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Originally Posted by ZodWallop
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And my post #303 show the fallacy of that argument. And we are both the types of readers that will search out and purchase new releases of old works.
I mentioned Arthur C. Clarke and Thomas Tryon as they are both dead authors who have their work available via an e-book only company (Open Road Media) as opposed to one of the traditional publishers. Also, the cost of their e-books is higher than many of the 'resurrected in e-form' books I see.
It seems to be that the works of Frank Yerby and so many other forgotten writers likely aren't available because the rights holders just can't be bothered.
Incidentally, Open Road Media seems to specialize in this sort of thing. Maybe you could contact them and suggest a Frank Yerby revival? Open Road Media |
In the case of orphaned works, i.e. books where the author has died and no one is actively making them available, it's frequently unclear who actually owns the ebook rights. Most of the time, the rights probably reverted back to the author and are thus part of the author's estate. However, in such situations, the heirs could be unaware that they have the copyrights for the books, or that the books even exist. Even if they are aware, it's probably not a money making venture for them.
Most people acknowledge that orphaned works is a flaw in the current copyright system. There have been many proposed solutions, but it's pretty hard to get anything done in that regard. My personal favorite is that after 27 years (the original copyright period in the US), if a work is not publicly available for a set time period, it goes into public domain. I've also seen the idea of a safe harbor where if you make a good faith effort to find the copyright holder, you can publish the work, but must deposit a set fee per book into a trust.