Diana wrote:
> I think it is uncalled for to call the people who
> read
> the work put for free on the Internet "pirates". I
> hope that other people have better sense than you.
> Did
> you see me advocate piracy anywhere? How do YOU
> define
> piracy?
Dear Diana,
I am sorry if you misunderstood--I do not call the
people who read free stories on the internet pirates.
That would be unfair indeed.
But I do want you to also understand where I am coming
from. I have been for many years a professional writer
and I have had my work pirated on the internet
numerous times. In print, if a piece of mine is
reprinted, the publisher seeks permission and often
pays a small reprint fee, but internet pirates neither
ask permission nor pay for the work they abscond with
and post.
I have had to ask that work stolen from me be taken
down from some web sites. I have never once received
an apology or compensation for its theft. If you or
others are truly interested in this topic, I could
recommend that you check out Harlan Ellison's essay
available on his website concerning how often he has
been the victim of internet piracy.
There is an advantage to a writer and a publisher if a
work wins an award. Making such work more readily
available to the public does increase the chance of
people reading said work and awarding it a prize,
which is why should copyrighted works are posted. The
sad truth about publishing is that excellent work from
thousands of good writers go out of print every day.
I'm sure if you found a print copy of the work you
admired and photocopied it to send to your friends, no
one would raise an objection despite the technical
violation of copyright laws if you do so without
permission. But that is not the same thing as posting
something on the net where it is accessible to
hundreds of millions of people, and if it is available
for free and has not been paid for, that diminishes
the value of the work and builds an expectation that
the sweat off a writer's brow should be there for the
taking.
We do have an excellent system for providing material
free to the public--it is called the library system,
and I strongly urge everyone to support it. It can get
financially neglected, especially in times of economic
hardships and cutbacks. I also have absolutely no
objections to posting works in the public domain on
the web, making them easily accessible to everyone.
I hope you can see I can be quite reasonable about
this, but as you point out, it can be a touchy
subject. For most writers, writing is not a good
paying field to begin with (Philip K. Dick and George
Alec Effinger, to take two examples, were barely able
to make a living at it and lived impoverished for most
of their lives), so picking the pennies from a poor
man's pocket seems to me to be especially egegrious.
Cordially yours,
Dennis
> >Funny thing about
> > writers--if they don't get paid for their work,
> they
> > can't make a living and go on writing.
>
> If you read what I wrote, you wouldn't get all angry
> here. To answer you and others:
>
> - No, I don't object that people sell their books.
> Actually, I buy them.
> - I do object to "bait and remove" tactics - both by
> "plumbers" and by publishers.
> - Regarding resale value - it seems that a large
> number of authors and publishers like Asimov's did
> not
> remove the free links after awards. So they
> appreciate
> free publicity and we appreciate free reading. I
> guarantee that they will get more good will towards
> them than Fictionwise.
> - I wanted to recommend the story for a number of
> Lithuanian friends, who won't pay $1.25 for a
> novellette. Sorry, different kind of economy than
> USA.
> - I also wanted to recommend it to non-SF crowd as
> an
> example of interesting exploration of the meaning of
> God. And I am uncomfortable recommending a
> commercial
> work. Maybe it's just me - sorry.
>
> I see that it is a hornet's nest with a lot of pent
> up
> emotions. So how about taking a deep breath and
> relaxing?
>
> Best regards
>
> Raimondas
>
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