Article - 'Harry Potter' among those missing from e-library

[John F]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090428/...ll_unplugged_1

[Moejoe]

Great article, and also very dissapointing. The publishers come off as greedy halfwits, not knowing what to do. The authors come off as either confused and ill-informed or techno-luddites. And that phrase "The estate of" worries me a whole lot. A lot of these works should be in the public domain by now, especially Tenesee Williams and Tolkien's writings. The estate of...otherwise known as...leechers

[daffy4u]

_The author or author's estate simply refuses, like J.K. Rowling, who has expressed a preference for books on paper and a wariness of technology.

Maybe if we told Rowling it was "magic" instead of technology, she wouldn't be wary and would release her books in ebook form (even though I have no plans to buy them in any form).

[Lemurion]

I agree - I'm afraid the 20th century will go down as the century that saw the death of the Public Domain.

I'm beginning to think the current emphasis on ever-increasing copyright extensions might become a driving force for piracy. The current idiocy of Life+50 and Life+70 means that for most adults the books they enjoyed in their youth will not enter the Public Domain in their lifetime. Add in the EU's recent extension on music copyrights and it becomes clear we're in a second Tragedy of the Commons where nothing of any continuing popularity will likely ever enter the Public Domain again.

Everyone is losing except the content companies.

[Andybaby]

Originally Posted by Moejoe

Great article, and also very dissapointing. The publishers come off as greedy halfwits, not knowing what to do. The authors come off as either confused and ill-informed or techno-luddites. And that phrase "The estate of" worries me a whole lot. A lot of these works should be in the public domain by now, especially Tenesee Williams and Tolkien's writings. The estate of...otherwise known as...leechers

Some publishers obviously don't know what to do, but 25% does seem like alot, as long as its 25% sale price, and note 25% price after other commissions.

I am reading honor harrington book one, and there was a small sentence, but when their ship went to battle stations, the author wrote, "the crew droped everything including their book readers (and he listed some other stuff)" written in 1992, it isn't supprising that the author, David Weber has his entire series for sale at baen, but also his first 2 books in the series are absolutely free, with an optional $5 donation if you want to pay for it

[Moejoe]

Originally Posted by Lemurion

I agree - I'm afraid the 20th century will go down as the century that saw the death of the Public Domain.

I'm beginning to think the current emphasis on ever-increasing copyright extensions might become a driving force for piracy. The current idiocy of Life+50 and Life+70 means that for most adults the books they enjoyed in their youth will not enter the Public Domain in their lifetime. Add in the EU's recent extension on music copyrights and it becomes clear we're in a second Tragedy of the Commons where nothing of any continuing popularity will likely ever enter the Public Domain again.

Everyone is losing except the content companies.

Sickening how much culture we're losing to greedy corporations and the as equally greedy estates of dead authors.

[GeoffC]

Quote "
_The author, or the author's representative, is holding out for more money. Agents complain that e-book royalty rates, commonly 25 percent of net receipts, are far too low and should be doubled, saying that digital texts cost virtually nothing to produce and distribute. .... "

[Riocaz]

Yes JKR has been pubically critical of ebooks for years. There was a suggestion here a few years abck about clubbing together and buying her daughter an ebook reader in the hopes of trying to allay her unreasonable fears. :-)

Originally Posted by Andybaby

David Weber has his entire series for sale at baen, but also his first 2 books in the series are absolutely free, with an optional $5 donation if you want to pay for it

Actually rather more than just the first 2 Those are just the ones currently in the library. They have released almost the entire series to date on CD. These are freely distributable and archived on the web:

http://baencd.thefifthimperium.com/1...mtheShadowsCD/

Obviously though a donation would not go amiss. :-)

[Greg Anos]

Originally Posted by Lemurion

I agree - I'm afraid the 20th century will go down as the century that saw the death of the Public Domain.

I'm beginning to think the current emphasis on ever-increasing copyright extensions might become a driving force for piracy. The current idiocy of Life+50 and Life+70 means that for most adults the books they enjoyed in their youth will not enter the Public Domain in their lifetime. Add in the EU's recent extension on music copyrights and it becomes clear we're in a second Tragedy of the Commons where nothing of any continuing popularity will likely ever enter the Public Domain again.

Everyone is losing except the content companies.

Oddly enough, I'm not as pessimistic about further extension of copyright. Look over the last few years. Say 2006 +. Virtually every effort to extend some aspect of copyright had failed. And it has failed because the public has become more aware of the problems of copyright. The Sony Bono (Mickey Mouse Preservation) Act was passed in a public vacuum. Same for the 1976 copyright revisions. If somebody were to put in an extension into legislation today, you'd have people writing their representatives and complaining all over the place. Look at the efforts shot down in the various places in the EU...

[Wetdogeared]

Originally Posted by Andybaby

...I am reading honor harrington book one, and there was a small sentence, but when their ship went to battle stations, the author wrote, "the crew droped everything including their book readers (and he listed some other stuff)" written in 1992, it isn't supprising that the author, David Weber has his entire series for sale at baen, but also his first 2 books in the series are absolutely free, with an optional $5 donation if you want to pay for it

Originally Posted by Riocaz

...Actually rather more than just the first 2 Those are just the ones currently in the library. They have released almost the entire series to date on CD. These are freely distributable and archived on the web:
http://baencd.thefifthimperium.com/1...mtheShadowsCD/

Obviously though a donation would not go amiss. :-)

I bought the Hard Cover "War of Honor" which included the CD of all previous books in the series to that point.

WDE. (before I had my eBook reader)

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Ralph Sir Edward

Look at the efforts shot down in the various places in the EU...

Very true. Eg, the UK recently turned down a proposal to extend the 50 year copyright on music performance.

[Jellby]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Very true. Eg, the UK recently turned down a proposal to extend the 50 year copyright on music performance.

Just this week I've seen the news of it being extended to 70 years here in Spain...

[whitearrow]

I do wish that when authors/publishers decide to put books in ebook formats, they would focus on putting out a quality product -- no less than they would in paper. The mistakes in LotR have really put a damper on the excitement of the release for me.

[sirbruce]

Originally Posted by daffy4u

Maybe if we told Rowling it was "magic" instead of technology, she wouldn't be wary and would release her books in ebook form (even though I have no plans to buy them in any form).

And yet somehow special fx laden 3D movies and videogames and Java-animated websites are just fine...

I don't hate JKR. I don't even particularly like her writing. But I do love her Harry Potter universe, and I want more of it. Nothing she ever writes henceforth will be as good as her Harry Potter books. Yet she refuses to write more.

So while I'm not a bad person, I'm basically left with hoping for her death. And hoping that time comes soon. Because as soon as it does, you know the estate will be contracting with some other author to write NEW Harry Potter books, and we'll also finally get all of them in ebook form, and I will be much happier.

[sirbruce]

Originally Posted by GeoffC

Quote "
_The author, or the author's representative, is holding out for more money. Agents complain that e-book royalty rates, commonly 25 percent of net receipts, are far too low and should be doubled, saying that digital texts cost virtually nothing to produce and distribute. .... "

They don't cost virtually nothing to produce and distribute, but they do cost less. And based on my analysis should be able to support a royalty of 50%. The biggest stumbling block is the percentage booksellers are getting off both pbooks and ebooks.