What we don't see is the artist, who has poured months of full-time work into that book, deciding not to bother writing another one. The royalties just aren't good enough, and they can't afford to work for free. We don't see the artist's website disappearing from the internet, because the affiliate income, from sales on linked art supplies or book stores, wasn't enough to pay for the domain registration, let alone the hours taken to keep it updated. We don't see the publishers deciding to just re-print an old classic drawing book, rather than employing a struggling young Manga artist - why invest when there is no return?
It's up to us to change the culture around online sharing. As an Open Source Software enthusiast, I value freedom and collaboration - I love to find creative commons and copyleft work that I can adapt and share. But works labeled in this way are selected for sharing by the artist. Artists have the right to control their work, and choose what we will share freely, and what they will use to earn a living. We need to encourage a free and open cultural commons, but one that is conducted responsibly and respectfully.
Next time someone posts a drawing tutorial they've 'found' somewhere, let's ask them: where did you get this? Just because it was on the internet doesn't mean that it is public domain. We wouldn't stand by and watch someone pocket a book in a store, so we won't do so on the internet. We'll let people know that we don't condone it, and report breaches of copyright. We will visit genuine artist's sites for tutorials, enjoy their freely published material, and buy their books or use their affiliate links next time we are shopping online.
We want great artists to continue to devote their time to creating and teaching - not wasting their talents in an office somewhere. We will not tolerate theft.
Comments
So true. If you want to share information from an artist’s site, share the link to that artists site instead of coping it all.
I have seen your work on other sites. I have been here long enough to recognize it!
While I often praise your stuff to others, I share a link, I don’t copy the page!
As an artist-writer, I have also come across this same problem. It takes constant education — even of people I thought would have known better — to help people understand that it *is* theft and that it *does* carry consequences!
what amazes me the most is finding my images on the sites of academics, using it for tutorials without so much as crediting my name! You think they’d know better!
I’m confused is it about the money or the credit or both? If you put in a link and send someone there to watch the video for free there how does that help the artist? I understand wanting them to know who you are so they can go to your site for more great stuff but if they are sharing your stuff that they paid you for don’t they then own it? If I buy a book and swap it with my neighbor for one she bought are we stealing? What if I go to the library and check out art for a month to hang on my walls? Theft? Once you create something and sell it if you don’t specify that if cant be shared are we still stealing? I sometimes share with my son my password so he can check out what I’ve bought and see if he wants it also because I know his morals and ethics will have him buy his own rather than keep using mine.
Peggysue, there are a lot of different issues you’ve raised there.
First of all, to focus on my work here as an example, I’m paid by pageviews – the more viewers, the more I get paid. It’s connected to the advertising – the more people see the adverts, the more advertisers will pay to be on the site. So if someone is visiting another site, I get less income. Also, Google doesn’t like duplicate content, so their duplication of my stuff means even less viewers can find my site.
Many artists who have their own blogs include some advertising, and if people click through and purchase using those affiliate links, it helps give them a little bit of income.
Sales of books and art have specific licenses. If you look at the copyright notice inside many novels, you’ll see in fine print, a comment like “sold under the condition that it may not be lent, hired, re-sold…” something like that. Technically you are buying that book for your own use, only. In fact, knowing how hard it is to make a living out of books, I usually buy new books from authors I like – not so much the big blockbusters, but certainly emerging authors who need support. Libraries have special arrangements with publishers. So yes, lending a book is in fact stealing. I think many of us take that fairly lightly – and I think most writers wouldn’t mind if it introduces a new reader to their work. But only if that new reader follows up by purchasing a copy!
Legal or not, we have to remember that it costs time and money to create things. We need to support creators!
With most artwork, you buy only the art itself. If you want to own the rights to the image – to share it on your blog or print a tshirt of it – you have to ask permission from the artist and probably pay a lot extra for those rights.
I know some people think I’m weird because I buy DVDs and software, but I don’t enjoy copied/pirated/stolen media, it just feels too wrong!
Lending a book is stealing!!! That is absurd.
Perhaps, Cindy. And it’s there in the fine print. I don’t care all that much about the legality of it, so much as the ethics.
If 500 people lend a book to two friends, thats 1000 copies of your book that didn’t sell.
A typical Harlequin romance writer might make from $7000 to $10 000 on a book, which sounds like a lot, but that’s full time writing for three months (none of this two years to write a million-dollar blockbuster stuff) and they have to write three or four books a year to earn the equivalent of a low full time wage. (Not to mention that there’s no health insurance or pension plan included, and the years of learning to write and being rejected!) Writers of niche genres can be in an even more precarious position, and most epublishers don’t pay well at all.
The authors I’ve met are amazingly generous souls and they are forever donating their time, money and books to causes. They aren’t going to begrudge a loan to a friend or a secondhand book for someone on a tight budget.
But the reality is that every book you don’t buy is literally money out of their pocket. I enjoy buying lesser known authors – Clive Cussler or JK Rowling probably won’t miss a sale or two, but Kimberly Menozzi is delighted by every order she receives.
Well said, Helen! Bravo!!!! Writers should not have to fight to profit from their own work, nor should artists, musicians or filmmakers.
Belated thanks for your reply, Ann – and thanks for linking back to me from the related article on your blog – http://annstephensromance.com/2012/01/20/yeah-i-own-this/ – much appreciated. I think this is an issue all of us have in common as creators.