The Bookseller.com

1st December 2008

Writers under internet threat

31.03.08

Book piracy on the internet will ultimately drive authors to stop writing unless radical methods are devised to compensate them for lost sales. This is the stark forecast of the Society of Authors, as reported in the Times.

Author Tracy Chevalier, who chairs the organisation, said that her members were deeply concerned that the publishing industry was failing to adapt to the digital age. Chevalier told The Times that the century-old model by which authors are paid – a mixture of cash advances and royalties – was finished. "It is a dam that's cracking," she said. "We are trying to plug the holes with legislation and litigation but we need to think radically. We have to evolve and create a very different pay system, possibly by making the content available free to all and finding a way to get paid separately.”"

The Times

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