Comments on: Eating Air

By: Janis Susan May

Janis Susan May — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 02:31:45 +0000

I agree with you Barbara, and did not mean to include library users in my diatribe. We all can’t afford all the books we want, and libraries are a great fill in. It’s also a great place to discover new authors for whom you might not have shelled out the money. And every book in a library is a book that has been sold. I also agree that our libraries should enact a system of making some payment – even if it is only a token – to the authors. No one seems to think that without people like us, people who write words and make stories, there wouldn’t be any libraries, but we’re expected to do it for free.

Mostly my ire is directed to those who pirate books – this is done a great deal with e-books, though I have heard of people scanning print books and selling copies. People seem to have no respect for creation or creators – only for their personal profit, even if they have to steal the product.

The image of the artist happily starving in his garrett for the freedom of creation is a tenacious one.

By: Barbara Keiler

Barbara Keiler — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 20:32:27 +0000

Estella: Nothing wrong with using the library. Did you know that in some European countries, authors receive a small royalty every time one of their books is borrowed from the library? Just a few cents each time, but in this way a society honors its authors–and acknowledges that they need to eat more than air.

I wish we could implement such a system in the U.S.!

Barbara

By: Estella

Estella — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 20:08:05 +0000

I buy as many new books as I can afford, but by the end of the month I have to frequent the used book store or the library.

By: Janis Susan May

Janis Susan May — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 17:57:14 +0000

Brava! Beautifully said. Being a vicious old woman, I have fantasies of printing this essay on a card and handing it to everyone who wants a free book or shortchanges writers in any way.