[vlz]

I have to disagree somewhat. People write books for a lot of reasons, but one alluring thought in many an author's head certainly is: "Sure, it might not be commercially viable directly now, but over time…"

Writing books can be a pretty risky proposition from a financial point of view. Copyright should at least span an authors lifetime in my opinion.

Thinking that an author could profit not at all from a work if it gains popularity 20 years after it was written also seems unfair, seldom though as that case may be.

[TulliusCicero]

> Writing books can be a pretty risky proposition from a financial point of view. Copyright should at least span an authors lifetime in my opinion.

Why is it accepted that patents can last only 20 years then? Like, do you think creating new inventions is easy? Why for one and not the other?

But the bigger thing is that books making significant amounts of money after twenty years is an extreme exception. That's not the motivating thing. It's a "maybe that'd be nice" on top of the desire for revenue in the immediate future, in the first few years of the book coming out.

[rgmerk]

The proportion of books that make money 20 years after publication, after languishing in obscurity for that time, is a rounding error.

Like, how many such books can you actually name?

I think it’s a little different for music, where people sometimes sample fairly obscure old songs and turn them into hits. But then, a lot of those old songs shamelessly ripped off even older works…