When your book is out there

After studying the issue a little, I have come to various conclusions that I will spell out. The issue at hand is that a lot of printed material is being distributed free to various people all over the world, with the authors getting little or no recompense.

The free market does not care that much about quality, although the readers themselves probably care and demand changes accordingly. To a free market distributor what matters most is, where can I get a free version of anything, how can I store it and distribute it to the wider market, free, and what can I get out of it. Sometimes what they get out of it is simply traffic - you come through their site, you pick out free books, you download them, they hope you click on ads, or pick out their books, or something. Maybe they keep track of your information and data and sell it to someone; after all, now they know about your taste in books. But they also know that you're not inclined to pay for them, so, unlike Amazon, the data they are accumulating about your tastes is somewhat marginal in value. So what's in it for them? I'm not sure.

But I'm sure that this is a very active network and it is right on top of all sources of free material. I was in the habit of providing my books for free for a weekend at a time, figuring that, for at least a small celebratory period of time, I could share with my readers some of my work which they would then be able to enjoy as my loyal fans. But what I failed to reckon with was that once I gave the book away free it was, essentially, all over a free market that would make it available free in many venues, all covert but still easily findable, kind of like soft porn, filling up the internet and making sure that anyone who was looking for anything free would have the greatest possible choice available to them. IN other words, a book that was free once, even in a single exchange, where I give a book away free to someone once, in one place, for one reason, has the potential to be free forever and for everyone. That's because, having given it away, I no longer have any claim to what it's being used for or who that person gives it away to, or where it goes after it's left my hands. I have let go of it entirely. I have to stop thinking of "just giving it away" once or twice, or to certain people, or without conditions. If I want to maintain proprietary control, i can't give it away, or, I have to very carefully spell out the conditions.

No doubt though, the free market is voracious; it's ubiquitous; it's relentless. It is partly because of the market. If you think of the number of people who want to learn English, who like a good story, who have reading addictions but not a whole lot of money, you're talking a huge number of people. And it's not that I'm so greedy myself; I have enough money, so I'm a good author for them to pull down into the free market where they can devour everything I write. In the big picture I'm ok with that. I'm kind of like Andy Warhol; I'd rather see my work all over the place, than see myself richer as a consequence of what I do sell. To some degree, I might be able to have it both ways, before it's over.