Cory Doctorow, Boing Boing editor, writer and graphic novelist, has a great essay on how the publishing industry has virtue, as opposed to the music and movie industry, which rip off artists and deny them royalties at every turn, cram lopsided contracts down their throats, and pummel users with threats and attacks, which only affect the people who have legitimately bought their products not those for whom the threats are intended.
The publishing industry, in comparison, tends to treat artists with a lot more transparency and fairness, and should be proud of this fact.
Finally, authors’ advances are (usually) only charged to their current books, or sometimes across a single deal. Unlike musicians, who are often required to pay back shortfalls from their last project before they can start earning on their latest one, authors’ balance sheets are zeroed out with each new book. If your last book tanks, your next book usually doesn’t have to pay back its advance. Publishing doesn’t do debt slavery.
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