Intellectual Property

Here is a really good interlinking chain of intellectual property articles:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tim-berry/ebooks-copyright-piracy_b_108319.html

http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/06/19/the-e-book-test-do-electronic-versions-deter-piracy/

http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/05/22/can-e-publishing-overcome-copyright-concerns/

http://stevenpoole.net/blog/free-your-mind

I am all for the internet and the free dissemination of ideas, but there is the reality that people who spend the bulk of their work time generating content need at some point to get paid if they are to continue to do so. I've spent years of my life working on my books and I hope people find enough of value in them to want to pay to read them. It's not vanity or ego, it's simple reality. I have earned absolutely nothing so far on my books, and I sacrificed the pursuit of moneymaking activities while I wrote them because I felt they had greater value than anything else I could generate. I'd like to earn something material from them to put towards my retirement. Making art is something of a luxury but so is consuming it, and if a content consumer benefits from what he reads, he should be willing to pay for the value. Making art is also not entirely a luxury, it's a driving need for some of us that is as important as air or food or water, and I feel that what it contributes to human culture and development is important enough to pay for.