> >(What would happen, then, if I parlayed that bit of fame into a speaking
> >tour, an appearance on MTV's Rock-N-Jock Jai Alai Shootout, a quick
> >fling with Claudia Schiffer, a fall from grace(TM) caught on camera
> >by Hard Copy investigators and a Home Shopping Channel autograph
> >special, in which I'm introduced thusly: Dwayne Purper -- whose
> >brilliant, but enigmatically brief, writing career was cut short by the
> >lights of Tinseltown -- is best remembered for the masterpiece he
> >distributed on the web in the mid-'90s. An autographed 14-inch monitor
> >can be yours for only $5,000.)
>
> But then you are not being a writer, you are being a celebraty (a talent
> unto itself) and Greg's writing has nothing to do with it. It's all your
> celebraty skills.
Tell that to the fans of Michael Bolton.
> >Isn't that what's happening now? Except currently those wealthy
> >folk are Random House and Geffen; later they may be Microsoft and
> >Exxon.
>
> But the value that is gained off of the essays will be different. Right
> now artistic works that fall under copyright and other intellectual
> property laws are items that can be published (so sculpture wouldn't be,
> but photographs of the sculpture could be, though this is changing
> lately). A publisher buys from you your right to control who may copy the
> work, and can publish a number of copies for profit. Well if you are quite
> capeable of publishing the work yourself there is no incentive for someone
> to buy that right off of you. A personal homepage (say Justin's Links from
> the Underground) can be just as popular as a commercial endevour (say
> HotWired) if not more. So what distinguishines the two? It used to be
> that self published works mean that the distribution was insanely low, but
> no more. Now the commercial sites may be different becasue they have a
> sales force selling advertisments on their site, but check out
> http://commonwealth.riddler.com they are giving that ability to the
> everyone as well.
Sure, I agree. And I'll enjoy seeing this happen.
But, per Greg's posts, what's to stop anyone from copying your stuff and
distributing it to everyone else for free?
-- Dwayne Purper Chapel Hill, N.C. USA http://www.futmedia.com ---------------------------- Dumb ad slogan No. 20: "Can your beer do this?" ----------------------------