alt Hacker NewsMisleading phrases like this are why I dislike Doctorow.
Just before that he tries to sell us on the idea that there are no alternatives when actually there are. For example, you don’t have to publish a book through the Big Five. There are many large and small independent publishers, and some authors have had good luck with self-publishing.
I do think copyright law needs reform, but don’t trust Doctorow to explain it properly.
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His book "Why None Of My Books Are Available On Audible: And why Amazon owes me $3,218.55" captures the soul, heart, nuance (and grammar) that he repeatedly brings to these issues.
He once sat in his basement for an entire month "playing the DRM off" his record collection. Resulting in twice compressed 128k MP3s and innumerable blog posts.
Why is it misleading? The fact that alternatives exist doesn't mean that they're any good .
You're correct that you no longer need to go through one of the big five publishers to get your book in front of readers.
But Doctorow also says:
> or just one company that controls all the ebooks and audiobooks
And this is largely true. I don't think there's any viable path for self-publishing success right now that doesn't go through Amazon.
He describes what he sees as a monopsony. That is not misleading. You can have lots of options and still be stuck in this monopsonistic (sp?) world that controls your rights and your financial future.
>There are many large and small independent publishers
Are there many small press distributors? How's SPD doing these days?
> some authors have had good luck with self-publishing
Indeed. What are the relative statistics on authors who have managed to bootstrap themselves vs. authors who make a comfortable living through the Big Five?
Artists can put their big boy pants on and negotiate better deals instead of crying about them retroactively.
And what alternatives existed for Wolf in the 80s? What value were publishers providing?
Like many industries, book publishers integrated: editing, production, marketing, and distribution. They may have also helped with licensing.
Would _Who Censored Roger Rabbit_ have been the success it was with a different publisher? These counterfactuals are hard to prove! (Look at the discussions this year around k pop demon hunters - how much credit does Netflix get for growing an objectively good film's audience? Reasonable people debate this!)
The big publishers do provide utility, but there's also an incredible asymmetry (they have trivially made many more book deals than any of their authors)