Women in Technology

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Article:		Piracy is Progressive Taxation, and Other Thoughts on the Evolution of Online Distribution
Subject:		Easy to say when you titles have a 6 month shelf life
Date:		2002-12-15 17:44:17
From:		tlilley
Response to: Easy to say when you titles have a 6 month shelf life
Indeed. Just ask fans of Jonathan Carroll (http://jonathancarroll.com/), who have historically had the option of buying his books new within about 6 months of their publication, or getting gouged on the aftermarket once they've passed off the radar of the big houses. Fortunately for him and his fans, he seems to be in better hands now (Tor), with an actual publicist, promotional tours, and so forth. I personally would love to see the new petitioners to the traditional publishing house's role succeed. Print-on-demand, micropayments, direct contact with creators, and so forth could make all the work we're doing worthwhile. Fortunately, companies like O'Reilly "get it", and will likely weather these changes, understanding that their role, at the end of the day, is to facilitate the relationship between the creator and the customer. The megacorps forget this every day. Sadly, so do most customers.