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Alanon · 11-07-2019, 06:29 AM

While I was catching up on this thread, I had a thought - is anyone familiar with the state of the global market, and did that play into your arguments? Some posts made in the last few pages made me realise we're in a bubble of sorts. It's fine to consider Western traditions in all these things, and that's also my first instinct, but Asia hosts half the population of the planet, they are on the rise, and there's a woeful lack of accessible information. For example, I have no idea if writing is a viable profession in India, China or the Middle East? What are the odds that someone's work will not be copied or downloaded? Would a foreign author fair better or worse in those parts? What are the odds that a reader from those countries would pirate an e-book or something?

Another thing to note is that sometimes one can pirate a book through indirect means. Whole swaths of humanity are still not comfortable reading English. Those book lovers have to wait for translations - authorized or not - to be able to read the book at all. What chance would a small Amazon author have of being translated to, say, Russian, and how could he enforce his perpetual copyright in such a case? From my few forays into Russia, I can tell you that there's no particular incentive to honour the copyright of western media, most Russians would read a book in English only if there was no other option (that includes scholars, by the way), and I've seen people paying for Russian pirated editions of various media created by cottage industries, rather than do battle with the original.

My point - there already is some form of rampant copyright infringement as part of the culture in some parts of the world that applies to huge sections of the global population (including much more popular forms of IP media), and still the industries have never been producing more content. Film studios and game developers are not suffering from China's open flaunting of patent law and IP, they practically count on Asian markets to sustain them. Modern publishing seems almost parochial in contrast? Translation and marketing are usually reserved for the most profitable authors, and even these high-profile names can get pirated in smaller markets where even the monopolist publishers can't translate everything that's marketable. I've lost count of the number of strange 500-copy translations of Stephen King done by 5-man publishing teams in small towns that I've seen over the years.

Anyway, rambling over, share your thoughts!

11-07-2019, 06:29 AM	#441
Alanon Connoisseur Posts: 76 Karma: 10742 Join Date: Jul 2017 Location: Serbia Device: Kobo Aura One	While I was catching up on this thread, I had a thought - is anyone familiar with the state of the global market, and did that play into your arguments? Some posts made in the last few pages made me realise we're in a bubble of sorts. It's fine to consider Western traditions in all these things, and that's also my first instinct, but Asia hosts half the population of the planet, they are on the rise, and there's a woeful lack of accessible information. For example, I have no idea if writing is a viable profession in India, China or the Middle East? What are the odds that someone's work will not be copied or downloaded? Would a foreign author fair better or worse in those parts? What are the odds that a reader from those countries would pirate an e-book or something? Another thing to note is that sometimes one can pirate a book through indirect means. Whole swaths of humanity are still not comfortable reading English. Those book lovers have to wait for translations - authorized or not - to be able to read the book at all. What chance would a small Amazon author have of being translated to, say, Russian, and how could he enforce his perpetual copyright in such a case? From my few forays into Russia, I can tell you that there's no particular incentive to honour the copyright of western media, most Russians would read a book in English only if there was no other option (that includes scholars, by the way), and I've seen people paying for Russian pirated editions of various media created by cottage industries, rather than do battle with the original. My point - there already is some form of rampant copyright infringement as part of the culture in some parts of the world that applies to huge sections of the global population (including much more popular forms of IP media), and still the industries have never been producing more content. Film studios and game developers are not suffering from China's open flaunting of patent law and IP, they practically count on Asian markets to sustain them. Modern publishing seems almost parochial in contrast? Translation and marketing are usually reserved for the most profitable authors, and even these high-profile names can get pirated in smaller markets where even the monopolist publishers can't translate everything that's marketable. I've lost count of the number of strange 500-copy translations of Stephen King done by 5-man publishing teams in small towns that I've seen over the years. Anyway, rambling over, share your thoughts!