hey kids - i'm a computer - stop all the downloadin

[davemerrill]

To all our readers -

There are now many people unjustly posting copies of manga on the internet. These unjust copies are inconsistent with mangakas’ feelings. They are also distorting the authors’ intentions of “I want the work to be read this way”. The actions of posting these unjust copies on the net, into which the mangakas have poured their hearts, are not only hurting mangakas in real life but are also against the law, even if done in a light-hearted manner. Every time we discover such “unjust copies”, we talk to the mangaka and consider every possible countermeasure. But the number of inconsiderate people is great, and at present we cannot deal with all of them. We have a request for all our readers. The unjust internet copies are deeply hurting the manga culture, mangakas’ rights, and even mangakas’ souls. Please understand once again that all of that is against the law. Also, the mangakas and Shueisha will severely deal with any unjust copies found on the internet. We ask that our readers please continue to support us.

~Weekly Shonen Jump editorial department

From here, and he got it from here.

So now, at least you can't say they didn't ask!

Comments

[guyhatesyou.livejournal.com]

... and knowing is half the battle.

[sobieniak.livejournal.com]

"I don't know much about computers other than the one we got at my house, my mom put a couple games on it and I play 'em..."

[damerell.livejournal.com]

I notice big copyright is very careful these days to produce this sort of paen about the authors' rights [1], leaving sordid financial concerns a distant memory.

I was moderating a panel on ebooks at Eastercon where we were trying not to have the evils-of-DRM discussion but didn't entirely succeed. I won't name the publisher, but you would have inferred from their representative that it would be better to have 100 copies out there all of which are paid for than 400 copies, 200 of which are paid for...

[1] which frankly is taking the piss a bit when it's the music industry.

[damerell.livejournal.com]

I daresay, but IME (which is largely of SF writers) it's from a purely practical standpoint. "400 copies, 200 paid" is better than "100 copies, all paid" is better than "400 copies, 50 paid" is better than "100 copies, 12 paid"; the question becomes whether no-DRM will give you scenario 1 or 3 and whether DRM will give you scenario 2 or 4 (or indeed 1 or 3, if it just doesn't work at all). The idea that 2 might be preferable to 1 because a higher _proportion_ of copies were paid for just doesn't enter into it; what matters is the absolute amount of cash to be had, with extra unpaid copies being somewhere between harmless and a slight egoboo.

Fortunately we had a writer on the panel who was enthusiastically saying these things and furthermore that DRM just doesn't work at all, which put a neat stop to the rest of us running into the "Oh, you're only saying that because you're a pirate" well-poisoning argument.

I'm deeply suspicious of the "author has a right to be paid" argument - it's an appeal to emotion, it sets copyright up as a fundamental right rather than an expedient way to incentivise creation, it's purely a matter of opinion, and furthermore (if you are in the DRM discussion) "the author has a right to be paid => we must use DRM" is missing an important logical step.

"Does DRM actually result in more sales" is a question which is not purely a matter of opinion; one can look objectively at the outcome for DRM and no-DRM operations. In SF publishing, for example, it's fairly clear that it's massively counterproductive; Baen's DRM-free ebooks are enormously more profitable than anyone else's.

This hasn't got much to do with the OP, I've just got all this stuff in my head after carefully not saying it because I was meant to be keeping the panel off this topic. :-)

[damerell.livejournal.com]

Not quite radical enough for me. I'd start with music, where the present setup has all the nuisances of artificial scarcity while simultaneously being extremely bad at rewarding artists. Sure, track what people are downloading or listening to, but fund it by taxation on related equipment. This is a common proposal, but a) don't hand out the money via a shambles like the PRS b) remove all restrictions on copying music electronically.

Now you've got no incentive to avoid the tracking. Quite the opposite - the issue is with stopping you ballot-stuffing to route cash to your favourite band. It doesn't kill off recording studios; if you think paying for a high quality recording will improve downloads, go for it (but we'd better have a rule that an advance for recording can at most be in lieu of income from that specific recording and you can't enter into a restrictive agreement for future recordings). If you want to print physical copies, go ahead; they're still protected.

[tochiro998.livejournal.com]

As I'm sure you know, Baen Books has had DRM-free downloads of various books since the whole concept of the E-book came into being, and according to the publisher (may he rest in peace, taken from us too soon) it was quite successful and does actually lead to sales.

ETA: Oops, yes, you do cite Baen Books. D'oh. How did I miss that.

Of course I was appalled when I learned that an average mid-list SF title is lucky to sell 5000 copies. My god, that's absurd.

But I don't think the SF book geek has the same habits and attitude of the AmeriOtaku (tm). There is a really strange sense of entitlement in the AmeriOtaku community, and delusional self-justification.

[damerell.livejournal.com]

I think Flint would describe it as enormously successful:

"I measure "successful," by the way, using the only criterion that means much to me as an author: Webscriptions, unlike all other electronic outlets I know of, pays me royalties in substantial amounts. As of now, I've received about $2,140 in electronic royalties from Baen Books for the year 2000. (The last period reported.)

That sum is of course much smaller than my paper edition royalties, but it can hardly be called "peanuts." Every other electronic outlet I know of, in contrast, pays royalties-if at all-in two figures. My friend Dave Drake has given me permission to let the public know that his best-earning book published by anyone other than Baen, in one reporting period, earned him $36,000 in royalties for the paper edition-and $28 for the electronic edition. And that's about typical for even a successful book issued electronically."

I think that sense of entitlement (and, frankly, I'm not going to come down too hard on someone for realising that the current system of copyright revolves entirely around artificial scarcity and feeling this is a bit of a crock) and self-justification, as you put it, is commoner in anime fandom, no doubt; but largely because it now consists mostly of teenagers, who don't as a rule have a great deal of money; it's clear that the stack of downloads on someone's hard drive does not - cannot - correspond to a stack of lost sales. The question to ask is not how to stop them downloading stuff, but how to soak them for money when they get proper jobs.

[tochiro998.livejournal.com]

(please pass on my regards to Mr. Drake as I enjoy his work very much, and I do vote with my Dollars)

ETA: and I am an idiot who seemingly can no longer read, as the 'my friend Dave Drake' was in the quotes from Flint. Gaaa. it's true, I'm losing it.

but then again, I'm a terrible person as I can't afford to buy hardcovers and must wait the 14 months (plus or minus) for the paperback version.

(I am also somewhat OCD and once I start a series in PB it's aggravating to have the next volume appear in HC...)

So, about that. I'm convinced that part of the problem in book publishing is the cost of books and how they've stopped being 'cheap disposable' entertainment. While it's true the average book has a greater page count (seems around 400 pages is the norm) then back in the '60s..let me grab something from the stack...here we go, 'Invasion of the Robots', a short story collection edited by Roger Elwood, Paperback Library 1965, price 50 cents for 157 pages and then the '80s we've got 'Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen' by H. Beam Piper, Ace books 1984, $2.75 for 215 pages and now, 400-some, no, let's be specific, 'Dance of Time by Drake and Flint, Baen books 2007, $7.99 for 655 pages. I know, I know adjusting for inflation and all that today's books are a MUCH better value for the money, but the *practical* reality is $8 out of my pocket is alot of money today.

Combine the cost of a book with the decline in bookstores and we're in the same decline cycle that hurts the comic book biz, the anime biz, the toy biz- too few stores selling product thus raising prices which chases away customers causing stores to close making fewer outlets causing higher prices...

(I mean, seriously. Back in the late '70s there was at least a dozen local bookstores as well as two national chains, maybe more. Now there's for all intents, 2. Barnes and Nobel and a local two-store chain.)

[davemerrill.livejournal.com]

Why nobody buys SF books any more: the covers are God-numbingly awful. Awful awful awful.

http://www.goodshowsir.co.uk/

[tochiro998.livejournal.com]

maybe not awful in all cases, but BLAND for damn sure. I see lots of careful CONSTRUCTION but not very much actual art.

Not that I want to see a return to endless variations of Chris Foss style spaceships that have not a single thing to do with the book...

[damerell.livejournal.com]

I can afford hardcovers (lucky me) but I can't afford the shelf space to put them on, nor oversize paperbacks. I'm about three books behind on China Mieville, say.

_The Dance of Time_ is a big book, mind - it's the biggest in the series (ish, maybe _The Tide of Victory_ is) and Baen don't really shy from printing flyswats. But I do wonder sometimes what happened to the novella.

I don't know, but I guess in real terms prices now must be higher than in the heyday of the pulps.

[damerell.livejournal.com]

I think any position can easily find an idiot to advocate it. Equally well, I wouldn't judge the other side by the "It's STEALING because I SAY SO and STEALING is WRONG" crowd.