Re: Neat summary of Google strategy

On Jun 21, 2009, at 9:45 PM, Mary E Tyler wrote:
>
> Maybe we need to rethink copyright or at least the way we charge for
> it. So those who don't care about their copyrights--for ephemeral
> things like emails or technical books that go obsolete--only get them
> for a reasonable amount of time. Let's say 15 years, the original
> term. But people who really care about their copyright can pay
> periodically every 15 years to extend it up to the theoretical 150
> years now allowed. Incorporate a tracking requirement (like with
> domain names) where you have to keep current contract info or risk
> losing the rights. That way, Disney gets to keep the mouse and we're
> not protecting people's emails for 150 years. If you care that damned
> much about protecting your copyright, you register it for the extended
> protection.
>
> Not that it'll ever happen, but there HAS to be a more functional
> method than this.
>
> Since we have such a difference of opinion, what would the ideal
> system look like?
>

I'd be happy with that, in general. Especially if notices were sent 3  
to 6 months before expiration. But it can't happen unless we change  
the Berne Convention. And let's face it, by the time Google and the  
AAP and Author's Guild are done with us, copyright as we know it will  
be history. The law is now being made by private settlements, and  
we'll once again be a rogue nation in the world of copyright. <sigh>

>
> You know, I'm not sure there's an argument there. At least where
> fiction is concerned, you DON'T "make it" until you're soup... and
> crackers with a silver spoon on a fancy tray. You develop your craft
> largely--if not wholly--unpaid for the effort. And there's no
> guarantee you'll make it even if you do become great, unless you find
> the right editor on the right day with socks the right level of
> tightness who **gets** your work.

Maybe. But of course fiction is a very small fraction of book  
publishing. And I think there's less of a correlation between top  
flight writing and publication than you might think. The primary  
consideration is not literary quality (beyond a certain minimum) but  
marketability. And that's a very different animal.

>
> I was thinking this morning about what might be the result of the
> Accelerated Reader program and the almost insane emphasis on reading
> in the schools. I don't have numbers on the AR program, but in
> encouraging--even forcing--more kids to read and maybe to be
> proficient readers, could we possibly be creating the biggest
> generation of readers we've ever known? It could be that the industry
> will stop its long slow decline...
>
> What say you?



I say "From your mouth to God's ears!"



Marion Gropen
Gropen Associates, Inc.
By-The-Question Consulting,  Tools for Publishers, & Classes
www.GropenAssoc.com
Her blog: www.GropenAssoc.com/blog





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