Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve Jordan
Perhaps everyone responding to this thread is a writer (or potential writer) for whom writing is merely a fun hobby... something to do instead of vegging in front of the TV, making pottery for your garden, or knitting humorous cummerbunds. Some of the responses I've seen clearly belong to the "who cares about money?" concept, as well as the "As long as my work gets read" party... though, if you think about it, that party really isn't so big as to amount to much more than your close circle of friends, in most cases.
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Some of us also ascribe to the idea of establishing a reputation for producing quality material, trying to make some of it readily available so folks can decide whether they like it, and hoping to earn future dividends by having established goodwill among our readership.
Correct me if I am wrong, but isn't that essentially the approach you are already taking
on your own website?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve Jordan
Now, I never said that "everyone is stealing from me." In fact, as others have pointed out, all it takes is one... and suddenly, any hope I might have entertained to pay for my next lunch forever goes down the drain. And though no one wants to say it here, society has demonstrated time and time again that, if they know they can get away with something illegal, they'll do it... and often go out of their way to do so.
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Some of us are less pessimistic about human nature, on the whole. Sure, there are any number of people who will steal. There are
more people who choose
not to steal.
Quality sells, even when it is also freely available, as I tried to illustrate with a few public domain examples. If it didn't, bookstores wouldn't bother to stock "classic literature," because they would lose money by needlessly tying up otherwise profitable shelf space.
- M.