ebooks and all that
Jan. 19th, 2011 04:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
erdaI've been reading a small fraction of the posts about DRM and ebooks and all that, since it appears it would take a lifetime to read all of it.
I just want to say that for almost 30 years I ran a used bookstore that supported our family, and it was a much loved enterprise until the internet came along and killed it. Oh well.
I think also there were untold numbers of women who made a living making lace in the 17th century, and the overwhelming majority of them lost their livelihood when machine lace took hold. They couldn't compete with all the cheaply, quickly, uniformly produced lace a machine could spit out. Oh well.
Things change, jobs disappear, you have to move on.
So, I have to say, if writers can no longer make a living writing books, I don't really give a shit. This thing about how they will not have time to write if they have to earn a living some other way? Well, boo hoo.
There are tons of people writing online everyday who are not getting paid for it. And yes, most of it is not going to give you that punch in the gut that good writing delivers. But you're just as likely to get that punch from the unpaid stuff as from something that went past some publisher's idea of what kind of writing has enough mass appeal to make a lot of money.
People will write, others will read, we will sort it out. Things change, careers come and go, people kick and cry and act like the world will end. Oh well. I have more stuff to read than ever before.
I just want to say that for almost 30 years I ran a used bookstore that supported our family, and it was a much loved enterprise until the internet came along and killed it. Oh well.
I think also there were untold numbers of women who made a living making lace in the 17th century, and the overwhelming majority of them lost their livelihood when machine lace took hold. They couldn't compete with all the cheaply, quickly, uniformly produced lace a machine could spit out. Oh well.
Things change, jobs disappear, you have to move on.
So, I have to say, if writers can no longer make a living writing books, I don't really give a shit. This thing about how they will not have time to write if they have to earn a living some other way? Well, boo hoo.
There are tons of people writing online everyday who are not getting paid for it. And yes, most of it is not going to give you that punch in the gut that good writing delivers. But you're just as likely to get that punch from the unpaid stuff as from something that went past some publisher's idea of what kind of writing has enough mass appeal to make a lot of money.
People will write, others will read, we will sort it out. Things change, careers come and go, people kick and cry and act like the world will end. Oh well. I have more stuff to read than ever before.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-01-21 03:54 pm (UTC)Hee, me too. As a used book dealer, I feel like I should protest, but basically I welcome the change.
I've seen comments on certain fanfic to the effect that "this is so good you should publish it," honestly intended as sincere praise. And it's not an insult or anything, but...why?
I couldn't agree more.