overheard in providence

Via Techcrunch, the UK’s Society of Authors is expressing concern that internet-based book piracy may prevent more and more authors from writing. Before I try to quell their concerns, I’d like to congratulate them on being a cut above the music industry. Instead of simply whining about the potential drops in CD book sales, they are actually considering the internet’s impact on the quantity and quality of work being produced. Their concern, of course, is that free digitally distributed content will prevent talented authors from making a living writing, so they’ll stop… and we’ll be at a loss for words.

As any record exec will tell you, the dawn of the 21st century is, more or less, a post apocalyptic wasteland for the music industry. These nobel executives surely saw it coming. In October of 1999 Wired magazine observed that “mp3″ had overtaken “sex” as the internet’s most popular search term (no doubt to the relief of pornography executives), and since then music industry revenues have steadily declined. Now our bleak future existence is destined to be professional musician free. Or not.

As Ars Technica recently pointed out, revenues are indeed down, but unit sales are way up. Thanks to the internet we are purchasing, and consuming, more music than ever. We aren’t paying quite as much money for it, but we’re still paying plenty. The internet makes music distribution a lot cheaper, and better electronics/computers/software make albums cheaper to produce. Why shouldn’t we be paying less for music? Other than Stan and Kyle, you’d be hard pressed to find examples of aspiring (or professional) musicians forced to give up their dream because the internet was eating away at album sales. The scenario doesn’t even make sense given how most musicians make money (shows, merchandise, having a real job).

So what about professional authors? The world wide web literally fills your computer screen with free words, and easier on the eye e-book readers are becoming available. Once all books are being distributed digitally, how will talented authors still be able to make a living off of book sales? Unlike musicians, they probably won’t be earning much on book tour (although superior writing ability does lend itself to finding supplemental employment).

From the article (you know, the one that’s linked to way back in the first paragraph), the Society of Authors appears most worried about the books you don’t read cover to cover. The chair of the organization, Tracy Chevalier, expressed these concerns.

It’s hitting hardest the writers who write books that you dip in and out of: poetry, cookbooks, travel guides, short stories – books where you don’t have to read the whole thing.

Although people still buy [books by] Nigella and Jamie Oliver and Delia it is because of their celebrity. Cookbook authors are really struggling. I do it myself – if I want a recipe I go online and get it for free.

For a while it will be great for readers because they will pay less and less but in the long run it’s going to ruin the information. People will stop writing. There’s a lot of ‘wait and see what the technology brings’ but the trouble is if you wait and see too long then it’s gone. That’s what happened to the music industry.

I’ll ignore the last bit about the music industry, and merely suggest that poetry, cookbooks, travel guides and short stories, are all very questionable examples of impending doom and gloom.

Let’s start with poetry. When, exactly, was becoming a full time poet a viable career option? I was born in 1981, but had I been born in 1941 and soon after declared my intention to write poetry books full time, I doubt that natural talent would have ensured my prosperity in internet-free america. At least today aspiring poets can post their work online and pursue rap lyricist as a fallback career.

Now onto cookbooks. If recipes are your thing, why not start a cooking blog. If you’re a good writer (and chef) it will get popular. You can make money off of ads, and like many, many, bloggers before you, use your site to spark interest in a book. Also, and this is just a crazy idea, you could earn extra money as a cook.

So what about travel? It’s certainly true that for most cities you can find information and reviews online regarding restaurants, hotels, museums, activities, etc. Fortunately, many reviews of restaurant/hotel/museum are still being written by professional writers. As one of these professionals, you could no doubt take up the task of organizing related information into books. To supplement these unprofitable and easily pirated tomes, however, a website could also be created. Now when your readers are walking around a foreign city, with or without their travel book, they could use their web-enabled phone to get location specific information about what they are looking at and where they should go. The potential to make money off of ads would be enormous.

Last, but certainly not least, is short stories. Unsurprisingly, I know next to nothing about the world of short story publication. I have to assume aspiring authors currently have the ability to publish their short stories on the internet. If these stories are good (or about Harry Potter), I assume people will read them. In the past, short story writers could make money by selling their work to magazines, and I don’t see why this couldn’t still happen on the web. Alternatively, publishing companies could start short story websites, encourage their authors to submit samples of their writing, and use the site to sell full texts.

Maybe that last idea stinks, but I still doubt short stories are going anywhere, because as far as I can tell the internet gives lots of people (like me!) a greater opportunity to write. If some of these people are talented (like my childhood friend!) they stand out and are given more opportunities to write. It’s no surprise that a bunch of professional authors are concerned about impending change to their field, but it’s no reason for us to be worried about a shortage of quality writing.

Update: Cathy Erway, my housemate’s sister and author of noteatingoutinny.com (the cooking blog I linked to above), just announced her book deal (goooooooo Cathy!). I confess, I had already heard about the impending book when I wrote this post, so my linking to her blog was not a coincidence. Regardless, she’s an excellent (and impressively thrifty) cook and writer, so the link (and book) is well-deserved.