.) Can't the authors just say "my books are freely available to the poor"--and if so, why can't they say "my books are freely available to anyone who wants them?"

Will there be a limited, defined pool of people who are allowed to receive free books?

Certainly there are more books in a public library than any of us have time to read. I do not believe that there is a shortage of books for the poor. Are we supposed to pay the poor so that they have time to read?

If books were fungible, this argument would make sense. However, a library with 10,000 books does not mean every reader can find what they need or want; if that were true, we could shut down all the ebook sites on the web except for Project Gutenberg.

I am not suggesting removing the distribution channel. I do believe that authors should be paid for their work.

Even if they don't want to be, apparently. How much do you think they should charge for a 5000-word short story? For a 2000-word blog post? For a 50,000-word novel that they admit is rough and they're releasing it free at Smashwords in order to share with a few friends and get feedback from maybe a few extra people?

It is possible that the cost of the book could be advertiser supported, and thus the consumer could think that it is free.

You want *more* people involved in this money exchange?!? You are *oblivious* to overhead & accounting costs, aren't you?

However, governments have all sorts of restrictions on entertainment. They also have many restrictions on commerce to maintain a functional economic system.

Which governments mandate a minimum price for all copyrighted entertainment? Or for that matter, for all books?

It would be the goal that the price of books be such that authors are able to make a living from writing.

Why? Nowhere in all of human history, have all would-be authors been able to make a living from writing. (Nevermind that you're not talking about letting them "make a living;" you're talking about requiring that they charge fees... that the public may not decide to pay. If you wanted to guarantee them a living, just set up a tax and pay them all a stipend.)

Thus, different types of works would likely have different prices. The exact minimum price could be set through a consideration of the profits from similar books in the past.

In the past, fanfic short stories have been priced at $0. How much do you think a 400-word Star Trek ficlet should cost to read? How much should a 150,000-word epic novel cost--given that it's made without the permission of Roddenberry's estate or Paramount Pictures? (Do you advocate the removal of fair use?)

This is an important point. You're claiming a need for a drastic change in economic structures, for which you've provided no evidence (newspapers are suffering; professional authors, as a group, are not), and you want this fix attached to prices. But you don't know *what* prices, not how much, nor who should collect them, nor who should make sure they get collected.

You're claiming to have a solution you can't describe to a problem other people don't perceive. It's no wonder you're not convincing anyone.