@rysiek
1/ I see the idea of #copyright from multiple POVs.

I'm a writer & #editor. I've worked both freelance & in traditional #publishing. The system initially worked very well for #writers, & was well worth their portion of the pie:

* Publishers screened out bad writing, mentored less experienced writers to improve.

* Several people would edit each book/short story (not cheap).

* In the days before internet, you NEEDED to get onto shelves to get noticed. Publishers were able to provide that access & the marketing. (This was NOT cheap to do. Writers could not afford that level of marketing. They also didn't know who could help them or how; publishers had that industry knowledge & networking.)

* Copyright protection & lawyering up for libel suits, etc. would also be provided free to the author, as needed.

* Agents (another middleman) would (and still do) provide excellent contract negotiations (not only btwn #authors & publishers, but for movie rights, sequel issues, etc.)

@rysiek
2/
* Before #PrintOnDemand #POD and online book sales, a book run was generally 10K copies or more. Someone had to organize & oversee the logistics of moving them all to stores & maintaining stock at the point of sale. Plus, 10K copies requires a lot more storage space than you would think. That's also another cost.

* If you were lucky & your book sold more than 10K, another print run were another cost. Translations & international sales meant more expenses.

* Back then, the only form of real "self-publish" was #VantiyPress, which was as much of a ripoff and waste of money then as it is today.

Basically, it's easy to be comfortable in this modern era and think that things have always been as they are now, that the #arts were always something that #artists could do on their own and pay the rent. It's easy for younger people to think that the middlemen were always unnecessary, but that's not true.

Life was VERY different before the internet.

#WritingCommunity #Writers

@rysiek

3/ I do think that we are seeing a new paradigm shift in how things are done.

For too long, we've been trying to govern the internet using 18th Century methods, but it's a square peg that doesn't fit into that old round hole. We've been trying to make it work, and getting by with it mostly, but also setting ourselves up for a disaster (especially with topics like #Copyright).

But I also think that ideas like #TheFediverse and modern #SelfPublishing are allowing #artists to flip things. They are allowing "the Common Man" (and woman) to put their art on the market without the need for the middlemen anymore, and empowering more independent voices. They are giving #artists and #writers a way around the corporate gatekeepers.

#WritingCommunity #WritersOfMastodon

https://annethewriter33.wordpress.com/2023/07/06/the-future-is-federated/

@rysiek
4/
To believe that #AI will merely be a harmless and purely benevolent tool for everyone is naive, imo-- especially for those in #writing and #publishing.

The #automobile revolutionized the world. In the process, it also put a lot of blacksmiths out of work, and sent a lot of horses to glue factories & slaughterhouses.

I see my #editorial career as being like a blacksmith in the age of #AI. It won't be a common job in the future, & the few who do it will have a very different job description & use very different tools than I ever have. Software like #Grammarly & #ChatGPT can already do much of the work I used to do-- not as well as a human right now, but it won't be long until they can reliably replace #editors.

But once again, we'll be handing our #art over to corporations-- the same oligarchs who plowed over our #copyrights to train their AI will control the software that they'll make us reliant on.

#WritingCommunity #WritersOfMastodon #Writer's #ArtificialIntelligence