I don't know, I think his point about being able to do whatever you want with a physical book misses an important distinction. You can't do things like, for example, photocopy the book and give it to all your friends. (Well, you can, but copyright says it's illegal.) You're not even supposed to photocopy things under copyright for classroom use. I understand his point about e-distribution laws being in place for the merchant's benefit rather than the author's, but as an author, I'd be kind of annoyed if someone was Xeroxing my entire book and throwing it around. Of course, it is Doctorow.
It is Doctorow, indeed. You're right, it's not like him to ignore the negligible cost of infinitely replicating a work of fiction.
I think the best thing to take from pretty much any Doctorow is the need to do a cost benefit analysis for your work in terms of the money it brings in vs. the cost of promotion. Sometimes, the jerk xeroxing your stuff and passing it out for free is actually doing you a favor. In most cases, if one of those people who wouldn't have picked you up for the initial cost of the book decides to be your fan for life, it seems to play out that they'll be there on opening week buying your hardcovers and talking about you to all their friends. And on the continuum of passing your stuff around for free, how much practical difference is there between someone who xeroxes a copy of a book they bought, and someone who reads it and then passes it to a friend? One feels like a massive violation, and the other is something we would never question someone's right to do, but they both accomplish the same thing, in essence.
Much as I hate to use the parlance of my postmodern classes, it's a set of assumptions worth "problematzing", "unpacking", and "deconstructing".
I don't know, I think his point about being able to do whatever you want with a physical book misses an important distinction. You can't do things like, for example, photocopy the book and give it to all your friends. (Well, you can, but copyright says it's illegal.) You're not even supposed to photocopy things under copyright for classroom use. I understand his point about e-distribution laws being in place for the merchant's benefit rather than the author's, but as an author, I'd be kind of annoyed if someone was Xeroxing my entire book and throwing it around. Of course, it is Doctorow.
ReplyDeleteIt is Doctorow, indeed. You're right, it's not like him to ignore the negligible cost of infinitely replicating a work of fiction.
ReplyDeleteI think the best thing to take from pretty much any Doctorow is the need to do a cost benefit analysis for your work in terms of the money it brings in vs. the cost of promotion. Sometimes, the jerk xeroxing your stuff and passing it out for free is actually doing you a favor. In most cases, if one of those people who wouldn't have picked you up for the initial cost of the book decides to be your fan for life, it seems to play out that they'll be there on opening week buying your hardcovers and talking about you to all their friends. And on the continuum of passing your stuff around for free, how much practical difference is there between someone who xeroxes a copy of a book they bought, and someone who reads it and then passes it to a friend? One feels like a massive violation, and the other is something we would never question someone's right to do, but they both accomplish the same thing, in essence.
Much as I hate to use the parlance of my postmodern classes, it's a set of assumptions worth "problematzing", "unpacking", and "deconstructing".