RE: Re: Paul Krugman holds forth on the future of publishing

Okay, now I get it. 
 
I was reading and responding to your post from an American point of view.
 
If I lived in Australia, I would completely agree with you. 
 
Luckily, the scenario you describe isn't the norm here in America.
Aaron J. Walker
Writer/Illustrator
"Good Morning, Friend Moon"Publisher
http://www.walkbroadpublishing.com


To: ebook-community-hHKSG33Tihig7M29m/[email protected]: [email protected]: Tue, 10 Jun 2008 13:39:10 +1000Subject: Re: [ebook-community] Re: Paul Krugman holds forth on the future of publishing




We need to distinguish here between 'production' and 'adding value'. If I write a novel on 300 sheets of white paper I have been productive, but I probably haven't added value, because people who in the past would have paid good money for 300 sheets of white paper will not now pay that.How do I determine if I have added 'demonstrable' value? By trying to sell the stuff. How do I determine if my novel-writing was the most productive way of spending my time? By trying to sell the stuff in a free market, and seeing if I make more money than I could have made doing anything else. And a 'free market' doesn't involve suppressing or restricting access to competing reading material. That just turns everyone else into losers.If the burger shop would have paid me $5000 for the same time spent flipping burgers, and I lose money on my novel, then I haven't been using my time in the most productive way and society is more than $5000 worse off as a result. This is all just Economics 101. If I've got more than $5000 worth of fun out of writing my novel then that's OK, but if not, then I'm not entitled to sit and whine about how society 'ought' to pay me better. I just need to get a real job.So -- getting back to basics -- my initial response was to the claim "Writers deserve to make a living". No. Nobody deserves to make a living unless they produce something somebody else values sufficiently to pay for it.Unfortunately the wrong-headed belief that producing words on paper is somehow inherently virtuous and should be rewarded regardless of its commercial value runs deep: maybe it's a hangover from our largely pre-literate ancestors. I don't know about the US but here in Australia there are plenty of tax-funded grants for writers and other creative artists; and as a result we see a steady stream of unsaleable rubbish presented under the name of 'art' by people who could be spending their time getting off welfare and doing something useful.Jon.
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