Quote:
Originally Posted by tompe
Most authors do something else for a living. It is very few authors that can quit their daytime job.
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Yes, but books supplement their income.
Books still take hundreds of hours of work. And authors still deserve to be compensated for their efforts.
Plumbers do not plumb for the love of it. Doctors cannot afford to practice for the pure love of it (thanks to insurance rates and student loans). Waitresses depend on tips--if people stopped tipping, you can sure bet that far fewer people would take those jobs. People spend thousands of dollars going to college; most would be irate if everyone freeloaded off them without paying for their services.
Authors do need to be paid.
Take away the compensation part of the equation and I argue that far fewer books would be written.
Now, partly agreeing with you, I think there are other potential models.
I don't think too many people can take the Cory Doctorow model--there simply will not be that much demand for fiction authors to lecture.
I believe advertising is a dead-end, at least now, if click rates on websites are any indication.
Perhaps giveaways to boost print sales? I think the ebook tech within a couple of years will be such that owning a printed edition is not nearly as important as it is now for most readers.
But I do strongly believe in DRM-free ebooks; I do think readers should be allowed to reformat and use their books in the way that suits their needs. I offer my books as plain old HTML (no DRM), with authorization to do limited sharing among friends.
But I also include a "Tip Jar" request.
My royalty on a printed book is less than a dollar. If you like my stories, hey, please consider sending me 50 cents or a buck by PayPal. That money enables me to devote more time to writing and produce future stories. Less money equals less time to write because I have to do something else to pay the bills.
I think it is an honorable and fair approach. I hope readers agree.
www.BillSmithBooks.com