Quote:
Originally Posted by antithesis
So you're implying that copyright is what makes the costs of older books outweigh the profit? I thought book writers only get a certain percentage of the profit, not a fixed amount, which would make this impossible.
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It's not always a matter of profit. The existence of a copyright prevents anybody from producing copies of the book without permission. It's that control that prevents backlist items from being printed/e-booked.
Example. The executor of the estate for Eric Frank Russell won't allow much of his works from being sold as e-books. He chose to forgo all profits from e-book editions (for the estate) to legally maintain control. There are publishers willing to sell e-books of his, (Baen Books comes to mind) so there would be a ready source of profit, but a choice was made to forgo that profit. And copyright prevents anybody from doing anything about it.