internet

Will online breaches of copyright kill the printed book - or bring it to a new audience?

Girl with a Pearl Earring author Tracy Chevalier, chair of the UK Society of Authors—and gadfly, apparently—can hear the death knells now. Guy Dammann argues the point.

“Why does the freedom promised by the Internet feel so regimented and constricting? Why do its forms of democracy have their totalitarian side? What happens to popular culture when its sole emphasis is on popularity?” These are provoking questions, ones explored by Lee Siegel in Against the Machine. I’m not sure we’re living through a sci-fi plot, but the argument sounds intriguing.

SF Signal has a new "Mind Meld" series where they ask the same question to a number of people. Today they get a few authors views on how the internet has affected publishing. From Edelman: the Internet has allowed me to keep in touch with readers during the (too long) break between novels. Newer SF authors [had] to keep their name in the public eye [by writing] gobs of short stories.