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About MarionGropenI have been helping book publishing companies become more effective and financially sound for more than 20 years. In 2003, I formed Gropen Associates, a financial and management consulting firm that works exclusively with small, micro- and self-publishers. Check my website, www.GropenAssoc.com, for free resources that support this community, and my blog, www.GropenAssoc.com/blog, for articles on topics such as a typical trade title's P&L, or ways to estimate future book sales. |
Re: Re: Copyright isn't just about selfish corporations
In the book publishing field, copyrights are almost never sold to the publisher. They're licensed to them for a period, but owned by the author or illustrator. And, as I said earlier, even when the corporation is the publisher, the majority of the little profit there is, goes as royalties to the author.
I beg to differ. I think we all know that some of the people who download now would buy a copy if they couldn't pirate. Not all, but certainly some. And so, some of the downloads really are lost sales.
No Loss? (as Marion Gropen)
Overlooked in many of the arguments about copyright violation is the issue of control.
The short version: If I make it, and I want to restrict the way I offer it to you, you have no right to force me to do otherwise.
I believe that an author or other creator has the right to control how their work is sold and distributed, where substantial parts of it get used in mash-ups and other ways, and many other things. Of course, many authors choose to release that control. Some offer their work under various copyleft licenses. Some renounce their rights explicitly, but if they do not, then we don't have the right to take their work and do as we will with it.
That said, I also believe that US practice is fair: you can extract content from one version and move it to others for your own personal use. However, the minute you offer to share it, or take that sharing from someone else, you are violating the creators' and rightsholders' control.
Re: cost of publishing an ebook? (as Marion Gropen)
First, if you want basic typesetting (which makes a text MUCH easier on the eyes), or any of the other myriad things that publishers contribute to a work, then ebook publishing costs quite a bit. The only things missing are PPB (paper, printing and binding) and warehouse/shipping costs. Those are less than half the COGS (Cost of Goods Sold) on most titles.
Second, any author/rights-holder should have the absolute right to say how his or her work is published. We may really, really want it in another form, but that's our problem. You don't always get what you want.
Analogy: Suppose I don't like a girl's hairstyle. Maybe she's a rock star and I'm her biggest fan. Do I have the right to walk up to her and change it? Because I really, really want to? And I know she'll get better press? Of course not. Same thing with the presentation of an author's work. It comes out in their choice of formats, no matter how stupid we think the decision is.