How the Ebook Reader Bill Of Rights Benefits Authors

Digital Book World:

About a week ago, Sarah and I posted the Ebook Reader’s Bill of Rights. We’ve watched it bounce all over the blogosphere much to our mutual delight. But there has been a recurring question in some of the discussions as to what this document would mean to authors. I will try now to explain how authors would benefit under the terms outlined in the Ebook Reader’s Bill of Rights. Here’s my breakdown:

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Comments

[markdf]

05:02 PM on 03/13/2011

So, essentially, the writer is advocating of the destruction of the entire publishing industry. No proprietary formats means no payment control (which means no payment). Easily shared ebooks means copying, not sharing. That backup copy becomes the original purchaser's copy and so on. Again, no payments. Copy and paste within fair use guidelines? And who will police that? Once its on this magical device with no restrictions, no tracking, why "lend" something to someone when you can just give them a copy for free? And speaking for free--let's not be naive. The next library "service" will be free online downloading of ebooks. Which means only stupid people will buy books from Amazon or wherever instead of getting the same exact thing for free online from the library.

So, who, exactly, is going to write books under those conditions? Idiots? Yep.

[Indra]

01:58 PM on 03/11/2011

It is interesting to note that as a librarian you do not see the writing on the wall. The library as we know it today is going to change in bnig ways. Most and nearly all works will be digitized. There will be hadly any hard books on the property. Most of your task as a librarian will be to oversee rights issues and make sure they are complied with. The real mind blower is that the amount of space it will take to hold a large size library will be so small. This will cut down on construction, maintanence, heating and cooling costs. Fewer personnel will be needed as borrowers can directly access their books via computer online, network etc. Look for big changes in libraryville.

[iwritereadrate]

10:38 AM on 03/11/2011

Interesting stuff. It would be really nice, and democratic, and customer/user friendly if everyone could decide on a standard eBook format - say ePub - would make readers lives easier when taking up eLiterature for the first time.

Thanks, enjoyed the article.

Adam
www.iwritereadrate.com

[Cael]

05:35 PM on 03/10/2011

I loved the section about sharing. This is very much overlooked. There is a fine line when it comes to profit from artistic work. A artist has to put in a lot of time to create their product, and in doing so, has to forgo a normal 9-5 job in most cases.
They need to make a living off their work so they can continue to create.

But are artists number one purpose of creating their product for money? I bet that is in the minorty. I believe without hesitation that an artist wants their product to reach as many people as possible. This is thier driving force.

With digital media becoming so prevalant, a balance has to be determined. If the money aspect becomes the driving force, the artists work is limited in it's distribution. I doubt any artist wants that.

It will be interesting to see how this is handled, if the publishers have their way they would probably try to charge you for re-reads if they could.

Hopefully more authors will pay independant editors, and use the Web to sell their books, directly pocketing their hard earn money and bypass the publishers. This forcing publishers to adapt or perish.

[XFilesTheTruthIsOutThere]

10:32 PM on 03/10/2011

I'm very happy I came across this article of all day because my first novel has hit Amazon Kindle!

http://www.amazon.com/Take-Me-Home-ebook/dp/B004RCNWNO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=books&qid=1299807993&sr=8-1

Check it out and tell your friends!

[Pam Herman]

01:52 AM on 03/13/2011

"But are artists number one purpose of creating their product for money? I bet that is in the minorty. I believe without hesitation that an artist wants their product to reach as many people as possible. This is thier driving force."

Artists create works of art in hopes of selling them so they can create more works of art. I find nothing wrong with this attitude.

Doctors, lawyers, social workers, teachers and others go into their chosen fields presumably because they enjoy the work and want to earn a living at it. Sculptors, writers and filmmakers are no different. I fail to see why artists should be held to a higher standard than other profession.

Famous writers will tell us that we shouldn't write with the goal of making money. But if you look at bios of these writers you will find that they worked very hard to sell their stories and novels so that they could quit their day jobs and devote themselves full time to their writing. Read Stephen King's "On Writing" for an example.

I agree that we need a balance and that artists need to be fairly compensated. But if sharing is unlimited, that won't happen.

[SF TKF]

03:31 PM on 03/10/2011

So he wants eBooks to be treated both like software (backupable) and like physical objects (resalable). I call bullsh*t. Pick a camp and make your argument from there. Cherry picking all the best aspects of both options is ridiculous.