THE FUTURE OF COPYRIGHTS

[Dan L. Coleman]

And patents and trademarks, for that matter.

Because of the ease of infringement(stealing) one's rights, I wonder if there is much future for controlling and benefiting from copyrights. I wonder if we'll get back to a situation in which we prefer print copies almost exclusively over electronic ones as necessary for protecting our rights and maybe earning something from them. I mean, printing takes some effort--photocopying or typing--while everything electronic is vulnerable for instantaneous theft. Kind of like trying to hold on to an armful of water. The implications are many. Just wondering.

[I. J. Parker]

You may be right.  The illegal e-books won't stop until there are some lawsuits ending in painful damages and maybe jail time. But most authors are in no position to prosecute.

 

There is another consideration: e-books have slowed in their sales vs. print books, and many of the promotions that have raised unknowns into the million-seller circle no longer work. I think anyone who is serious about his writing career needs to look into print publishing.

[Jed Power]

A copyright is a copyright, whether it is print, electronic, visual or audio.  They all can be stolen and always will be.  The task is to keep the thefts to the smallest amount possible.  I guess that's the purpose of most crime and punishment.

I agree strongly with I. J.'s last statement.

[Dan L. Coleman]

Rights are meaningless unless you can protect them effectively to your satisfaction. Chasing violators might be like shooting flies with a .22 rifle, there'll always be way too many. This is especially frustrating with whole nations stealing anything they can, like Chine(PRC). Japan used to be the same way, copying everything they could and not honoring rights, particularly of patents, until they reached parity with the other developed nations. Now they're leaders, a good thing, of course. I also think that print books will be here a long time for their ease of protection and their intrinsic value of just being books; something you can hold, carry, feel, smell, look at, collect, count, dust off, fill up rooms, decorate with, etc.

[Jed Power]

Hi Gin,

The BBC article was very interesting.  I too feel that paying to meet an agent is a stone cold scam.  Over here too, it has somehow been sold to aspiring writers as a worthwhile expense.  Makes as much sense as paying to interview real estate agents when you're planning to sell your home.

The old rule of thumb used to be--never use an agent who charges.  Now that many of their incomes are way down, it's presented as a worthwhile move.  Bull-ticky!  Except in the rarest of situations it helps no one except the agent.  I wonder how much a year some of these characters are pulling in on this hustle? 

They are no longer a necessity and they all realize it.  Some are excellent though and will continue to have successful careers.  Fortunately those who were never too good to begin with, will not be able to survive in the new environment.  This is why they get desperate and become like some of our novel's darker characters. 

[Dan L. Coleman]

These pay-for-meet arrangements aren't the only scams going. Aside from the worthy  seminars and conventions each year for writers, there are many others held and staffed by both well-known and obscure agents, editors, and the like, that serve only as income supplements for those usually not on the top tier of the business. They get paid to fly all over the place at someone else's expense, ultimately the paying, aspiring writers, dispensing wisdom, dubious or otherwise. Many of these "editors" can't write well, and many of these "agents" haven't sold anything you can find; a world of wannabes. Kind of like the used car business, full of shysters.

Of course, this has nothing to do with the subject of this post, but since it was brought up.

[I. J. Parker]

Yes, that article is well behind the times and reads like a very naive view of current publishing. Mind you, I have no doubt that there are still innocent souls who would rather do anything, pay anything, and take anything to get a book traditionally published. An agent can be useful in doing that. But the problem is not the agent. It's the publisher and the contract. Unless the author gets a really good deal (no one does to start with, and never will unless the book becomes a bestseller instantaneously), he or she is lost.  And really, that situation has nothing to do with illegal downloads. It has everything to do with a fatally flawed system that is weighted so that the author takes all the lumps.

[Dan L. Coleman]

And assuming print publishing remains alive and thrives, the problem with publisher versus writer will continue. Or is there a change somewhere I'm not aware of that might favor the author?