Free isn’t really free, is it?
November 29th, 2009I got an email back from my college friend who writes fantasy novels for one of the “the majors.” I asked her why there seemed to be so much controversy about eBooks vs. print from established authors. Here’s what she told me:
I think publishing is threatened by far more than a new format. I think fear of piracy followed by fear of not getting paid are the two biggest reasons many writers react as you saw. Although a print book can be pirated (as anyone who has dealt with Russia or China knows), it’s hard. Breaking the code on an e-reader is much, much easier (and people hack calculators for fun, without profit).
As for paid… Contracts usually base pay on a percentage of the cover price. If a $25.00 book is sold for $5, even if there is a huge raise in percentage, well… You can do the math.
Basically, I think you ran into a lot of fear over what may be a dying industry. Fewer readers, more competition from writers past whose estates are delighted to sell for a pittance, more spin-offs. And electronic books have added to that in a big way. I’ve read numerous columns that basically boil down to, “why read a new book that will cost you, when you can get a free classic on Google?” I don’t know if I’ll be making a living in a few years…
That’s an interesting bit of commentary from the trenches — especially in regards to the last part. The part about “free.” What is our obsession with “free”? I see this more and more, and it baffles me. Read more »
