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by lordlicorice 5120 days ago
> Books need to be written, edited, typeset, 'printed' / 'put into ebook format', distributed, etc.

The author writes the book. Typesetting and "putting into ebook format" are a copy-and-paste affair, taking at most a day. Pirated books don't need to be printed or distributed.
3 comments
lukeschlather 5120 days ago
>Typesetting and "putting into ebook format" are a copy-and-paste affair, taking at most a day.

Well, if you want it done poorly, sure. (And of course, you rightly avoided impugning the need for a good editor.)

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aangjie 5119 days ago
>Typesetting and "putting into ebook format" are a copy-and-paste affair, taking at most a day. I suggest you try doing it for someone else's work. Try signing up to be an editor at one of the story-writing sites. It's not a copy-and-paste affair. And doing it well requires non-trivial amount of attention and time.
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Karunamon 5120 days ago
That time still isn't free.
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chris_wot 5119 days ago
So, they pay once for that time and effort. That doesn't mean that they should be paid in perpetuity! Imagine a cobbler who fixes my shoes. Should I pay them for every step I take? Of course not, I pay them once for the work they have done.
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Karunamon 5119 days ago
That's really a terrible analogy.
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chris_wot 5119 days ago
Why so?
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Karunamon 5119 days ago
Because continuing that analogy, you should pay once for that time and effort on the part of the publisher as well. It kind of falls apart, and I'm pretty sure it's not the point you were trying to make.
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chris_wot 5119 days ago
I'm a little confused. Why should I pay for a product more than once? My analogy of shoes is that it's a service you purchase. If I need to purchase the service again, then I will... pay a second time :-) But if I purchase a college textbook, unless there is some massively important content update, then I can't see why I need to purchase it more than once!

To be clear, if more than one person buys the book, then the time and effort will have been repaid by more than one person. The analogy I provided doesn't actually fall down - if several people go to the cobbler to have their shoes repaired, more the good for the cobbler!

So yes, I only would pay once for the time and effort of the publisher for that book. I might buy more books from the publisher, but then that is different content.

I'm not following your reasoning as to why I or anyone else should pay the publisher more than once for the same product. Could you clarify?

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