3 ms·

I imagine your self published works are available for a reasonable price. In this event, piracy is less tempting. Papers and academic books often cost upwards o

I imagine your self published works are available for a reasonable price. In this event, piracy is less tempting. Papers and academic books often cost upwards of $75. Furthermore, assuming your work is priced reasonably, imagine the content was not available within a shadow library. Would the people pirating it have paid? Or would they have given up, barred due to their financial situation. Personally, I can say confidently that I have never once pirated something I would have otherwise paid for

tuna74 2y ago
People have the right to set the price for their work and output. If you don't think it is a fair price, don't use the work.
- internetter 2y ago
  1. In very few circumstances are the authors setting the price of their work. The publishers do, and the authors receive a small cut. 2. Here, you are contending that knowledge should only be available to those who can pay. That's a completely valid opinion, but let's just be clear about what it is insinuating.
  - carlosjobim 2y ago
    The authors have sold their agency to the publishers, they are the authors' agents.
- aleph_minus_one 2y ago
  > If you don't think it is a fair price, don't use the work. If the price is not set "fairly" (in the sense of "I'm willing to pay this price"), people will look for the good on another market (the gray market).
jfengel 2y ago
Would the people pirating it have paid? Some of them, if my writing was of any value. Personally, I can say confidently that I have never once pirated something I would have otherwise paid for That's fantastic. Thank you. But I'm sure you know at least some people who have downloaded things just to save even a single dollar.
- internetter 2y ago
  But I'm sure you know at least some people who have downloaded things just to save even a single dollar. No, I don't. I've watched people pirate things, certainly, but never have I watched them while thinking "if piracy wasn't an option, they would have paid". Indeed, for many people piracy is a long and difficult process as they kludge through ad-laden pages and dead links. That's why services like Spotify are so successful. On paper, you could have pirated the music, but in practice piracy is much harder. There is nothing analogous for the publishing industry, but I would gladly pay upwards of $20 a month for access to all books.
  - squigz 2y ago
    > “We think there is a fundamental misconception about piracy. Piracy is almost always a service problem and not a pricing problem,” he said. “If a pirate offers a product anywhere in the world, 24 x 7, purchasable from the convenience of your personal computer, and the legal provider says the product is region-locked, will come to your country 3 months after the US release, and can only be purchased at a brick and mortar store, then the pirate’s service is more valuable.” https://www.escapistmagazine.com/valves-gabe-newell-says-piracy-is-a-service-problem/ https://www.escapistmagazine.com/valves-gabe-newell-says-pir... This was true in 2011 and it's just as true now.
gabeio 2y ago
> academic books often cost upwards of $75. All of my college text books were leaps and bounds more than this, my lowest costing book might have been $75. Most of the books cost well over $150 and many of them couldn’t be purchased online. Most came with some online class learning aid which if you bought the book second hand you’d have to pay the full book price to get the access code anyway. These publishers are out of their minds.

tuna74 2y ago

People have the right to set the price for their work and output. If you don't think it is a fair price, don't use the work.

internetter 2y ago
1. In very few circumstances are the authors setting the price of their work. The publishers do, and the authors receive a small cut. 2. Here, you are contending that knowledge should only be available to those who can pay. That's a completely valid opinion, but let's just be clear about what it is insinuating.
- carlosjobim 2y ago
  The authors have sold their agency to the publishers, they are the authors' agents.
aleph_minus_one 2y ago
> If you don't think it is a fair price, don't use the work. If the price is not set "fairly" (in the sense of "I'm willing to pay this price"), people will look for the good on another market (the gray market).

jfengel 2y ago

Would the people pirating it have paid? Some of them, if my writing was of any value. Personally, I can say confidently that I have never once pirated something I would have otherwise paid for That's fantastic. Thank you. But I'm sure you know at least some people who have downloaded things just to save even a single dollar.

internetter 2y ago
But I'm sure you know at least some people who have downloaded things just to save even a single dollar. No, I don't. I've watched people pirate things, certainly, but never have I watched them while thinking "if piracy wasn't an option, they would have paid". Indeed, for many people piracy is a long and difficult process as they kludge through ad-laden pages and dead links. That's why services like Spotify are so successful. On paper, you could have pirated the music, but in practice piracy is much harder. There is nothing analogous for the publishing industry, but I would gladly pay upwards of $20 a month for access to all books.
- squigz 2y ago
  > “We think there is a fundamental misconception about piracy. Piracy is almost always a service problem and not a pricing problem,” he said. “If a pirate offers a product anywhere in the world, 24 x 7, purchasable from the convenience of your personal computer, and the legal provider says the product is region-locked, will come to your country 3 months after the US release, and can only be purchased at a brick and mortar store, then the pirate’s service is more valuable.” https://www.escapistmagazine.com/valves-gabe-newell-says-piracy-is-a-service-problem/ https://www.escapistmagazine.com/valves-gabe-newell-says-pir... This was true in 2011 and it's just as true now.

gabeio 2y ago

> academic books often cost upwards of $75. All of my college text books were leaps and bounds more than this, my lowest costing book might have been $75. Most of the books cost well over $150 and many of them couldn’t be purchased online. Most came with some online class learning aid which if you bought the book second hand you’d have to pay the full book price to get the access code anyway. These publishers are out of their minds.