Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve Jordan
I'd like to think that the entertainment value of the story I crafted is worth something... when everyone seems fixated on the fact that, since it's only a bunch of electrons, it is intrinsically worthless.
|
So, you are just totally skimming over the money of us who replied that it was and that we personally had spent hundreds of dollars of money WE had earned, often at pay rates less than what WE are worth, to support the authors we love?
Look, the story is worth something, but how it's presented is part of the package too. If you've ever tried to read a paperback book that has been damaged by water, fire or babies, you can see how the entertainment value---no matter how great the story is---can be diminished by a distracting presentation.
For me, ebooks are the same thing. There is nothing more frustrating for a passionate reader than to find a book they want, to be sitting there with money in hand ready, as you want us to be, to buy it, and then be told---
wait a minute, only if you have a Kindle (aka live in the USA)
and not if you plan to read it on a Sony
or on a cell phone
or a Mac or Linux system
or on more than three devices
which are registered on our server (aka you have an internet connection)
and not if you live in Australia/UK (or ONLY if you live in them)
and certainly not if you are hearing or vision impaired and need TTS
etc.
I know the authors are not completely to blame here and have little say on some of these matters. But I am sick and tired of hearing the same arguments over and over again from people in the industry who seem completely unable to conceive of any future beyond the current status quo. I spoke with an author who is part of the Romance Writer's Association once, and she had a lot to say about why this or that is the way it is and how unfair it was. I suggested that since there are so many authors like her, and they are all in a group, perhaps they should all band together, start a union or coalition or group or something, and campaign for a better deal. They should be part of the change. She told me it didn't work that way. Why not make it work that way? Why not accept that we live in a digital age and instead of focusing on how to keep out the thieves (who are a tiny fraction and you aren't going to stop them anyway) focus on how to HELP the actual paying customer to get your books in a way that's easy and that works for them. It's worked for the music industry already. I'm sure Michael Jackson os all over the Darknet, but he's also a best-seller on iTunes right now, and that's because it's dead easy, buy now, you in or you out? It's easier for people to buy it legally than to go looking for it. You just have to put it out there in front of them and LET THEM.
So, you are asking us 'why should I produce it.' I am going to turn the tables on you and ask 'why should I buy it?' I can explain, if you want to, exactly what steps I must take to get a secure eReader file onto my Sony Reader. It's quite labour intensive, involves three software programs and about 5% of the time, does not produce a readable book anyway. If you want me to be a customer so badly, why do you have to make it so hard?