Ink Tue Aug 19 2008
Paid for Secondhand
Should authors receive a share of sales from used books?
- Alice Maggio
This Month's Selection:
January 2009
A Raisin in the Sun
by Lorraine Hansberry
Lena Younger's husband has passed away, and as Lena and her family wait for a $10,000 life insurance check, they dream of leaving their tiny Chicago apartment and starting new lives. This groundbreaking play won a New York Drama Critics Circle Award when it was first produced in 1959.
Meet & Discuss
Join us at The Book Cellar at 4736-38 N. Lincoln Ave. (map) to discuss the book. We'll meet on Monday, January 12, at 7:30pm. New members are always welcome!
January 12
A Raisin in the Sun
by Lorraine Hansberry
February 9
A River Runs Through It
by Norman Maclean
March 9
The Book of Ralph
by John McNally
April 13
Then We Came to the End
by Joshua Ferris
May 11
Passing
by Nella Larsen
June 8
Cat's Cradle
by Kurt Vonnegut
July 13
Every Crooked Pot
by Renee Rosen
August 10
La Perdida
by Jessica Abel
September 14
The Echo Maker
by Richard Powers
October 12
Lords of the Levee
by Herman Kogan and Lloyd Wendt
November 9
Travel Writing
by Peter Ferry
The Gapers Block Book Club is a reading group dedicated to reading fiction by Chicago area authors and nonfiction works about our city. We read a new book every month, and new members are always welcome.
In Person
The book club meets on the second Monday of the month at The Book Cellar bookstore in Lincoln Square (map).
&c.
Sign up for the book club mailing list to receive reminders about upcoming meetings and other special announcements.
To get in touch with Alice and Veronica, the book club moderators, email us at bookclub{at}gapersblock.com.
Veronica B Wed Sep 03 2008, 12:48PM +
You know, I always wonder about whether my penchant for used books takes away from authors' livelihoods. I think I would be okay with authors getting some part of the second-hand profits, especially if it's a book I ended up liking. I'm not sure why the people who commented in that article are so against the idea - after all, we do pay so much more to actors who no only get money from the initial showing of their movies, but also from DVD sales. If I'm not paying any more for the books from the used bookstore, than I don't suppose I'm too terribly concerned with where the money's going (as long as it's not, you know, to some organization that kicks puppies or something).
C-Note Wed Sep 03 2008, 7:57PM +
Veronica:
You would have to pay more in order for the author to get a share of the profits. You can't maintain the same price and create a new share of the profits, unless you're suggesting that the bookstore should just take a hit and split their profits with the authors, which obviously couldn't work. Also, many of the authors are dead. Moreover, not many authors would actually get the money; the publisher, on the other hand, generally would.
The movie/DVD sales situation (two products) is like apples and oranges from the book resale situation (one product).
On the other hand, if the authors want a share, tell them to put that in their publishing contracts and find a way to enforce it, by, for example, getting the US Congress to pass a law requiring that book resellers keep track of the books they sell and remit a share to the publishers. Otherwise, it's an idle question. The easier solution is for you, the consumer, to send money directly to the author. Who needs a middleman?