Re: Paul Krugman holds forth on the future of publishing

Maybe a short introduction first.

I work for a company that manufactures an e-book reader, the BeBook. 
(So, yes, I might be biased on some topics...)

Just yesterday I've sent out a pressrelease, pointing out just about 
the same thing Mary did.

Of course, we're a business, and we should make a living selling the 
reader. But ... a reader is nothing without content.

The press release basically asked for help and advice from existing 
communities: readers, writers or publishers.

Though it's easier, through new technology, to publish a book in the 
first place, it's harder for ambitious professional writers to make a 
living, or even get noticed.

We'd like to have opinions on how to tackle this problem, and find a 
way to get people reading, especially starting authors.

We came up with some options:
- An ebook only literature price of, let's say $10.000, to stimulate 
writing and let the reading community decide the winner?

- Pre-install new work on the BeBook, as a way of author promotion?
(Which could be done in several ways: author gets a fixed amount from 
every BeBook we sell, containing his/her work. Or simply by a pre-
publication or first few chapters)

- Should we be active on a 'publisher' level, and support through 
promotional activities?

In short : we'd like to stimulate new talent, in a way that's 
beneficial for all parties.

If any of you have suggestions, they're very welcome. You're the 
experts.

Peter Zieleman
BeBook - www.mybebook.com 
peter-bnbf9FiuI6RWk0Htik3J/[email protected]

On a technical note : We're working on a DRM system to protect 
intelectual property.




--- In [email protected], Mary E Tyler <dejahvu@...> 
wrote:
>
> So NYT columnist/economist Paul Krugman held forth on the Kindle 
and  
> the future of publishing today...
> http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/06/opinion/06krugman.html
> 
> My response to him:
> 
> Re: the Kindle and information wanting to be free...
> 
> I've been "in ebooks" (and publishing, written 2 pbooks) for about 
ten  
> years now. And I know people making livings from publishing them. 
They  
> make money from books, not appearances by authors, which had you  
> checked in the last decade, no one but the largest authors even 
draw  
> remotely large crowds even when said appearances are free.
> 
> There is another alternative to "they must find a way." It's that 
they  
> won't find a way and that the intellectual property will just go 
away.  
> It will never be created in the first place. People who otherwise  
> would have written great books will flip burgers or go into 
investment  
> banking. They will be tired and sapped of creativity at the end of 
the  
> day and they will never write because they have lives and families 
and  
> like to eat and have shelter just like the consuming public.
> 
> Okay, so only the JK Rowlings of the world will write books. But 
wait,  
> there will never BE a JK Rowling. Because JK was once not JK and 
how  
> did she GET to BE JK in the first place? Harry Potter was a 
sleeper  
> hit for three books--didn't become big til the 4th book. No on goes 
to  
> the readings of unknown novelists, much less pays for them. Thus, 
JK  
> would have, eventually had to give up scribbling, round about book 
2,  
> and go get a real job. One that paid.
> 
> But even so, what happens with intellectual property that is more  
> important than the marketplace, for example, news? Bloggers are 
very  
> popular, but they don't do a lot of primary reporting. That primary-
- 
> and EXPENSIVE--reporting is done by organizations like the NYT, 
which  
> spends a lot of money to create intellectual property that will 
become  
> valueless under the new model. If the NYT can't make money selling 
its  
> reportage--WHICH COSTS MONEY TO PRODUCE--that reportage will go 
away.  
> Democracy--all of us--will be the poorer for it.
> 
> I'd make a case that novels are the same way. What happens when 
all  
> novels are Harry Potter (like all restaurants in Judge Dred were 
Taco  
> Bell)? We as a society, as a civilization, will be poorer when 
only  
> the rich can afford to create because there is nothing "in it" for 
the  
> rest of the grubby writers.
> 
> Intellectual property does not want to be free. Books take money 
to  
> produce: writers have to be paid, copyeditors have to be paid,  
> interior and cover designers have to be paid. No money = no making 
a  
> living = no creating. It's supply and demand. If the demand is 
big,  
> but only at a very, very low price, it almost guarantees that 
shortage  
> will be a constant reality.
> 
> dej
> --------------------------------------------------------------------
--
> Learn to use Google Analytics to make your web site more effective.
> Buy my book! http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/047017501X/
> --------------------------------------------------------------------
--
> "I loathe writing. On the other hand I'm a great believer in 
money."  
> -- S.J. Perelman
> --------------------------------------------------------------------
--
> In the midst of winter, I finally realized that deep within me 
there  
> lay an invincible summer.
> --Albert Camus
> --------------------------------------------------------------------
--
> I am Writer, hear me Pontificate!
>



------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------------
Post a message:   ebook-community [[at]] *
Unsubscribe:      ebook-community-unsubscribe [[at]] *
Switch to digest: ebook-community-digest [[at]] *
Switch to normal: ebook-community-normal [[at]] *
Put mail on hold: ebook-community-nomail [[at]] *
Administrator:    ebook-community-owner [[at]] *

(* == yahoogroups.com)
-------------------------------------------------------Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ebook-community/

<*> Your email settings:
    Individual Email | Traditional

<*> To change settings online go to:
    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ebook-community/join
    (Yahoo! ID required)

<*> To change settings via email:
    mailto:[email protected] 
    mailto:ebook-community-fullfeatured-hHKSG33TihhbjbujkaE4pw@public.gmane.org

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
    ebook-community-unsubscribe-hHKSG33TihhbjbujkaE4pw@public.gmane.org

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
    http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/