Copyright and the Grocery Money

Good writing is hard work and the sale of that work is how I produce income, which is why I support US copyright laws.  Those who use my work should pay for it just as those who eat McDonald’s have to pay for hamburgers.  As most writers only get about $2 per hardcover, one can understand how important it is to protect the copyright. It takes a lot of sales to cover the rent or buy groceries.

There is a slight hitch to our copyright law, however.  Unlike hamburgers, books can be resold.  The author gets no part of that.  Nor do publishers and they don’t like it.

Publishers scored big in 2011 when the Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in their favor in a case involving the resale of textbooks.  (Read Publishers Weekly article) Simply stated, a student purchased books that were produced elsewhere and resold them to his fellow students.  It is the “produced elsewhere” part of the transaction that got him into trouble.  The court agreed that he violated the law.  No problem there.  However the court went on to rule that books produced outside the jurisdiction of the US copyright law cannot be resold.  

You say "So what?"  Where are many of our goods currently manufactured? China.  China is outside the jurisdiction of US law.  Therefore a book printed there cannot be resold.  The market most affected is textbooks.  Publishers may have won a battle but, in doing so, they knifed the kids and have potentially unleashed a reaction that will negatively impact all writers.

A case in point: A theology student confessed to me that he used a pirated copy of a textbook.  He simply did not have $400 to buy it. 

In forcing students to buy new textbooks at ridiculously inflated prices, US publishers are pushing them to pirate.  If they overcome their consciences often enough, they will not stop at textbooks. (Pirating is already a big problem. Let’s not have divinity students piling on.) The end result is that everyone loses: the students, the writers, and the publishers.

We cannot undo the court’s decision. However we can encourage our publishers to print books here so that they can be resold.  We may not make any money on the resales but at least we can keep our kids from stealing.

I wrote this blog several years ago and pirating remains an issue.  The advent of ebooks and digital distribution has made the problem worse.  Think about it the next time you grab something off the Internet.  Are you taking a writer's grocery money?

Writers Are Like Actors: Most Work Two Jobs

Are you a writer? Well, unless a rich relative recently left you a million-dollar bequest in a will or you have a winning lottery ticket in your safe deposit box, it is doubtful you will be able to quit your day job. If writing full time is your goal, there are three essentials to consider when contemplating writing full time. They are:

·         Personal finances

·         Assignment or publication frequency

·         Contract and deadline obligations

If you are writing on spec or as a freelancer, how often are you selling your work or getting assignments?  If you are writing books, will you receive an advance from your publisher and, if so, how long can you live on it?  (The advance will probably be paid in increments as you meet your submission deadlines.)

What is your financial situation?  How much money do you need each month to meet obligations such as rent or mortgage and utilities?  Do others depend on your income?  Notice I didn’t include food. How literally are you living the starving artist label?  How much money will you need to market your work? In other words, do you know what it will cost you to become a full time writer?

Review your current income and expenses. Determine what you are willing to give up and what you can afford to spend on your business. How much help and support will you get from your spouse or family?  After you use up your vacation time, how many unpaid days off will your employer allow?  How many can you afford to take?

Until you are able to leave the employment that pays the bills, you will be working two jobs. Give some thought to how you will budget time as well as money.

The preceding paragraphs are pulled from Dollars and Sense for Writers, Chapter One. So many readers, reading articles about J. K. Rowling’s wealth, think all writers make a lot of money. Nothing could be further from the truth. Being a writer is not easy and eking out a living from it is extremely difficult.  But if you truly love to write, you’ll do it anyway.  Just like I do.