I have a copy of 'Runes'

[Variol Farseer]

From SRD's gradual interview:

dlbpharmd: There is currently a big debate on kevinswatch.com about the sale of the ARC for Runes on ebay. Would you mind sharing your thoughts and opinions about this?

I think it's "stealing," and I don't condone it. But we live in a society ruled by greed, and I know of no effective way to change "'our' core values." I'm told by those who know more than I do (agents and editors) that the vast majority of ARCs get sold to SOMEbody. Most of the sellers are just more discreet than our friend on eBay.

(06/23/2004)

The trouble, of course, is that ARCs are terribly collectible. Nobody is ever going to make a dime off a first edition of The Runes of the Earth, not when there are something like 100,000 copies being strewn indiscriminately about the planet. But the sort of fanatical book collectors who kill each other with sharpened fountain pens for pristine variorum editions will pay ridiculous amounts for an ARC of a popular book.

I'm not much in sympathy with SRD on this one. Technically it may be stealing, in that he receives no royalty on the sale; but the copy was put out for the specific purpose of free promotion, and it's going to end up in somebody's hands. At least you know that the person who pays $200 for a book on Ebay really, really wants that book. The reviewer or bookshop clerk who got it for free probably doesn't want it at all.

I mean really, would he prefer that people burned them?

[Furls Fire]

First of all, I totally agree that selling an ARC is in effect stealing. Those are for review only. And the work is HIS, okay...HIS. HE wrote it. He should have some say in what happens to various copies of it. Selling this on Ebay may not be considered copyright infrigement, but it sure is "author infrigment". I applaud Duchy's action... You rock, girlfriend!!!

[stuartfanning]

This whole things is a bit of an irrelevance in the scheme of things. Mr Donaldson is going to make A LOT of money when the book is published in October, whether ARC's are sold now or not.

[Myste]

This whole things is a bit of an irrelevance in the scheme of things. Mr Donaldson is going to make A LOT of money when the book is published in October, whether ARC's are sold now or not.

Maybe it's irrelevant to most of the world, but it's not irrelevant to the author or publisher. Most publishers' Codes of Conduct make very clear that benefitting financially at the company's expense--i.e., selling ARCs--is a conflict of interest worthy of dismissal.

Like I said before, I can hardly blame someone for buying one, but selling them is extremely unethical, especially at this stage of the proceedings, when neither the author nor the publisher has made any money off the book yet.

[Worm of Despite]

Well I've read Runes. Or the ARC, for that matter. Borrowed it from the friend at the bookstore. Darth, if you're honestly interested in having it all spoiled, PM me.

[W.B.]

Problem is, if no one bought them (esp. for high prices) before the "real" books went on sale, ethically questionable folks wouldn't sell them. It's hard, however, to say how the sale of some ARCs greviously hurts the author (though it's a bad thing not to get your royalties)--it's more a question of how personal one's ethics feel about the purchase of a pre-release ARC.

[Baradakas]

Well, SRD has made his opinion known, and that pretty much settles it for me. No selling ARC's!! It's theft!!!



-B

[Variol Farseer]

Maybe it's irrelevant to most of the world, but it's not irrelevant to the author or publisher. Most publishers' Codes of Conduct make very clear that benefitting financially at the company's expense--i.e., selling ARCs--is a conflict of interest worthy of dismissal..

The trouble is, the people selling these can't be dismissed by the publisher, because that's not who they work for. It sounds to me like these are bookshop employees who are doing the moral equivalent of Dumpster-diving. Such people — most of whom are college-age kids, still poor and inexperienced enough to work retail for about seven bucks an hour — can get rather starry-eyed at the thought of an extra couple of hundred bucks. Besides, what can you really do to them? I'm reminded of the bit from Victor, Victoria —


Nightclub owner: You're fired! And if you ever show your face in this club again, I will have you thrown out!

Carroll Todd: Oh, don't make it sound like such a threat. Being thrown out of here is significantly better than being thrown out of a leper colony!


Really, it behooves publishers and authors to be a bit philosophical about this. The ARCs are out there; having been issued, they pass beyond the publisher's control, and some people are going to do as they please with them. Are you going to sue them all? Not likely; it would cost a hundred times more than the actual damages. Get them fired? Chain bookshops and distributors are used to dictating to publishers, not the other way round. The warning 'NOT FOR RESALE' is really more a pious hope than a legally defensible position. (Has a court ever ruled that the owner of a physical copy of a book may not sell it to whomever he wishes?) The law is just too blunt an instrument to be useful against this kind of nickel-and-dime grey-market activity.

[awalter]

Folks, if you really want to affect this issue of wrongfully-sold ARCs, you need to start a campaign for publishers to get their own houses in order. As someone who has worked in both the new and used book business for several years, I can tell you that the people who sell complimentary copies of books and ARCs the most are: 1) publisher sales reps, & 2) book reviewers. The first class, the reps, are the worst offenders, and they work for the publishers! If publishers can't get a handle on their own employees, there is no hope for the problem.

[Revan]

Who has read the book anyways?

[Cloudberry]

Duchess,

I'm so impressed. To have Runes, even if it's just an ARC, and not read it. There's no way I could do that. Even if I tried not to, sooner or later my willpower would give in. Probably sooner...

[Revan]

I'm not impressed... I'm annoyed...

[stuartfanning]

I wonder why there are British ARC's about?