Comments on: Wall Street Journal on Google Books, orphaned works

By: Bill McHale

Bill McHale — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 23:27:50 +0000

And if the author is dead? Or what if you wanted to publish a book but couldn’t track down the author or his heirs? Or what if the heirs were split on whether or not they were willing to republish (or under what terms they were willing to republish).

I agree that ebooks and print on demand make it easier for a book to stay available to the public than it was a few decades ago. But that being said, I would guess that the majority of books that were published 10 years ago are out of print and many of them may never be reissued in any form.

–
Bill

By: Rob Preece

Rob Preece — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 19:14:12 +0000

In the past, orphaned works were an issue. But are they really a problem today and going forward? Authors whose rights have reverted can seek another publisher or ePublish themselves. Several of the books I publish were formerly published by large publishers, orphaned, and re-issued by BooksForABuck.com with the authors’ permission/support. Assuming books are orphaned because the initial publisher is no longer actively marketing them seems dangerous.

Rob Preece
Publisher

By: Bill McHale

Bill McHale — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 17:05:27 +0000

I have to admit I am of a mixed mind about the Google Settlement myself. On the one hand, it does seem to give Google an awful lot of control of information. On the flip side, every time the terms of copyright are increased, it increases the likelihood that additional works will end up orphaned and essentially abandoned by future generations long before they enter the public domain.

Mind you, this is not simply a question of books no one cares about. In my experience, important books by important niche authors often end up sitting out of print for years before someone decides to print them again. Its gets even worse if the author dies, or the current publisher goes out of business, etc.

To put it in simple terms, copyright has stopped serving the needs of the public good and no are serving the good of corporations.