Comments on: Piracy, Uh, What Is It Good For? https://booksquare.com/piracy-uh-what-is-it-good-for/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&%23038;utm_campaign=piracy-uh-what-is-it-good-for Dissecting the publishing industry with love and skepticism Thu, 01 May 2008 16:24:35 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 By: Clive Warner https://booksquare.com/piracy-uh-what-is-it-good-for/#comment-167704 Thu, 01 May 2008 16:24:35 +0000 http://www.booksquare.com/piracy-uh-what-is-it-good-for/#comment-167704 It seems to me pretty obvious that the market is changing away from books. I used to be an avid reader but I rarely read a physical book any more.
There are too many alternative enjoyments that offer an immersive experience and demand much less imagination, e.g. Grand Theft Auto IV.
In the music business the physical CD is dying; physical books will surely follow sooner or later.
I wonder how writers will make any money in a digital future. I can imagine selling novels in bite-sized pieces over the Net, with a short video advert preceeding each piece. I suspect the ‘chapter’, invented by the Victorians as a way of defining a convenient reading session, will be replaced by something rather shorter.

]]> By: Speakeasy » Blog Archive » Fans or Pirates? https://booksquare.com/piracy-uh-what-is-it-good-for/#comment-167697 Wed, 30 Apr 2008 01:34:29 +0000 http://www.booksquare.com/piracy-uh-what-is-it-good-for/#comment-167697 […] this, in the form of free sample chapters, and in Neil Gaiman’s case, free e-books. A recent post on Booksquare also asks a few pertinant […]

]]> By: bowerbird https://booksquare.com/piracy-uh-what-is-it-good-for/#comment-167696 Tue, 29 Apr 2008 19:13:09 +0000 http://www.booksquare.com/piracy-uh-what-is-it-good-for/#comment-167696 are you sure it’s difficult to find pirated books?

tell me what titles you want…

-bowerbird

]]> By: Kassia Krozser https://booksquare.com/piracy-uh-what-is-it-good-for/#comment-167694 Tue, 29 Apr 2008 16:36:39 +0000 http://www.booksquare.com/piracy-uh-what-is-it-good-for/#comment-167694 George — great comments, and I have to say I agree, though I suspect we’re in the minority. It would be an accounting nightmare — of course, there are technological solutions to help there — but I do like the idea very much.

]]> By: George Burke https://booksquare.com/piracy-uh-what-is-it-good-for/#comment-167693 Tue, 29 Apr 2008 15:44:03 +0000 http://www.booksquare.com/piracy-uh-what-is-it-good-for/#comment-167693 I don’t necessarily believe in the “Right of First Sale” doctrine. Although my book rental company, BookSwim.com — with no due dates, unlimited rentals and free shipping both ways — has gotten away by owning older books for a dollar or two apiece and freely renting them out to our BookSwimmers without the need to pay royalties, I believe a new model should be presented.

Just in the way Netflix and Blockbuster obtain their inventory through revenue-share, I believe “netflix for books” organizations like BookSwim.com can embrace the same model. We can pay $X per rental to the publisher/author instead of buying the book upfront. This is a win/win situation as it rewards authors who write timeless books, while also allowing us to source more inventory with less paid upfront.

]]> By: Kassia Krozser https://booksquare.com/piracy-uh-what-is-it-good-for/#comment-167692 Tue, 29 Apr 2008 14:30:15 +0000 http://www.booksquare.com/piracy-uh-what-is-it-good-for/#comment-167692 That’s only the UK and Canada. Unfortunately, the United States doesn’t have the same sort of system (hence “this nation”). I’ve written quite a bit about how other countries handle ongoing payments for artists, but generally, nobody here seems interested, and I doubt there’s any political will to even consider change.

]]> By: Jim Murdoch https://booksquare.com/piracy-uh-what-is-it-good-for/#comment-167691 Tue, 29 Apr 2008 12:02:22 +0000 http://www.booksquare.com/piracy-uh-what-is-it-good-for/#comment-167691 Writers do get payments if their books are in libraries: Public Lending Right payments. See these PDFs for details:

http://www.plr.uk.com/mediaCentre/mediaReleases/feb2008(2).pdf
http://www.plr-dpp.ca/PLR/news/En06FebReport.pdf

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