Quote:
Originally Posted by Format C:
IMHO Steve deserves to be paid (not too much) just for the work he put in that novel, even if you don't read it.
And, after that, he deserves to be paid more (not too much, and in any case not infinite) for his next work if the previous one was a success.
|
I understand that you're proposing a "work for hire" system of remunerating authors, rather than a royalty system. Let's suppose publishers pay authors up front for books. The publisher then has the problem that they need to recover that cost. How do you propose they do it?
Alternatively, let's suppose "the government" provides a grant to an author for books completed that are "worthy." First, who gets to decide which books get paid for, and which don't? Second, the largest government we really have is at the country level, but electronic distribution is worldwide. Do we need a world government (and taxation) to make this work?
These are not rhetorical questions. I disagree with you that people will be willing to pay for ebooks, because I think they will effectively pay for the
service value of being able to find the ebook they want, in the format they want, quickly, easily, and with minimal risk (e.g. malware). But if you really think paying authors for work completed is the best way to go, I'd like to hear your ideas of where you expect that money to come from, and how a fair system of determining the "value" of the book--and the author's payment-- would work.