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Old 07-15-2012, 06:20 PM   #217
BearMountainBooks
Maria Schneider
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BWinmill View Post
I understand what you're saying, but that has much more to do with the marketability of a product than anything else. (By that I mean the quality of the work, the demand for the particular work, the amount of competition from similar works, desire to promote the product, etc..) It is something that producers in any market faces. In that sense, I don't think that the argument holds much weight.
No, you don't understand what I'm saying. Tell you what -- you write a book, sell it or try to for a few years, then come back here and tell me how it works. Better yet, write a book and give it away for a few years and let me know how that works out.

Many years of farming and ranching are years where you break even or take a loss. Same thing with writing. Sometimes there simply isn't enough demand for corn, or ocra or potatoes. But even in those years, no one expects the farmer to just give his work away for free. He may, like a book, be unable to sell it. He may have to give it to the pigs and chickens instead of other feed because that is what he grew. Sometimes there is a market for some books--and other years not. But by having copyright, guess what? Maybe my cozy mysteries aren't the hot item this year, but next year they are. Maybe werewolves are hot right now and Dragons aren't. But my Dragons of Wendal is still under copyright. In ten years, dragons might be the next best thing. Maybe the money I'm not making now, maybe I can make it then, while I'm writing Westerns in the hopes of a comeback.

No other producer is expected to work for free--why should writers be expected to only get compensated during some ill-defined timeframe, especially while they are still alive?

The natural flow of money from writing is not the same "Season" as farming, but there is nothing wrong with trying to protect an income source or potential income source for as long as possible (especially at least the lifetime of the producer.)
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