fwd: Re: [h2o-discuss] Fatbrain

[Alex Chudnovsky <b9678050@wlv.ac.uk>]

On Thu, 02 Sep 1999 10:29:25 -0400 "James H. Johnston" 
<jimjohn@erols.com> wrote:

> changes the equation.  Assuming you only publish on Fatbrain, then you
> get paid every time someone wants to read your book.  The publishing

Here is a flaw. With a hardcopy you can say for sure that if printed 
you will get your money (someone invested in printing and this someone 
paid you royalties). However, on the net being "printed" or "published" 
has no sense. You don't get money form that, you get money from a person
who actually PAID for a downloaded book. May I stress this word -- 
PAID, not downloaded. This is important becase quite a lot of people 
who write books expect to be paid for that, and in this case it might 
be from one hand very easy to make lots of money and from the other 
hand as easily to miss them.


> world would no longer talk in terms of first publication, reprints, and
> used books.  Your book is always fresh and your copyright will always
> bring in money as long as people want to read your work.

As long as people pay. No one cancelled the black market so far, 
you can easily go on the Net and download $1000 software for free (of 
course that's illegal and should not be done so). 


>     Second, Alex asks "who is going to pay even $1 for something one can
> get (even legally) for free?"

>     Take the case of a rare book.  Suppose you have the only copy of the
> Dead Sea Scrolls.  You scan it in and make it available on Fatbrain 
> for
> $50,000 a copy.  Suppose further that Fatbrain employs a copy protection

And you will sell only 1 (one) copy of the book, be sure that everyone 
else and his dog will copy it. Nevermind "protection", everything can 
and will be hacked even for the lesser amount of money. 

 
> scheme so that people can read it online but cannot print it out or make
> an electronic copy.  You can't copyright the Dead Sea Scrolls, but you

umm, since you can't copyright the book this means you will have no 
legal leg to do anything with a person who has broken the protection, 
right? And, do you really think honestly that no one will be able to 
re-scan from the e-book reader this book and publish it right away? 
It's technically feasible even for $20 book, yet alone for something 
really rare. In fact, given that situation, there will be no such thing 
as a RARE E-BOOK. How can be rare if anyone can have it for nearly free?
Again, since the published holds no copyright I can copy (provided 
protection is broken) easily. Even more, how dare you protect something 
from copying if you do not own the copyright??

> Fatbrain for $5.  Of course, the fact that this material isn't
> copyrighted means that someone else can pay the $5, print out the
> orders, scan them back into a computer, and put them on Fatbrain for $4.

Yes, that exactly my point. But you say it in the way, it sounds like 
almost impossible, while in fact given the number of people on the Net 
and their desire to make a buck or two, it will happen rather sooner 
than later, in fact I reckon we are talking hours or days, rather than 
weeks.


 
>     My point is not that people are going to get rich from putting non
> copyrighted material on Fatbrain, but that this may develop as a way to
> defray the costs of distributing such material.


I agree with your point and indeed I believe what Fatbrain does is 
something that will prevail in the future. However, two issues 
identified (publishing of non=copyrighted works will not be profitable 
and possible not that profitable publishing of the commercials).

In either case to find that out for sure, one has to try it out in real 
life, and it will be interesting to see what FatBrain gets at the end. 
As for me I would not look at it too optimistic from the commercial 
point of view. And anyway, reading the books is not the priviledge, 
it's somehow a basic human's right?



Sincerely yours,

  Alex Chudnovsky, BA MSc
  University of Wolverhampton, UK

  WWW: http://www.investigatio.com