Quote:
Originally Posted by ficbot
Amen, Ralph! I'm sorry, Steve, but it's really hard for me to feel sorry for you on this one. It seems like it's not that being a writer doesn't pay you money---you do seem to get SOME sales. It's that it's not paying you whatever amount you have set in your head as the amount to support your lifestyle...
|
Sorry... did someone here think that I was doing this to
pay my bills?...
...Okay, I'm back. No, I actually have a "day job," where I sit on my a$$ and maintain a website for a worldwide non-profit organization devoted to education, your welcome very much. So, everyone can kindly climb off the "Steve is self-serving" kick like I'm defending my shack with a shotgun. Frankly, there are easier ways to make money than arguing 'til I'm blue in the face with a bunch of "free world" anarchists over the inherent value of a $2.50 DRM-free e-book.
However, that doesn't change the fact that my writing is worth something, if for no other reason than that it is
entertaining. And it doesn't change the fact that I have a right to ask for payment for it, as opposed to giving it away.
Readers also have the right to decline to pay whatever amount I ask, and walk away. They even have the right to try to bargain a new price with me, and I'm free to accept, or decline, their counter-offer. But readers DO NOT have the right to simply kick me in the nuts and take my work, just because they don't like how much I charge for it.
So, no, I am
not demanding to make a living on my books. I am demanding my
right to ask for compensation without being robbed.
And for that, I'm labeled stupid, self-serving, evil, talentless, petty, backward and greedy. Well, anyone who's read any of my books' dedications know what I say to those people.
So... maybe we should get back to the subject of being "Napstered." As I recall, the result of the trials of the music industry turned out to be the present situation where most people
buy their digital music from Amazon and iTunes, and
pay for every single download. Profit margins change, but the consumer still pays, the creator still gets paid, and even the middlemen get a cut. Is there some reason to suppose that this cannot work with e-books?