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cory doctorow
technical books, but I’m talking about prose fiction here — though
this is clearly a sign of hope for our friends in tech publishing and
funnybooks).
Some writers are using the Internet’s affinity for sf to great
effect. I’ve released every one of my novels under Creative Com-
mons licenses that encourage fans to share them freely and widely
— even, in some cases, to remix them and to make new editions
of them for use in the developing world. My first novel,
Down and
Out in the Magic Kingdom,
is in its sixth printing from Tor, and has
been downloaded more than 650,000 times from my website, and
an untold number of times from others’ websites.
I’ve discovered what many authors have also discovered: re-
leasing electronic texts of books drives sales of the print editions.
An sf writer’s biggest problem is obscurity, not piracy. Of all the
people who chose not to spend their discretionary time and cash
on our works today, the great bulk of them did so because they
didn’t know they existed, not because someone handed them a
free ebook version.
But what kind of artist thrives on the Internet? Those who
can establish a personal relationship with their readers — some-
thing science fiction has been doing for as long as pros have been
hanging out in the con suite instead of the green room. These
conversational artists come from all fields, and they combine the
best aspects of charisma and virtuosity with charm — the ability
to conduct their online selves as part of a friendly salon that es-
tablishes a non-substitutable relationship with their audiences.
You might find a film, a game, and a book to be equally useful
diversions on a slow afternoon, but if the novel’s author is a pal
of yours, that’s the one you’ll pick. It’s a competitive advantage
that can’t be beat.
See Neil Gaiman’s blog, where he manages the trick of carrying
on a conversation with millions. Or Charlie Stross’s Usenet posts.
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