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Originally Posted by HansTWN
Ever heard of editors?
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Ever heard of beta readers?
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Originally Posted by HansTWN
How do you make any book stand out? Do you really want a world with a million authors who all just self publish on the web?
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Hell yes. Especially considering that, since the editors you mentioned above make changes based on what is likely to sell rather than what might make for a good work (which is their job, after all), it is rather bad for the masses of current books to currently have to go through a small number of channels in order to be published, with all the biases and censorship thereof implied.
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Originally Posted by HansTWN
How will anyone ever choose? And if it happens, then the work of the publishers just will be taken over by "reviewers' websites" and you authors will have to shell out to get good reviews or top spaces on the search sites. So, we come back to Google, Apple, and Co.
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Recommendation sites don't necessarily have to follow the "one guy reads and recommends" model. There are also the kind of voting systems used in sites like Digg. Can they be gamed? Sure, but what system can't?
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Originally Posted by HansTWN
And please tell me, what "productive" work do you imagine will be left in the Western world if intellectual property is not being protected? Most of the jobs that produce physical goods are in Asia, what is left for you?
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Non-physical goods can be produced per commission. Continued services (like making sales and tech support) can be offered in exchange for continuous pay. Product placement can be offered to popular authors. Unlike what many people seem to fear, the West will not collapse if copyright and/or patterns shrink significantly.