出版与作家生涯2012extremetech.com
作家协会与出版商的恐慌如何毁掉合法电子书借阅网站
Authors destroy legal e-book lending site thanks to Authors Guild, publisher FUD
导读
文章讲述一家合法的电子书借阅网站，因作者协会与出版商的恐慌式宣传（FUD）而关闭；讨论由此延伸到盗版、DRM、作者收入与读者善意。对写作者来说，它值得读，因为它逼人思考作品传播的障碍、读者的支持意愿，以及“代表作者”的组织与产业利益之间并不简单的立场。
可以直接用的写作要点
- 01
把读者当作长期支持者而非潜在盗版者：允许借阅和分享往往能换来口碑与购买。
- 02
写作者更该害怕无人知晓，而不是害怕作品被借阅或传播；先被读到才可能被支持。
- 03
区分作者组织与唱片/出版产业机构，别把复杂的利益冲突简化成“作者 vs 读者”。
- 04
读者的购买常出于支持创作者的善意；当复制门槛降低时，这种善意比技术限制更关键。
HN 评论精选
读者购买多出于支持作者的善意；限制合法借阅既伤害善意，也挡不住盗版。
作者越来越依赖读者的善意，因为盗版他们的作品越来越容易。我买每一本我读的书完全是因为想支持作者，而不是因为我和盗版书之间有什么障碍。当然，我可能比普通读者更有技术能力，但这能持续多久？不难想象未来盗版对绝大多数读者都是容易且可行的选择，作者几乎完全靠读者善意生存。而作为读者，这一举动看起来就是直接冲我竖中指。当我买纸质书（价格常接近电子书）时，我可以无限次借给亲友、以不错的价格转卖，或送给任何人。对 DRM 保护的电子书我没有这些“权利”。但某些 DRM 电子书我确实有权临时借给别人。而这些作者刚刚试图让这件事更难。他们到底做到了什么？他们关掉了一个让一些读者使用出版商认可工具来借 DRM 电子书的单一工具。他们没阻止任何会用谷歌的人学会移除电子书/有声书 DRM 并随意分享，也没阻止任何人用谷歌找到其电子书/有声书的种子。
atourgates查看英文原文
Authors subsist increasingly on goodwill as pirating their products becomes easier and easier. I buy every book I read entirely because I want to support the author, not because there's any sort of barrier between me and pirating the book. Of course, I'm likely more technologically capable than the average reader, but for how long? It's not hard to imagine a future where piracy is an easy and attainable option for the vast majority of readers. A future where authors subsist almost entirely on the goodwill of their readers. And as a reader, this move seems like a straight up fuck you. When I buy a physical book (often at a price near that of an ebook) I can lend it to friends and family an infinite number of times, resell it for a good portion of the original price, or give it away to whomever I please. I have no such "rights" with a DRM protected ebook. But I do have the right with some DRM protected ebooks to temporarily lend it to someone else. And these authors just tried to make that more difficult. And really, what have they accomplished? They've shut down a single tool that let some readers use a publisher-sanctioned tool to lend DRM-protected ebooks. They haven't stopped anyone with the power of Google from learning how to remove the DRM from their ebooks or audiobooks and sharing them with however many friends, family members and strangers they want. They haven't stopped anyone with the power of Google from finding torrents of their ebooks or audiobooks. They did however manage to piss off a chunk of their customers. The ones who actually pay $12 for an ebook. If you subsist in part or in whole on the goodwill of your customers, it seems like a good idea to try and maintain that goodwill.
不要把作者协会等同于 RIAA；它确实代表作者，尽管这次做法可批评。
文章作者恐怕不太了解主题：说作者协会关心作者“就像 RIAA 关心音乐人”并不真。RIAA 代表唱片业而非音乐人；作者协会和编剧协会等确实代表作者并关心他们，两协会主席都是写作者，也常与制片厂/出版商冲突。你可以说作者协会这次做法失当，但说它不关心作者完全错误，我有经验。
objclxt查看英文原文
I'm afraid the author of this article doesn't really know much about the subject matter here: >"Does the Authors Guild care about writers? Absolutely — just as much as the RIAA cares about musicians." This really isn't true. The RIAA represents the recording industry - not musicians. The Authors Guild, along with the Writers Guild and other organisations, do represent authors, and they do care about them. The presidents of both the Authors Guild and the Writers Guild are writers. Both frequently go up against the studios themselves. There have been many, many conflicts between the guilds and publishers/studios. You can argue that what the Authors Guild is doing here is misguided, but to say the guild doesn't care about authors is just plain wrong. I speak from experience.
写作者应担心无人知晓而非借阅/盗版；曝光可能促进销售。
怕默默无闻，不要怕借阅。我很高兴我的书出现在 BookLending 等借阅网站。Paulo Coelho 对盗版帮助图书销售有有趣看法。
bennesvig查看英文原文
Fear obscurity, not lending. I'm happy to see my book on BookLending or other lending sites. Paulo Coelho has interesting thoughts on piracy helping book sales. http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/feb/01/paulo-coelho-readers-pirate-books
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