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0 pointsSimianSci7mo ago0 comments

No such thing as free when bandwidth costs money. Any service online that is handing out things for free without restriction is getting their return through scrupulus means and shouldnt be trusted. Anna's Archive straddles the line enough to allow people to download books for free but not at too great an expense to the volunteers who pay out of pocket to support the project.

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Vektorceraptor7mo ago

So what about the authors and creators of the works? They did it for free?

AIPedant7mo ago

Information and well-crafted sentences are available on the Language Tree, easily plucked by anyone at zero cost. It's greedy for those so-called novelists and subject matter experts to expect a living wage.

"Information wants to be free," which means that any cost of producing that information can be abstracted away due to ideological inconvenience.

Vektorceraptor7mo ago

Then show me the easily available "information on the langauge tree" to solve the unsolved problems in science. Btw. books are not mere information, they are also products of effort and sacrifice and intentions. They are also embedded in an economic system of paper, books, ink, transport and what not producers.

So you are either poor or too lazy to buy a book from the store. But this doesn't justify mind theft or it's distribution.

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slt20217mo ago

they already work almost for free, since all the money goes to the publisher and retailer.

out of $20 book, the authors earn about $1 - $1.5, for e-books its about $1.7 - $2

The value from book sales goes to retailer and publisher: two large corporations, and in case of amazon - a single big corporation

so please cry me a river about amazon's lost profits earned at the back of the book authors

Aerroon7mo ago

Governments. You forgot governments. They take the bulk of the money, especially in Europe.

~25% VAT and then the publishers and retailers take their cut. The government takes another 40% in income and payroll taxes from that. The leftovers are what the author gets.

Buying from yourself is probably the biggest markup you can get.

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Vektorceraptor7mo ago

This is a problem of publishers and retailers, and not a justification for distribution of mind theft.

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akkad337mo ago

Then what's the economic interest for writing a book

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Vektorceraptor7mo ago

So what about the authors and creators of the works? They did it for free?

AIPedant7mo ago

"Information wants to be free," which means that any cost of producing that information can be abstracted away due to ideological inconvenience.

Vektorceraptor7mo ago

So you are either poor or too lazy to buy a book from the store. But this doesn't justify mind theft or it's distribution.

1 more reply

slt20217mo ago

they already work almost for free, since all the money goes to the publisher and retailer.

out of $20 book, the authors earn about $1 - $1.5, for e-books its about $1.7 - $2

The value from book sales goes to retailer and publisher: two large corporations, and in case of amazon - a single big corporation

so please cry me a river about amazon's lost profits earned at the back of the book authors

Aerroon7mo ago

Governments. You forgot governments. They take the bulk of the money, especially in Europe.

~25% VAT and then the publishers and retailers take their cut. The government takes another 40% in income and payroll taxes from that. The leftovers are what the author gets.

Buying from yourself is probably the biggest markup you can get.

1 more reply

Vektorceraptor7mo ago

This is a problem of publishers and retailers, and not a justification for distribution of mind theft.

1 more reply

akkad337mo ago

Then what's the economic interest for writing a book

1 more reply

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse