Ursula K Le Guin's open letter against Google

[Robert Maxwell]

I'm a little confused about the problem here.

From what I understand, writers and/or publishers have the option to A) sit back and collect royalties on all the work Google does with their work or B) be removed from Google's database and thus miss out on the income from it.

Where, exactly, is the issue there? I'm just not seeing it. If they have an issue with Google, they can just say "no thanks" and be in exactly the same position they were before Google even came up with this concept, or they can jump in and earn a few extra bucks without having to do jack squat.

I have to be missing something here. Or are these authors just as idiotic as they seem to be?

There are some who believe that Google making a few pages of their books available online is going to cost them sales.

Google is scanning all pages, but only intends to make a few pages available as a "preview" if you hit them in a search, unless the work is in the public domain. While it might be possible to eventually get an entire book this way, it would be a lot less work to find another way to pirate it (or just, y'know, buy it.) So, those who are concerned they will miss out on sales because of this seem misinformed or overly paranoid.

 

[Stevil2001]

I suspect it's Google's you-have-to-opt-out attitude that irks more than anything else. The authors own these works; Google should be asking them.

 

[Australis]

Of the books I've seen on there, most of them are pretty much complete, whether copyright or not.

 

[RJDiogenes]

Teelie, as far as I know, a library pays authors lending rights. It ain't much per loan, but adds up for the author. Why would the author allow a book to be held in a library with no financial benefit for them, indeed damaging potential sales?

I know I'm in at least a couple of libraries and I've never gotten anything for it.

 

[Australis]

Maybe it's an Australian thing.

*/ off to Wikipedia /*

Ah yes, it does happen in Australia.

RJ, you need to get your books into Aussie libraries!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Lending_Right

 

[RJDiogenes]

^^ Heh. I'll have to see about that.

Well, I registered at the site, but I'm not sure if I'm eligible for payment from Google; it seems to depend on when they digitized the book and if it is registered at the Copyright Office or was just Copyrighted through publication. But I'm not a lawyer, so I'm not sure.

But one interesting thing is that by registering I may receive payments from Google through advertising revenue and Library subscriptions.