I'm also opposed to the increasing presence in our organization of webscabs, who post their creations on the net for free. A scab is someone who works for less than union wages or on non-union terms; more broadly, a scab is someone who feathers his own nest and advances his own career by undercutting the efforts of his fellow workers to gain better pay and working conditions for all. Webscabs claim they're just posting their books for free in an attempt to market and publicize them, but to my mind they're undercutting those of us who aren't giving it away for free and are trying to get publishers to pay a better wage for our hard work.
Sorry, I don't think the analogy fits. You can't have scab workers without a company to hire them. But who hires a writer to publish their books? They're self-employed. There's no corporation making money off the backs of striking workers. n the other hand, there are publishing houses and agents, and probably all sorts of other people who make a lot of money from writers who go the traditional route of publishing and selling their work. So if anyone's flirting with The Man, it's published writers. :) Not that I have any problem with someone who wants to make a living from their work! It's just ironic that a published writer would be accusing someone who gives away their work of being a scab.
I also think there's an odd, and kind of insulting (to writers) implication in Hendrix's position, which seems to claim that all writers and all written works are more or less interchangeable. So if author A charges for their work, and author B gives it away, people will automatically choose author B's work, because not having to pay is the only thing a reader values (which is insulting to readers)? What about people who are fans of writer A? Will the free work of writer B suffice as a substitute? I don't think so. Unless they are too poor to afford books (and that's what libraries are for), readers will buy a book from a writer they love, because that writer offers them something no other writer can do. Hendrix should have a bit more faith in and respect for his readers.
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I'm also opposed to the increasing presence in our organization of webscabs, who post their creations on the net for free. A scab is someone who works for less than union wages or on non-union terms; more broadly, a scab is someone who feathers his own nest and advances his own career by undercutting the efforts of his fellow workers to gain better pay and working conditions for all. Webscabs claim they're just posting their books for free in an attempt to market and publicize them, but to my mind they're undercutting those of us who aren't giving it away for free and are trying to get publishers to pay a better wage for our hard work.
Sorry, I don't think the analogy fits. You can't have scab workers without a company to hire them. But who hires a writer to publish their books? They're self-employed. There's no corporation making money off the backs of striking workers. n the other hand, there are publishing houses and agents, and probably all sorts of other people who make a lot of money from writers who go the traditional route of publishing and selling their work. So if anyone's flirting with The Man, it's published writers. :) Not that I have any problem with someone who wants to make a living from their work! It's just ironic that a published writer would be accusing someone who gives away their work of being a scab.
I also think there's an odd, and kind of insulting (to writers) implication in Hendrix's position, which seems to claim that all writers and all written works are more or less interchangeable. So if author A charges for their work, and author B gives it away, people will automatically choose author B's work, because not having to pay is the only thing a reader values (which is insulting to readers)? What about people who are fans of writer A? Will the free work of writer B suffice as a substitute? I don't think so. Unless they are too poor to afford books (and that's what libraries are for), readers will buy a book from a writer they love, because that writer offers them something no other writer can do. Hendrix should have a bit more faith in and respect for his readers.