Thanks to Cory for yet another wonderful bit of reading. I really enjoyed this one.

Great work as always!

(Also thanks for releasing it free)

or become Objectivists. :) *ducks*

thnk lt f my cnfsn cms frm th fnl tw sntncs: “H cld gt t th plc tht Cmps tk hm t nywhr. Tht ws ll tht mttrd.”

Srry t b dns.

No, it’s called Objectivism. Fascism is “the desire to be led.”

No, exactly the opposite. First, it’s not the ground floor because the building might fall down in two years. Your view is predicated on the notion that a strategy could last for a long time, maybe decades. This might be the only floor that ever exists for this strategy. You get on it or you don’t. And you might be called on to make that decision every year.

Second, it’s not strategy. It’s doing what seems good and right at the time. It’s applying ethical principles to business decisions. If it makes you money, that’s great. If it doesn’t make so much money, you still stuck to your principles. You’re fixated on the economics of writing rather than on the writing itself. That can’t go well.

Please don’t put details of the ending of the story in your comments. I’ve disemvowelled your comment for that reason.

You lost me right there.

Resenting others successes is not attractive (aside from the flies brought out by the stink)

That’s not what he’s telling you. That’s your vocation running over your avocation. You’re not grasping the ‘why’ Mr. Doctorow (whose fiction I’ve never once read (before I get called a fan boi)) does what he does.

I suspect that Mr D’s motives and your perception of his motives are divergent, and I’m quite certain (evidenced by your approach) that you don’t respect that difference very much. Maybe you just don’t see the difference for what it is?

Neil Gaiman gave a book away for free for a while, to the tune of a jump in sales.

Baen Books has been giving books away for free for some time: http://www.baen.com/library/ — they’ve found that not only does giving a book away for free online jump sales for that book, it jumps sales for ALL books by that author. This includes Lois McMaster Bujold, Larry Niven and Mercedes Lackey.

Brandon Sanderson is giving away a book as he writes it.

The numbers are on their side.

Cory: Good stuff. This is the first time I’ve read your fiction. Fuckin’ chilling, though. ;)

Anyway, it’s Cory’s choice to make.

In the last year “free” music by Radiohead and Prince liberated VAST amounts of cash. Not everybody can work it that way, but I appreciate people willing to prospect for new veins.

GIVE AWAYS are so refreshing in a world that has been so focussed on greed since Reagan. I feel such people to be a new breed … able to recognize that good will sells more than good PR.

”Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell. Cancer has no purpose but growth; but it does have another result – the death of the host.” Ed Abbey recognized that capitalism, like all the isms, is an unsustainable street. It’s good to see the recognition spreading. We can all just get along.

Tor is a high-paying, high-prestige, high-circulation market that pays more than anyone else in the field, more or less.

Regarding whether others are “expected” to release CC — I’vewritten a bunch about why this is a good idea, but I’ve never said writers have a duty to do so, just that they’d be crazy not to.

And the comparison of CC to the dotcom bubble is just bizarre.

And “in perpetuity”? In a pig’s eye. Copyright expires. Good thing for writers that it does, or a) most of our work would vanish after a short period because no one could figure out whom to license it from (google “orphan works” — today more than 98% of works in copyright qualify) and b) because it would prohibit adaptations of public domain works, such as Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan.

Honestly, what are you thinking?

That’s why I said ground floor. It’s pretty new. First floor if you must.

“Your view is predicated on the notion that a strategy could last for a long time, maybe decades.”

I don’t think so. I see this an emerging strategem in what might be a quickly transoforming market. Stability for ten years? That’s for bonds. Call it what you like, but stategy works for me. But seeing how publishing is using a very old model (in general), I’ll have to assume at this point that rather large portions of the industry will fight change and slow the process down. Don’t you think that’s reasonable when considering who controls the industry? And don’t we have to project loss due to theft in the formula? I could see theft of DMR-free e-books eating up all the savinging that could be realized by not using paper. There is no way to really judge this other than by looking at other segments of the market, such as music. But the comparison is of limited value at the current time.

Sounds like the Heaven’s Gate cult.

Huh? I just submitted a short to a magazine a couple weeks ago. There seem to be paying markets still.

Isn’t there a zine you can give your work too? Are you a lost lead for Tor? They want to draw people in, give them some free stuff, and promote traffic so they can use the data some how. Such as generating ad revenue. Telling us this on BoingBoing will add to that traffic, of course.

It’s like you’re just throwing spaghetti and hoping that something hits and something sticks.

Can Tor give any sales figures on their writers whose work has been given away and whose book sales numbers have increased? I might expect them to tell you that number. So, if Cory’s book sales go up 15% after a free short is released, I could see doing it often enough.

When you get something published, you could try it and see for yourself.

If this model of Giving it away for Free really works, why wouldn’t every other Publisher quickly jump on the band wagon?

Do you, like, worship at the alter of the invisible hand of capitalism, or what?

When the first Napster came out, they ended up offering a deal to the music industry, some chunk of money per person or per song or something, and the music industry turned it down. How many years later is it now and iTunes is doing exactly the same thing. Rhapsody charges a flat-fee per month.

But there are still artists you can’t access on certain music sites for download, and whether it’s because they’re afraid of the change, they don’t understand the medium, or what, is irrelevant. The point is that the lack of immediate industry adoption doesn’t prove it can’t make money.

You know like people jumped on when internet stocks were really hot and perceived value was nothing like actual value.

This is more spaghetti.

As for Creative Commons usage: as long as you don’t expect all authors to invite other people to mess with their stuff, then its fine.

I… er… what?

Allowing people to use your art as they see fit in no way invalidates the rights of those who wish to remain in control of what is theirs.

You explaining copyright law to Cory is sort of like you explaining a quadruple bypass to a heart surgeon. Not that I don’t find it entertaining in its own way, but just letting you know.

In perpetuity if they so desire.

OK, imagine your explaing that quadruple bypass to heart surgeon, and then imagine that you briefly mention why using leeches to remove “bad blood” is a useful technique in recovery.

It’s abundantly clear that you don’t understand copyright law or creative commons or publishing.

You’re a sf writer, C.D., so what happens when the desire to make a living comes into conflict with people’s increased expectations that what you’re providing them should be free? Not just an occasional short, but all of it? Just like people expect to get free music and free news and free medical care? How are you going to make a living book selling if the technological trends lead to wide-spread use digital book readers? What if everyone just assumes they can download a book for free? Perhaps I’m thinking too far ahead, but that’s how markets are evaluated for long term investment.

I used the example of the internet stock bubble to illustrate the idea that sometimes ideas can make money in the short term, but in the end they fail. Only time will tell.