According to the New York Times, Google has bought the rights to massive amounts of out-of-print books, and is going to start publishing them online for free using an advertising model or subscription service to make money.



HOW I FEEL ABOUT THIS:

As reader...

"What a relief; what a relief; what a relief. I walk the bookstacks of libraries and I see all the work, courage, pain, and strife that writers have put into their creative efforts over the ages, only to have their books end up moldering, desperate, and decaying on shelves -- unlovely and forgotten -- waiting to be mishandled by one last pilgrim before falling apart forever, lost to time and the POP of MODERN LIFE. I want to love the books that I have never heard of and the books that no one has ever loved before. I want to read the books that the universities did not decide were brilliant and that were ahead of their time -- or beyond it. I want to read any book I want, effortlessly, for free, without guilt, without reservation, drifting into dreams as my scroll bar creeps South, taking my mouse arrow to infinity..."

As a writer...

"OH FUCK. NOW WHO WILL PAY ME? WHERE WILL THE MONEY GO THAT GOOGLE MAKES FROM ALL THOSE DEAD WRITERS? DO YOU THINK THOSE WEEPING, BEATEN SUICIDAL DRUNKS AND CON-ARTISTS WANTED TO DO BUSINESS WITH YOU? DID YOU ASK?

DO YOU CUT CHECKS, GOOGLE? DO YOU CUT CHECKS TO SMALL PRESSES? DO YOU READ, GOOGLE, DO YOU READ?

DO YOU?

NOW I HAVE TO COMPETE WITH EVERY WRITER WHO HAS EVER LIVED? OH FUCK, FUCK YOU GOOGLE, FUCK YOU...I AM UPLOADING A PICTURE OF ME SHITTING ON A GOOGLE T-SHIRT TO THE INTERNET...I AM TYPING "FUCK GOOGLE" INTO GOOGLE...I AM DOING AN IMAGE SEARCH...I AM LOOKING AT MYSELF SHIT ON A GOOGLE T-SHIRT, BUT IT IS NOT ENOUGH, THEY ARE DROWNING ME IN A PICKLE BARREL LIKE A PUPPY WHO WAS NOT STRONG..."

As a publisher...

"The library at Alexandria burned down. It was the monks who truly loved literature -- and who illuminated it with their lives, blood, eyesight, and tears -- who kept the fire of imagination alive in the Dark Ages.

Let every generation's Alexander march, conquer, and pillage. Each will fall. Ozymandias cannot squat: he can only teach. He teaches us to have patience; to insist on small miracles; to dream before acting."





Posted by miracle on Wed, 12 Nov 2008 17:33:22 -0500 -- permanent link