Quote:
Originally Posted by Ralph Sir Edward
The cost of scanning and proofing and layout must be paid upfront (or else your have no product), Will they consistently get their money back? Most publisher don't want to make that bet, for books decades out of print.
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I've said before that one way publishers could in a small way turn the tables on pirates would be to download pirated versions of out of print books that they own the rights to. Not completely sure about the legalities involved, but it doesn't seem that unethical at a glance.
And of course if Google is allowed to make copies of all books and if they are converting them to text and proofreading them, then it seems that they should at least provide the rights holder with a copy. For the courts to decide I guess. So they have the book, can be sold as is with a warning or probably proofread fairly cheaply. I doubt layout would have to be all that fancy.
Or maybe the various government could set up a system whereby the rights could be donated to Gutenberg or a charitable organization set up for this purpose and receive a set tax deduction.
A lot of out of print books are being sold as ebooks today and they are pretty decent quality for the most part. Hard Case Crime does an excellent job and I believe many of their books were out of print as paper and the authors are still living. Older works of Lawrence Block and Max Allan Collins for example.
Books go out of print for the most part because of supply and demand rules, same as whalebone corsets and the Model T. Sure you can buy a Model T or a whalebone corset, and you can probably buy a paper copy of most out of print books from a collector or specialty dealer. Might cost a few bucks, but if it is worth it you will pay the price.
And if the world will collapse because a specific work is not available because the rights holders aren't known, then I say re-publish it and be prepared to pay the penalties, You would probably not be fined to high, being a world savior and all.
Helen