Irony at Fictionwise... Communist Manifesto

[sassanik]

So this week on the new releases at Fictionwise is a copy of the Communist Manifesto, not only is not available in multiformat, but they are charging $10 for it!

It seemed ironic that they were charge $10 for a book that you can download for free at Project Gutenberg and that it wasn't even available in multiformat.

I obviously have too much time on my hands.

Amy

[jgray]

Capitalist pigs

[Donnageddon]

More exploitation of the proletariat by the bourgeoisie!!

eReaders of the world unite! You have nothing to lose but your DRM chains!

[Gideon]

I think I got the complete works of Marx in the Amazon store for about 5 bucks.

Haven't gotten around to it, though...

I'll pay for a nice organized "everything" (I also have William Blake, Shakespeare, and Anton Chekhov like that.)

There's also a very nice illustrated edition of Paradise Lost with commentary by Phillip Pullman available... (bit off topic, I know, but it's very nice)

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by sassanik

So this week on the new releases at Fictionwise is a copy of the Communist Manifesto, not only is not available in multiformat, but they are charging $10 for it!

It seemed ironic that they were charge $10 for a book that you can download for free at Project Gutenberg and that it wasn't even available in multiformat.

I obviously have too much time on my hands.

Amy

If it has decent notes, an introduction, etc, it's probably worth paying $10, just as one might pay for any other work which is in the public domain. Public domain does not mean "you can't charge for it".

[wayrad]

That's a bit more than the copies turning up under "Related Threads" at the bottom of the page...

[ahi]

Originally Posted by HarryT

If it has decent notes, an introduction, etc, it's probably worth paying $10, just as one might pay for any other work which is in the public domain. Public domain does not mean "you can't charge for it".

In the case of some books, being proofread and spell-checked by an underachieving secondary school student can add value to the free version floating around.

Speaking of which, I wish Project Gutenberg revisited their older publications through the Distributed Proofreaders program; the quality of texts has improved dramatically since its introduction, but a lot of their best stuff predates it to the woe of the reader.

- Ahi

[sassanik]

I agree that a well edited copy can be worth it, but $10 seems rather spendy to me! I would expect alot of stuff added in for that price.

I think that a regular $5ish price would be more in line.

As for the DP work, hey I am one of those proof readers! Some of those scanned texts are already horridly proof read to begin with! Misspellings galore, one of my favorites was then the author could not decide whether to spell the persons name with a ie or a ei, and switched between the two through out the page!

Amy

[ahi]

Originally Posted by sassanik

I agree that a well edited copy can be worth it, but $10 seems rather spendy to me! I would expect alot of stuff added in for that price.

I think that a regular $5ish price would be more in line.

As for the DP work, hey I am one of those proof readers! Some of those scanned texts are already horridly proof read to begin with! Misspellings galore, one of my favorites was then the author could not decide whether to spell the persons name with a ie or a ei, and switched between the two through out the page!

Amy

Yeah, you are right. $10 is a bit ludicrous, now that I think about it. The book is short like hell, and there are no distribution costs...

On DP, kudos to you, Amy! I think the work you contribute to as a DP proofreader is more significant in the long term than a lot of nonsense most of us probably spend the bulk of our workdays on.

Do you just do bits and pieces when you are in the mood, or do you have the fortitude/stamina to proofread considerable amounts at a time?

- Ahi

[sassanik]

Sometimes I am better than others. I can go a few months without any then I will be really good the next month. I have over 400 pages proofed (though some of them are admittidly blank pages)

Since they finished the Astounding Science series I have been slower, I really enjoyed the subject matter. Somehow religious texts are just not as exciting.

Amy