Fair Publishing is a movement aimed at establishing a new approach to publishing various content, including books, audiobooks, and software applications. This method strives to be equitable for both the authors, who generate the content, and the audience that accesses it.
"Fair" in this context signifies:
The author ought to receive payment that reflects the content's quality and volume.
The public should be able to access the content freely and without limitations, provided the author is compensated.
These terms are considered fair because they ensure the author receives deserved payment for her efforts, supporting her ongoing creative pursuits and the general public gains unrestricted access to the content once the author is remunerated.
How It Works: Who Pays, How Much, and When?
To achieve fair publishing, we suggest this operational method:
Initially, the author sets her desired total remuneration for the content. This sum should also incorporate a margin to provide financial security between projects or in case a work is unsuccessful.
Once the amount is determined based on the author's preference, it is made public. The product then undergoes three phases, influencing content access and payment requirements.
In the first phase, the product is released as a typical commercial item with restricted access. To access the content, users must pay a set fee, a small portion of the total due to the author. For instance, accessing an ebook might cost $10. The author's total set amount could be, say, $20,000.
This phase ends when the cumulative public payments match or surpass the author's specified total. Then, the second phase begins. Here, while access remains restricted and a fee is still required but its amount is reduced. By this stage, the author has received her full predetermined amount, but ongoing payments are utilized to partially refund those who initially purchased the product at a higher price.
The second phase aims to reduce the cost for each user and balance the amount paid by everyone through a repayment mechanism. This ensures early buyers don't pay a high price while later users pay nothing, achieving a form of "equalization".
This phase ends when the set individual price reaches a minimal predetermined value, and all earlier purchasers have been reimbursed the difference between their initial payment and this final low price. For example, if the ultimate minimum price for an ebook is $2, the phase will ends when, after the price is fixed to 2$ all the previous purchaser got reimbursed so that they end up having paid 2$ as well.
Upon the completion of the second phase, the product transitions into the third phase, where it becomes freely accessible to everyone without any restrictions or payment requirements. By this stage, the author has been fully compensated for her work, and the public, having collectively paid for the work, now enjoys unrestricted access to it.
Rationale
We believe Fair Publishing is beneficial because current publishing practices often turn out to be unfair, either to authors or to the public.
Present practices typically fall into two extremes. On one end, there's content made freely available by authors who release it at no cost. This approach is especially prevalent in free software but also exists in other areas like books, music, and various other fields.
At the other extreme are commercial, copyrighted publications that completely restrict free access from the outset. This method is the norm for publishing books, proprietary applications or video games, music, and nearly everything else.
Discussing the issues with the two forms of publication reveals distinct challenges. For freely available content, a major problem is the lack of remuneration for the author. This results in additional stress and limits the scope of work they can produce. For instance, many free software developers work on their projects in their spare time while holding full-time jobs in unrelated fields for financial support. This can be stressful and somewhat unfair to the author who may be contributing valuable work for others. Moreover, being confined to one person's free time and interests often restricts the quantity and quality of work produced. A common issue is the abandonment of free software projects or insufficient time to address problems or add new features.
It's also worth noting that equivalent commercial products often have more resources to invest due to actual revenue streams. This allows them to hire and pay individuals to enhance the product, improve its quality, and introduce new features.
So, what's the issue with commercial, copyrighted work? It does provide a revenue source for the author, but the problem lies in its unfairness to the public. Even when people collectively pay a substantial amount to the author and the publisher, the content remains entirely restricted.
This results in:
- Restricted public access to the content.
- Inability to share the content with others.
- Prohibition on modifying or publishing derivative works.
Consequently, authors and publishers can extract an extensive amount of money from the public, but the public never fully benefits from the content due to these restrictions.
For instance, author J.K. Rowling earned approximately 1 billion dollars from the Harry Potter books alone, yet the works remain inaccessible to the public. Despite the books' popularity and quality, one might question whether this sum is a proportionate reward for her work. While she may deserve this compensation, it raises questions about the fairness of the system.
This issue also restricts access to valuable resources in science, engineering, medicine, arts, and other fields.
Another problem with commercial, copyrighted publications is their potential loss over time due to tight restrictions. For example, software might become obsolete and incompatible with modern computers if it's no longer sold. Similarly, books could be lost forever or become extremely hard to find, and movies might disappear altogether.