The fact of the matter is that writing directly generates very little income for most college professors. In modern academia, the work is so specialized that it has little interest to the general public. Their potential audience for a journal article is essentially limited to the potential authors for same said journal. There are exceptions of course, but even then the bulk of the money earned for writing tends to be books intended for the general public, not works intended for research.

So why do Professors write? Its simple, its how they justify the salaries they make at a University. If you figure that a full Professor makes more than the average I quoted above, and only has to be in the classroom roughly 6 hours a week for two 14 weeks terms, he is either extremely well compensated for his teaching, or there is another aspect to his salary. Part of his compensation is to support him as he does research and writes.. or supervises the research and writing of others. Indeed, most colleges and universities expect their professors to publish regularly in order to obtain and keep tenure.

Lets remember, Colleges and Universities are generally either State Institutions or “Non-Profit” institutions. In theory the Institutions and their employees have made a choice to work for the public good. Lets make sure their work actually does go toward the public good.

–
Bill

I have no data other than my own personal contacts, but I suspect that the typical professor writing in his field, is likely to be earning less for his labors than a burger-flipper at MacDonalds, especially if he is writing on a specialized topic. Yet Lessing, affluent and self-righteous, wants to not only deny him that pittance, he accuses him and his fellows of being greedy. Pitiful.

And since the topic is copyright, just much time does Lessing spend criticizing what his fellow copyright lawyers make? Their income starts at around $300/hour and climbs into the stratosphere. Has Lessing asked himself how many ordinary college professors can afford to hire the graduates of his law school. Does he every criticize them for being greedy?

Most authors, academic or otherwise, need strong copyright laws simply for the fear factor. They can’t afford a lawyer. And given the perhaps 100-fold difference between what a professor earns from his writing and what a copyright lawyer earns from his, it’s not too much to expect Lessing to spend a bit more time denouncing his own caste than he spends beating up on impoverished math or English professors at small private colleges.

Since I like the idea of Creative Commons and have released books under it, I keep trying to like Prof. Lessing. But callous and ignorant remarks like these make that hard to do. Over and over again he sounds and acts like a prig.

Michael Pastore
50 Benefits of Ebooks