Quote:
Originally Posted by dmaul1114
But authors deserve to get paid for their work, and shouldn't see a cut in their salaries because of dropping prices.
So that's why I feel for authors. They're doing just as much work writing books as before, and have the very real threat of making less money for that work than before as we go to digital content and people expect to pay less than they do for physical versions of the SAME content--not to mention much greater piracy costing sales.
But most people don't care about the authors and only care about saving money on their end, and feel e-books aren't "worth" as much as physical books. Which I can see as many see spending the money as paying to own something tangible, vs. paying to enjoy the content (like you would with a $12 movie ticket etc.). And as much as that needs to change for digital content to not be a huge negative for produces of books, music, movies etc., I don't think it will.
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Have to cordially disagree. Making money as an author is a privilege. If the market changes then the writer will have to make a career change. It is that simple. I have read books by writers from Africa and Asia who are not making a living only by writing. They are teaching, editing... etc... I don't hear them complaining about how they won't be able to make their ??k per year from writing books to make a living. They get another job. They work in more than one field. Not that complex. Many authors have written books over the last 2000 years and had full time jobs. I imagine only 5% of the writing market makes a healthy living off of writing anyways.
Culture and writing will not die. There was plenty of writing before the Industrial Revolution and there will be plenty into the Digital Age. How about a writer writing a good book for the book itself instead of for profit?
Writers should be happy to even have a job at what they do. Look at Cory Doctorow or Steve Jordan for inspiration. They don't complain about the new paradigm; they have embraced it. Adapt or die. The music industry had to learn. The authors in the publishing industry have choices. If they chose not to adapt they will lose their jobs. Such is life.