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How do you feel about libraries? Should I feel bad about the hundreds of unpopular fiction books that I borrowed when I was younger? I believe that writers, vi

How do you feel about libraries? Should I feel bad about the hundreds of unpopular fiction books that I borrowed when I was younger? I believe that writers, video game creators and other targets of piracy should be fairly compensated for their work. However, for products that require $0 to be duplicated (by the creator or not) it doesn't make sense to charge per-unit.

rhino369 6y ago
Libraries buy copies (and the creators get paid). And the copies (on average) circulate a lot less often than you'd think. High volume authors would probably opt out of the library system if they could, but the average author probably gains from libraries (since they buy a bunch of copies that otherwise wouldn't be bought).
bentcorner 6y ago
I like to borrow ebooks from the library. I could pirate them but I'd like to think that the borrowing traffic from the library is the least I could do for the author.
chipotle_coyote 6y ago
Questions like "how do you feel about libraries" feel like they're saying "this is complicated," and, I mean, yes. It is! Is copying an ebook for free the same as checking it out of the library? There's some similarities, but there's also pretty clear differences, right? > For products that require $0 to be duplicated (by the creator or not) it doesn't make sense to charge per-unit. Well, when you buy a physical book, most of the cost is not actually in the production. The cost structure allows us to use that physical book as a proxy, but as the reader, you're probably not buying that book because you care deeply about the paper stock and typography choices -- you're buying it because of the words. It's the story, the style, the author, the subject matter, the genre. Those are the things that ultimately have value to you, right? Those are really what you're paying for... and they're identical between the physical copy and the zero marginal cost ebook. And none of that really requires a per-unit charge, I know. But the question shifts to "okay, then what's the alternative?" There are possible answers for that, to be sure -- e.g., Patreon-style models where the most enthusiastic fans are essentially subsidizing the production of the work. Yet for every Patreon success story -- and let's loosely define that as "making more than they would if they were selling their works in a traditional fashion" rather than "making most or all of their income this way" -- there's a hundred creators who are just making enough to buy a dinner at Chili's once a month. And half of them will have to skip the Presidente Margarita. Going back to the subtext I was reading into your question: this is complicated. :)

rhino369 6y ago

Libraries buy copies (and the creators get paid). And the copies (on average) circulate a lot less often than you'd think. High volume authors would probably opt out of the library system if they could, but the average author probably gains from libraries (since they buy a bunch of copies that otherwise wouldn't be bought).

bentcorner 6y ago

I like to borrow ebooks from the library. I could pirate them but I'd like to think that the borrowing traffic from the library is the least I could do for the author.

chipotle_coyote 6y ago

Questions like "how do you feel about libraries" feel like they're saying "this is complicated," and, I mean, yes. It is! Is copying an ebook for free the same as checking it out of the library? There's some similarities, but there's also pretty clear differences, right? > For products that require $0 to be duplicated (by the creator or not) it doesn't make sense to charge per-unit. Well, when you buy a physical book, most of the cost is not actually in the production. The cost structure allows us to use that physical book as a proxy, but as the reader, you're probably not buying that book because you care deeply about the paper stock and typography choices -- you're buying it because of the words. It's the story, the style, the author, the subject matter, the genre. Those are the things that ultimately have value to you, right? Those are really what you're paying for... and they're identical between the physical copy and the zero marginal cost ebook. And none of that really requires a per-unit charge, I know. But the question shifts to "okay, then what's the alternative?" There are possible answers for that, to be sure -- e.g., Patreon-style models where the most enthusiastic fans are essentially subsidizing the production of the work. Yet for every Patreon success story -- and let's loosely define that as "making more than they would if they were selling their works in a traditional fashion" rather than "making most or all of their income this way" -- there's a hundred creators who are just making enough to buy a dinner at Chili's once a month. And half of them will have to skip the Presidente Margarita. Going back to the subtext I was reading into your question: this is complicated. :)