Authors Guild Worried About iPad Ebook File Sharing... But Focused On The Wrong Thing
from the people-are-reading! dept
A little over a year ago, we discussed the idea that the ebook world needed more "piracy," noting that the locked down nature of the Kindle actually limited a large part of what might help kick off the real ebook world. History has shown time and time again that so-called "piracy" is often a leading indicator of innovation in areas that people are interested in. But, unauthorized sharing in ebooks was still somewhat limited. Of course, some things have changed over the past year. There was the lawsuit against Scribd (which, last I heard, failed to get class action status) and then sudden totally unsubstantiated articles warning about unauthorized ebook file sharing.Now, the latest, is the fear that with the success of the iPad in the market that it will become a popular platform for unauthorized sharing of ebooks. Apparently, author Scott Turow has recently taken over the Authors Guild, and has decided that ebook "piracy" is a "big problem" that has to be the focus. Perhaps next time the Authors Guild wants to show itself to be forward-looking and able to change with the times, it shouldn't put a 60+ year old lawyer in charge. Just a suggestion... Rather than saying that unauthorized file sharing is such a big problem, perhaps Turow should take a look at the music industry more closely. He seems to only be superficially aware of what's happening in that industry. Instead of recognizing that the industry wasted over a decade fighting what fans wanted, he seems to think that he can magically fight what every other industry has failed to fight. That doesn't seem like a strategy that has a high likelihood of success.
Perhaps, instead of automatically blaming those involved in file sharing, Turow should take some time to understand why it's happening, and look at those who have figured out interesting and unique models to provide more value for consumers who want it, rather than just focusing on the impossible task of trying to punish those whose actions the Authors Guild doesn't like.
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Filed Under: ebooks, file sharing, ipad, scott turow
Companies: authors guild
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History is cool
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Re: History is cool
Probably bad examples, but the point is no one cares much about the future, only what can get them the most money now.
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Re: History is cool
What's weird is that publishers and authors surely have less to fear from filesharing eBooks than those other industries. I know there are some people who LIKE to have a physical copy of a DVD or album, but that is nothing compared to the emotional attachment people seem to have for hard copy books, particularly with fiction.
Sigh, I just don't get it. It seems to me that you need less RtB with fiction hard copies than anything else. Why WOULDN'T everyone just go the Baen route? Or better yet, why wouldn't publishers offer an eBook copy of every physical book they sell via email to the purchaser? It seems to me there are VAST amounts of money to be made by properly promoting works of fiction via the internet....
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Re: Re: History is cool
But then again, most people probably did what I did for those, which is get them from the library, borrow them, etc. I probably only bought a handful.
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Re: Re: History is cool
The thing I see though is they are setting themselves up for failure because they are concentrating on infringement rather than the business model. The really cool thing about all these associations (RIAA, MPAA, Authors Guild, etc) is that their charters, goals, and stated purposes are in direct conflict with the continued long term survivability of the industries they represent.
They create guess work (fake) reports that their own industry takes as gospel, they use a stick to tackle the problems thrown at them with no carrot, they dont realize they are a service industry.
History will repeat itself again, driven by the actions of the Authors Guild.
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Been thinking about this..
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Re: Been thinking about this..
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Re: Re: Been thinking about this..
Well, I don't yet have a wealth of experience thus far, but it seems to me that I've found one of the key differences between music/movies and books that makes the literary world so difficult: marketing. You see tons of TV/Movie adverts for more movies, and even a decent amount of music. The radio ads are littered with both. But the ads you see/hear for books are few and far between.
That has to do with a lot of things, but mostly it's about the cost of advertising relevant to the amount of money you expect it to generate. Books just aren't as profitable, due to there being, you know, so freaking many of them.
So let's go back to my original idea. You sell a hardcopy book, and the purchaser gets a free copy of the eBook sent to their email address. Now that the publisher has that email, they can VERY DELICATELY direct market similar authors or future works. And since it's done via email, the cost of this is relatively negligable.
I just don't buy that eBook readers are going to be to books as iPods are to music. It'll happen a little bit, but in a much lesser volume. That makes sharing of electronic books ALL THE MORE useful. And since we all know the key is getting heard at all, the direct marketing you can do via email would be killer....
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Sigh, really? Can you truly ONLY see things from a single PoV? Let me see if I can make this REALLY simple for you:
If your business model is based on freely distributing some content, namely digital, for free, then IT ISN'T FUCKING PIRACY ANYMORE, STUNAD! It isn't about leveraging illegal behavior. It's about making that behavior legal and then using it to make money.
I really can't see why this is so difficult....
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I really can't see why this is so difficult...."
OH thats easy DH. The reason he cant understand it is because the greedy incumbent Big Media pays lapdogs like TAMhole to try to brainwash everyone into believing that ANY unpaid usage is THEFT. In TAMworld, you simply CANNOT, in any way, have anything that isnt paid for, preferably EACH USAGE. To not pay the his corporate masters for EACH enjoyment of EACH thing is tantamount to a capital offense, and people should AT LEAST be sued, if not executed, for daring to STEAL from the Mighty Gods of Media. Tamshit and his corporate assmasters can only see things one way: Money flows FROM you TO them, in EVERY case. ANYTHING that exists outside of this paradigm is ILLEGAL, in their eyes. Want to self publish? ILLEGAL! Want to give away your work? THIEF! Want to try to leverage free to sell the scarce? YOU DIRTY FUCKING COMMIE PIRATE! YOU ARE DESTROYERS OF AMERICA!
This is the thinking of TAM and his masters.
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You're right, he's not doing that. Because he recognises how using the technology and systems of piracy to legally distribute infinite goods can raise the value of scarce goods.
Also, I distinctly remember Mike explicitly saying that he does not condone piracy.
Just to back up my point, here's a post by Mike explicitly saying he does not condone piracy. I know it's an old one, but I couldn't remember the exact wording for a search for a more recent one that I read.
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Oh man, you really need to stop with the FACTS here! You cant just go around providing EVIDENCE man! That will completely undermine the propagandist brainwashing attempts by TAMhole and his Corporate Masters to lie and vilify Mike and anyone who agrees with him by using hearsay and falsehoods!
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Medieval "Author's Guild" wants "royalties".
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arr
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Re: arr
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cost
At $15 though, I put up with the trouble. And if I really can't find it and I really want it, I do end up paying. For paperbacks which cost $8 in print and $9 in ebook form, it's absolutely infuriating and I usually don't buy at all as I waste cycles deliberating whether maybe it's just better to buy it in print anyway.
If you see how Apple's app store is changing our notions of value. When Apps cost anywhere from $1 to $5, it's hard to see how a book generates 3x the value of a top video game, or 15 times the value of a basic app.
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A novel takes a reasonable amount of time to read, and some people take weeks over them. A song is done in three minutes, and a movie in 90. So while piracy might possibly stimulate an appetite for an artist's work, it's going to be difficult to see how that will help a mid-list author.
The other thing is that a band can give away its music and make money from live performances, but that's not something available to most authors (who make less than £5,000 a year on average).
If people were prepared to buy their e-books by the chapter, I'd have a bit more hope for the publishing industry. As it stands I can only see the revival of short stories through the e-book medium, but there's not much sign of that so far.
Of course, this is also ignoring the factual publising industry--biographies, self-help books etc--which may come up with alternatives.
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The key criterion there? That work already had a massive pile of "fans" that couldn't wait to get their hands on a copy. Free or not free, people will still buy things if they have an incentive to buy them - whether that incentive is as simple as being your fan, or because they like having a book in their hands, is fairly irrelevant.
Once you get past the idea that each copy of a file (or each viewing) is a potential sale, you can actually focus on making this business model practical by generating alternate revenue streams along with value-added copies of the actual work.
This means that you'd actually have to spend time and effort marketing, connecting with fans, and coming up with value-added goods to sell them, though. Most just want to sign a contract to a publishing house and have them handle all that. And middle-men are always happy to get their cut.
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Agism is well and alive
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Re: Agism is well and alive
Never going to happen.
Maybe people should keep in touch with technology so they won't appear to be totally clueless to the young. The only way to ensure that happens is to embarrass an entire generation for it.
So, I'm utterly pro-agism in this regard. Keep mocking any old bastard who clearly doesn't get it. If other people 'of that age' don't like it, they should stand up and be heard for what's right instead of what's braindead.
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Traffic tells all
There are lines at the counter during checkout. People are buying books... a lot of books.
I hear that the sales are down, and my observations are anecdotal, to be sure, but from where I sit (when I can find a seat at these stores) business is booming, and ereaders are only a fraction of it.
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Step 1: Understand the problem
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Just use your Nintendo DSi XL take a picture of everypage
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