The Atlantic: Because of the strange distortions of copyright protection, there are twice as many newly published books available on Amazon from 1850 as there are from 1950.
Sunday, April 01, 2012
The Missing 20th Century: How Copyright Protection Makes Books Vanish
The Atlantic: Because of the strange distortions of copyright protection, there are twice as many newly published books available on Amazon from 1850 as there are from 1950.
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3 comments:
I am all for putting books and plays in the public domain because it is the only way that many people are able to experience them because it is too expensive for them. Based on this graph it seems evident that as the books are moved into the public domain they become more commonly read. I am against the idea that the works that are already in the public domain might be removed. I think that it is important to spread literature and art to the public.
This is interesting how much more accessible books in the public domain are. i had some idea if only because you can find book in the public domain online. It makes me wonder, does this mean that the only way to obtain a book from this missing 20th century is to buy it secondhand, or are there some select publishers who carry these books.
Anyone can publish the Bible; anyone can publish their own printing of Shakespeare; these works are in the public domain and open to anyone at anytime. But will anyone READ them? I'm curious as to what these titles actually were as much as the number of them. And if they're still in Amazon's warehouse, does that mean anyone's reading them?
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