| Fair Reading |
 Fair Reading
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May. 28th, 2009 @ 10:08 am 
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I've joined the Fair Reading group on Facebook. This is what the group creator, children's author Nicola Morgan says:
What is Fair Reading?
"It's a bit like the idea of Fair Trade. Just as Fair Trade is about allowing a producer to benefit properly, Fair Reading is about allowing authors (and publishers) to earn fairly from their work. When people are enlightened about the consequences of “unfair” reading, they often change their purchasing and borrowing habits. So, here is the message - do spread the word if you agree:
"The premise: author income is increasingly undermined by several factors which threaten the quality and range of future books. The factors are:
• untenably high discounts and promotions, incurring minuscule royalties
• the rise of second-hand selling of good-as-new books, (for example on Amazon Marketplace), so that authors and publishers are bypassed from the earning cycle. Secondhand book-selling has its place, but needs to be kept in its place. And often the books aren't genuinely secondhand.
• abuse of copyright by illegal photocopying or printing
• potentially, abuse of copyright by illegal free downloading of ebooks
"The problem: as author/publisher income falls, authors and publishers become less able to survive by producing writing of depth, quality or innovation. The consequence of cheapening and devaluing books is therefore the diminution of literature’s range. This is “unfair” reading, reading which puts no value on the work of the creator and simply scavenges, greedily and carelessly.
"The conclusion: Fair Reading. Fair Reading means, where possible, buying a book at a fair price that brings reward to the creator and protects the value of the written word, or borrowing within the PLR scheme (ie from a public library). Each time we choose to buy a cheapened book or acquire an author’s work for nothing, there is a small negative effect on the writer. Small effects add up to major consequences. A fair price protects future books. It matters.
"Even if many people ignore the message, others will hear it and there are people who care enough to change their practices, once they understand. I now find people apologising to me for having bought a book at high discount and that sense of guilt warms my heart! I don’t expect miracles, and I perfectly well respect that readers can’t always afford to ignore high discounts: all I want is that each reader should make an informed choice. At the moment, readers are not informed and if we don’t inform them, who will? Who should care more than we do?
"Authors are earning less and less; fewer and fewer of us are able to survive by our writing. These are facts, based on surveys by the Society of Authors, which consists of published authors. As we enter the digital age, it's particularly essential that the general public realise the consequences of not paying for what we read.
"Do you agree? If so, spread the word!"
Join the Facebook group here.
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I love the concept. Like fair trade, it makes so much sense. I will have to check this out as soon as I get a chance (when school is over).
So libraries should be banned?
No way! There's a good scheme here in the UK, and in Australia I believe, called PLR (Public Lending Right) which provides a small payment to the author every time someone borrows his or her book from a library. It's referenced in the article above.
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