When is an E-Royalty not a Royalty?

[alfreda89]

When the 9th Circuit Court says it isn't. This is music, but it might as well be novels -- and probably will be, soon. If I was making good money from my books at 25% royalty, I'd be pushing for License -- especially if it's only available in one format. Hard to say it is NOT a License, then.

http://ereads.com/2010/10/when-is-e-royalty-not-a-royalty-when-9th-circuit-court-says-so.html

"For a cogent analysis of the case and its implications for the book industry, read Copyright Alert: 9th Circuit Holds Digital Downloads are Licenses Not Sales by copyright authority Lloyd J. Jassin, to whom we’re indebted for bringing the case to our attention."

Here's more on Jassin's opinion: http://www.copylaw.org/2010/09/copyright-alert-is-big-publishings.html

Comments

[tylik.livejournal.com]

Those this touches on some of the issues of why I won't buy DRM'd ebooks, for all that I'd dearly love to have the majority of my library in digital format. When I buy a book, I want to own the book, I don't want a license which can be dicked with at any time. Ugh. Increasingly textbooks are being sold with licenses that expire after a year. Ptui!

(I'd be willing to compromise over DRM if I actually owned the books, could back them up, and was protected from failure on the part of the selling company.)

Moi, aussi --

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

The writers at Book View Cafe feel the same way -- that's why our books are DRM-free. We hope to keep them that way, if people don't start abusing the link. (Like, downloading copies for all their friends free, etc.) This way, people can have a PDF back-up, but still download MOBI if they want a Kindle.

It will be that way as long as BVC stays in existence.

Re: Moi, aussi --

[lagilman]

As with so much, it all depends on how people behave. What so many folk don't seem to understand is that pirates make things WORSE for people wanting inexpensive digital editions; not better. If we all followed the "pay for what you consume" rule, DRM could be laughed out of existence instead of being a stopgap against an industry bleeding out red ink via illegal downloads.

Le sigh.

[reading-fox.livejournal.com]

Just passing by having enjoyed 'Fires' as an ebook.

@suricattus

Yes I agree, however if publishers didn't automatically assume everyone was a thief (ie DRM), and didn't guage customers with hardback prices for ebooks!, or as the case in point, made them cheaper as a loan rather than pretending it was the same as a real book, and .... then people wouldn't resort to pirates - as shown by the music industry finally.

Today if you google "title, ebook" you will hit a pirate site first. That is just wrong, and publishers have a very short window of time to do something about it, before it becomes the expected normal route. More places like BVC, more authors setting up their own sites (like CJ Cherryh's closed-circle) will help, but ultimately publishers fate lies in their own hands.

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

So the pirate sites are first, eh? It *is* depressing, because if I have more e-books stolen than sold, I certainly won't bother converting the Alfreda novels to e-books. I'll keep writing, but I won't bother publishing -- just special editions for friends, perhaps.

When you write, but have to do something else to pay the bills, then writing trickles out over years -- or becomes THE hobby, losing you other hobbies. I did not give up all those other activities for a pirate to benefit.

I'm not sure anyone has ever posted about it from that POV. Maybe I should....

[reading-fox.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't see it as "stolen" although that's how publishers make the numbers spin, because these are never going to have been sales. The ebook just isn't availble, or not for their country, or in their format. All the ereaders I know genuinally appreciate authors efforts and want to pay (sensible) prices for their books. But it has to be easy. When the third, fourth and fifth legitimate sites tells you "sorry no results for that search", or makes you register, log in, re-search, fill in purchase screens, and then says "sorry you can't buy that" it isn't surprising that people turn to the darknet. So far I've resisted, but I can see the appeal. The pirates don't benefit at all, they just help people get their hands on the ebooks they want to read.

Places like BVC really do help.

Cory Doctorow's quote is always apt "vastly more people don't buy my books because they've never heard of them, than will ever do so through piracy".

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

Cory pontificates a lot, but he's quite right about this one. This is why we ask people to let their friends know about BVC. Our e-books look pretty good, I think (formats) and the covers are decent, too. And we price things from .99 to 4.99, with only one, the 160,000 word original anthology costing more than that (and due to drop in price, I think, as it gets closer to the new one coming out.) So compared to $7.99 US paperbacks, we're a bargain. Plus, we are DRM-free, and will stay that way as long as our customers respect that and don't abuse it.

People do have different reasons for objecting to piracy. For example, one of my biggest fears (I've struggled all my life to not be misunderstood) happened to Elizabeth Moon (at least once -- possibly more.) She got a letter from a fan complaining about something that happened in a book. Elizabeth wrote back and said: "You've got the wrong author, that never happened in any of my books." Well, turned out he had a pirated copy of one of her books, and someone had changed the story! Elizabeth did point out kindly that if he read pirated books, he really could not complain that he didn't like the story, since there was no guarantee who had written whatever piece of junk he was reading.

For a writer who doesn't have to worry about income from books, that would be like someone hurting a beloved pet or even a family member -- many people, their books are their children, and they've put quite as much time and attention into them.

And in my case, where I desperately need income right now, finding out that I was having 1000 pirates a month downloaded would almost make me give up.

Places like BVC really do help.

Cory Doctorow's quote is always apt "vastly more people don't buy my books because they've never heard of them, than will ever do so through piracy".