On the road again

[rolanni]

Today it's your turn, Skowhegan!  We're off for the long-delayed eye exams, and to run various errands, probably including new glasses (sigh).

For those wondering What On Earth the Woman is Doing, I offer the following notes on progress:

1.  Reviewed and signed contracts for seven novels and one novella.  Steve put them all in the mail yesterday evening.

2.  Threw away 2300-ish words on the commissioned short story and started again, this time with an outline and a break-out of POV for each scene.  The new iteration stands at 839 words, and feels much better.

3.  Regarding yesterday's report of piracy, someone asked how books get pirated.  Short answer is that someone buys a legitimate copy and decides that it is their right, and their duty, to make it available to as many people as possible, for free.  Before ebooks were as common as they are now, some people spent what I can only imagine was days, scanning books and uploading them to pirate sites.  I'd say you have to admire that kind of dedication, but, honestly?  I don't.

As to why they do it...some justify their behavior by saying that they can't find the books through legal channels (obviously untrue in the case of Necessity's Child).  Others will say that they're working to throw off the tyranny of copyright/the big publishers/millionaire authors; that they are in fact, vanguards of The Revolution.

In the end, it really doesn't matter why they do it; they're still stealing.  Not only that, they know they're stealing and they know it's wrong, which is why they make with the justifications.

4.  As reported elsewhere, I am currently somewhat short of spoons (see Spoon Theory).   This means that I may be scarce on The Intertubes; I promise to check in when I can.

...I think that catches everything up.

Everybody play nice.

Comments

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

Once upon a time, back in the gloomy 1980s, when there were no ebooks, nor were they dreamt of, three paperback originals by Steve Miller and Sharon Lee were published by Del Rey Books.

People bought the books. People loved the books. People lent the books widely amongst their friends, and talked about them, and re-read them, comfortable in the belief that there would be More of These to read, because they were So! Much! Fun! and everybody liked them, and...

They waited, and they waited, and they waited. For ten years they waited for that fourth book.

Why? you ask.

Because the books had more readers than they had numbers. Which is to say, they had been loved and loaned. In order for Del Rey to write a new contract with the authors -- a contract that would have seen Plan B appear in, oh, 1990 -- the books needed to be loved and purchased.

* * *

Now, that's a true story about what numbers mean to authors and to readers.

For the rest of it, you need to abide by your own personal ethical system; I don't have the energy to go into convoluted what-ifs that don't lead to more words on the stuff that's under contract.