This is a question posed time and again, especially in the Fall, when college students purchase for the impending semester. Authors complain about lost royalty income when someone buys a used book rather than a new one. Students on a budget are slammed with outrageous costs for books that get used for a single semester, then never needed again.Catholic authors and speakers make their living from selling their books and CD sets. If we buy them used, the authors and speakers receive no compensation for their work. Are we stealing their livelihood and undermining evangelization and apologetic efforts by buying used books or CDs?
Once the book has been bought, the Author has been paid, if the purchaser then wants to give the book as a gift to, or sell on to another person the Author is not a relevant economic agent and should not be included in the transaction :: unless there is a violation of copyright (selling printouts, etc.)Catholic authors and speakers make their living from selling their books and CD sets. If we buy them used, the authors and speakers receive no compensation for their work. Are we stealing their livelihood and undermining evangelization and apologetic efforts by buying used books or CDs?
Agreed. If we believed that authors were being “robbed” every time a used book or CD is sold, then in order to be consistent to that logic, we’d also have to shut down every library.Once the book has been bought, the Author has been paid, if the purchaser then wants to give the book as a gift to, or sell on to another person the Author is not a relevant economic agent and should not be included in the transaction :: unless there is a violation of copyright (selling printouts, etc.)
According to my brother, who is a published author and also an editor, he receives a royalty from each book that’s sold at retail, as long as the book is “in print.”Authors, I’m pretty sure, get paid upfront for their work. Like, if you wrote a book and turned it in to the publisher, they’d pay you and then publish it. I think that’s how it works.
I’m also under the impression that at one point a book store bought that book to sell it, and so the author got royalties from that.
But I’m not 100% certain.
I was just about to say First Sale Doctrine. The author gets paid for books he sell and that is what is fair and just. It’s unjust and outright totalitarian (and I am not a person who ever uses terms like that) to say that they’re control should extends past the sale when they get their fair payment.The “first sale doctrine” in the United States allows lawful owners of copyright protected books and CDs to transfer (by sale or gift) without permission or any further payment of royalty.
Why do you have an obligation to support the author rather than the person who bought the book and no longer has a use for it? Do you feel that we are being mean to car companies when we buy used cars because they suit our needs?I need to be more direct. Buy a new book, not a used book. Aren’t we supposed to support our Catholic authors and speakers? If you buy a book keep it. Let others buy new books and we will increase our evangelistic and apologetic base. These people need to make a living; they have families also.
Now please explain to me from a moral or ethical dynamic why the above statement is intellectually defective. I’m not interested in United States law. I’m interested in doing God’s will. Remember: nuclear war, abortion, pornography, eating in a restaurant, driving a car and mowing a law are all legal based on US law. Are the good and right. Explain the goodness and rightness of buying used books.
You’re trying to make a sort of hybrid between moral laws and free market economics. The author makes a living by people buying his books, but if no one is buying his books then there’s nothing immoral about that. It just means that he’s going to need to find something better to write about, or to be perfectly frank he’s going to need another job.I need to be more direct. Buy a new book, not a used book. Aren’t we supposed to support our Catholic authors and speakers? If you buy a book keep it. Let others buy new books and we will increase our evangelistic and apologetic base. These people need to make a living; they have families also.
By this logic, each of us should really buy multiple copies of each new book. That would substantially increase the monetary contribution. Many authors only capable of writing one book every few years, so by purchasing multiple copies, we can help them achieve their goal of making a living.I need to be more direct. Buy a new book, not a used book. Aren’t we supposed to support our Catholic authors and speakers? If you buy a book keep it. Let others buy new books and we will increase our evangelistic and apologetic base. These people need to make a living; they have families also.
I work for a media company. Once one of our books are sold, we never see it again. I’ve seen our books in Used Bookstores. There is no moral or ethical problem.
The same goes for CDs.
Yes. This also makes sense. I was concerned about undermining evangelization and apologetics efforts. I likened it in my mind to borrowing a CD and duplicating it-- not buying it. However, I do see the distinction between selling a used book and “ripping” a CD. Thanks
God bless,
Ed