Just for the sake of argument, let us say infinite copies kills all profit drive to make a book. What kind of books still get written? There is an argument for the quality of books being made increasing due to only books that have true passion for the sake of sharing being produced under this system... art for the sake of itself, not for the sake of profit.
If your only determining factor for writing a book is to make and profit off of 'valuable intangibles', then I get the ick, just personally for me.
I'm not arguing for more starving artists, I'm arguing art and capitalism don't mix (see AI for further validation of that position).
I think that argument is pretty naive. The only books that would still get made are those from people privileged enough (money and time) to write books.
You'll get way more ghost-written biographies from celebrities and hot takes from politicians.
I think writing a book to make money is itself pretty naive. There's already a bit of privilege involved in being able to devote time to writing, and in many cases make attempts for years before getting published to modest revenue.
A lot of people start writing books despite knowing those odds and outcomes.
And how many give up after one (if that) when they realize they can't afford the time to do it without enough compensation to reduce hours/replace their day job? Especially when it comes to the boring business side of getting it published and marketed. I can imagine someone writing in their spare time (like any other hobby), but it's much harder to imagine going through all the rest of the process unless they're (a) hoping to make a bit of a living from writing (b) doing it for ego reasons (I guess that's were vanity presses come in)
Self publishing is on the rise. Some people feel the need to share, more than the need to make money... that's why a lot of books get written (I believe), generally not to make money, but to share something (the author feels is) important.
Yep. This isn't a dichotomy between unscrupulous trend chasers vs passionate artistes writing masterpieces just for the love of it. There are plenty of people who would like to make their living selling creative works that they're passionate about, but there's only a finite amount of time in the day, and bills need to be paid. It's fairly well known that being an author or musician is a difficult career, and this is obviously a bad thing for artistic expression. It biases cultural output towards the financially privileged, or those who pander to those who will sponsor them
Who are we to decide books made for profit are not good? In fact many of my favorite books were clearly made in an attempt to trade my money for enjoyment, and were better because of that since they were made with the readers satisfaction as a goal.
Plus there are plenty of people who do it for the art even if they get paid, but the payment makes themselves better off and allows them to continue their work.
Like capitalism allows many authors to be able to create their intended art and find an audience, with both artistry and the desire to make money. And it's not like writing a book is easy, so the money is also extra motivation.
If your only determining factor for writing a book is to make and profit off of 'valuable intangibles', then I get the ick, just personally for me.
I'm not arguing for more starving artists, I'm arguing art and capitalism don't mix (see AI for further validation of that position).