5 ms·

Publishers are rent seekers and software companies are not? Microsoft selling windows and office is ok but publishers making money is not?

martimarkov 6y ago
Microsoft actually makes something in crude terms. Software companies create value with the product they build. The IP is the product. Publishers take someone’s work in crude terms. They might build a bit on top of it (proofread, format, etc) and then put it on a medium for distribution. Medium is technically the product here. To me a better comparison would be a company writing the windows installation to a CD and then selling = publisher. I could be wrong so am very open to hear the reverse argument. PS: recently a friend wanted to publish his own book and the publisher asked for him to pay the entire printing cost and a lot of other fees plus taking a % of sales. This is the closest I got to interact with the industry and was a bit shocked and also understanding that they can’t find everyone but still... came to be as a bit greedy
- yarrel 6y ago
  Microsoft just charges you for math. Historically speaking what they make are contracts with hardware manufacturers and lawsuits over patents on that math. Mainstream publishers lend authors money to write books as advances, edit their writing (don't knock editing until you see the difference a good editor can make to your writing), produce and distribute the resulting work across media and platforms (don't knock book layout until you've tried to do it), promote the books, manage book-keeping on the resulting revenue, and various other tasks that I've forgotten about. Your friend was targeted by a vanity press. Vanity presses don't do any of that. As you saw, they just gouge you to exploit your desire to see your name on a book. So they are not a good model for actual mainstream publishing houses. (None of this has anything to do with my support for the Internet Archive.)
- enitihas 6y ago
  > Microsoft actually makes something in crude terms. Software companies create value with the product they build. The IP is the product. Software companies create and sell products out of the labour of software developers. Publishing companies create and sell products out of the labour of book authors. Both are tangible products. Windows is no better stream of bytes than Harry Potter. The IP is the product for "Harry Potter" also. Also, you are trying to convey as if authors have no harm in books being distributed for free. They receive royalty from book sales. Giving their books for free is like saying a FU to them. I doubt any software developer is going to work for free, so why expect the same from authors.
  - Kye 6y ago
    They have to sell enough to cover the advance before they get royalties. Most authors never get there. "Piracy" is not the reason.
Nemo_bis 6y ago
Sure, Microsoft is even worse. > Perhaps the most successful global monopoly is Microsoft, which has succeeded in gaining global market power not only in PC operating systems but in key applications such as browsers. [...] Microsoft's monopoly power leads not only to higher prices but to less innovation. [...] The failure to develop a global approach to global cartels and monopolies is yet another instance of economic globalization outpacing political globalization. Joseph Stiglitz, Making globalization work (2006), §7.2.2 https://en.wikiquote.org/w/index.php?title=Joseph_Stiglitz&oldid=2800098 https://en.wikiquote.org/w/index.php?title=Joseph_Stiglitz&o...
- Kye 6y ago
  That's 14 years ago. The few monopolies they have left involve providing services that come with their software.

martimarkov 6y ago

Microsoft actually makes something in crude terms. Software companies create value with the product they build. The IP is the product. Publishers take someone’s work in crude terms. They might build a bit on top of it (proofread, format, etc) and then put it on a medium for distribution. Medium is technically the product here. To me a better comparison would be a company writing the windows installation to a CD and then selling = publisher. I could be wrong so am very open to hear the reverse argument. PS: recently a friend wanted to publish his own book and the publisher asked for him to pay the entire printing cost and a lot of other fees plus taking a % of sales. This is the closest I got to interact with the industry and was a bit shocked and also understanding that they can’t find everyone but still... came to be as a bit greedy

yarrel 6y ago
Microsoft just charges you for math. Historically speaking what they make are contracts with hardware manufacturers and lawsuits over patents on that math. Mainstream publishers lend authors money to write books as advances, edit their writing (don't knock editing until you see the difference a good editor can make to your writing), produce and distribute the resulting work across media and platforms (don't knock book layout until you've tried to do it), promote the books, manage book-keeping on the resulting revenue, and various other tasks that I've forgotten about. Your friend was targeted by a vanity press. Vanity presses don't do any of that. As you saw, they just gouge you to exploit your desire to see your name on a book. So they are not a good model for actual mainstream publishing houses. (None of this has anything to do with my support for the Internet Archive.)
enitihas 6y ago
> Microsoft actually makes something in crude terms. Software companies create value with the product they build. The IP is the product. Software companies create and sell products out of the labour of software developers. Publishing companies create and sell products out of the labour of book authors. Both are tangible products. Windows is no better stream of bytes than Harry Potter. The IP is the product for "Harry Potter" also. Also, you are trying to convey as if authors have no harm in books being distributed for free. They receive royalty from book sales. Giving their books for free is like saying a FU to them. I doubt any software developer is going to work for free, so why expect the same from authors.
- Kye 6y ago
  They have to sell enough to cover the advance before they get royalties. Most authors never get there. "Piracy" is not the reason.

Nemo_bis 6y ago

Sure, Microsoft is even worse. > Perhaps the most successful global monopoly is Microsoft, which has succeeded in gaining global market power not only in PC operating systems but in key applications such as browsers. [...] Microsoft's monopoly power leads not only to higher prices but to less innovation. [...] The failure to develop a global approach to global cartels and monopolies is yet another instance of economic globalization outpacing political globalization. Joseph Stiglitz, Making globalization work (2006), §7.2.2 https://en.wikiquote.org/w/index.php?title=Joseph_Stiglitz&oldid=2800098 https://en.wikiquote.org/w/index.php?title=Joseph_Stiglitz&o...

Kye 6y ago
That's 14 years ago. The few monopolies they have left involve providing services that come with their software.