ColinJ
Puzzle game procrastinator!
- Location
- Todmorden - Yorks/Lancs border
[QUOTE 1639022, member: 1314"]
And if publishers/writers invest money and time in books they deserve a return on their income. It is up to them what they charge (depending on what the market will bear). However publishing is not a scientific art (let's leave academic publishing out of this for the time) - it's rather like owning a record company.
[/quote]
Yes they do deserve to be paid for their work, assuming that people are reading it.
The thing is - it is absolutely obvious that VAT shouldn't be charged on ebooks since it isn't charged on paper books (I know that is the EU that mandated that), and it is equally clear that it is much cheaper to distribute ebooks than it is physical books, so it should be cheaper to buy them and still allow writers and publishers to make money from them. Worst case, the same price, but to have to pay more for ebooks than the paper versions is nonsensical and environmentally unsound!
Some readers are making a stand and trying to make it clear that the market will NOT bear paying extra for ebooks by not only not buying those overpriced ebooks, but refusing to buy the paper versions too!
I mentioned the music industry being slow to adapt to digital downloads of music and I think that the book publishing industry is behaving rather like them.
[QUOTE 1639022, member: 1314"]
The debate about whether digital published Intellectual Property should be free for all, firewalled or a blend is an ethical/commercial one. How can writers/publishers make money/living from digital books? (The average full-time freelance author only earns about £17k per year).
[/quote]
I think the average author stands a better chance of making money publishing their work as ebooks rather than as paper books! Not only do they not have to fight for a publishing deal, but they can get a much bigger royalty too. (70%-ish on Kindle)
I'm going to write some ebooks about cycling. I'm realistic - there is no way that I'd be able to interest a publisher in them, but I don't have to. I can sell them cheaply for the Kindle and make some money. Not a lot, but hopefully enough to make it worth my while.
This young woman succeeded. Perhaps the books are awful, but if her readers like them, who am I, or the world's book publishers to say that they shouldn't be published!
And if publishers/writers invest money and time in books they deserve a return on their income. It is up to them what they charge (depending on what the market will bear). However publishing is not a scientific art (let's leave academic publishing out of this for the time) - it's rather like owning a record company.
[/quote]
Yes they do deserve to be paid for their work, assuming that people are reading it.
The thing is - it is absolutely obvious that VAT shouldn't be charged on ebooks since it isn't charged on paper books (I know that is the EU that mandated that), and it is equally clear that it is much cheaper to distribute ebooks than it is physical books, so it should be cheaper to buy them and still allow writers and publishers to make money from them. Worst case, the same price, but to have to pay more for ebooks than the paper versions is nonsensical and environmentally unsound!
Some readers are making a stand and trying to make it clear that the market will NOT bear paying extra for ebooks by not only not buying those overpriced ebooks, but refusing to buy the paper versions too!
I mentioned the music industry being slow to adapt to digital downloads of music and I think that the book publishing industry is behaving rather like them.
[QUOTE 1639022, member: 1314"]
The debate about whether digital published Intellectual Property should be free for all, firewalled or a blend is an ethical/commercial one. How can writers/publishers make money/living from digital books? (The average full-time freelance author only earns about £17k per year).
[/quote]
I think the average author stands a better chance of making money publishing their work as ebooks rather than as paper books! Not only do they not have to fight for a publishing deal, but they can get a much bigger royalty too. (70%-ish on Kindle)
I'm going to write some ebooks about cycling. I'm realistic - there is no way that I'd be able to interest a publisher in them, but I don't have to. I can sell them cheaply for the Kindle and make some money. Not a lot, but hopefully enough to make it worth my while.
This young woman succeeded. Perhaps the books are awful, but if her readers like them, who am I, or the world's book publishers to say that they shouldn't be published!
