Ramblings – Page 11 – The Jake of All Trades

On why I use Creative Commons with my Flickr pictures

I remember the day. I was in Venice Beach, California with some friends. We were walking along the canal, and I swiped my friend’s new Nikon DSLR and snapped a shot of a boat on the water. When we got home I looked at it over and thought how this picture was something that could be sold, something that I wanted to protect.

So it sat on my hard drive for years. I’d show it off every once in a while, but it stayed hidden. Later I took more pictures, some from Death Valley, others just from vacation. All the while hiding them away.

Then the Art 365 project started and I began posting pictures on my Flickr more often. At this point I had been making (or attempting to make) art for a while. I had been unsuccessfully submitting stories and poems to get published, taking pictures, making drawings and hiding and hoarding my works away to prevent someone “stealing” it.

As I posted more pictures and drawings on Flickr I began to think more and more about content and copyright. Specifically I thought about me as the Internet / content user rather than the creator. I had thought a bit at this point on copyright itself, and how I thought things should be with other creators: art, music and movies.

So I asked myself, self, what are you getting out of this all rights reserved thing anyway? The answer for my Flickr was “not a whole lot”. In fact, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that worse case was someone wanted to use something they saw but did not because of that impending c in the corner.

Not that I believed that had happened yet… But still. I decided I should align my art with the way I thought that others should have theirs.

At first I picked the CC BY-NC license. Use my stuff, but not to make money. Then I thought more and changed it to just CC BY. Use my stuff, anyway you want, just credit me for it.

I am not giving up my copyright on my work. Far from it. Creative commons uses the copyright laws to allow for this license. These drawings, pictures, are still mine. But now I have given them an open license. Now if someone is making an album cover for their band, or wants to make a website with desert pictures, or just wants to use a picture of a cherry tree on a flyer they made, they can, without worrying about a lawyer.

And what would I get out of that situation? Recognition, viewership, however you want to phrase it. What I get is my pictures, my drawings, out there in the world, seen.

More importantly, my perspective on my art had changed. No longer was I content with hiding this stuff on my hard drive just on this promise, this hope, that someone would pay me for it. I made it to be seen, read, and heard. There is no promise that someone will pay for any of it. But there is a promise that hidden on my hard drive, no one will know it exists.

And my writing? I’ll talk about that in another post, but my thoughts are coming along the same way.

Travel Pictures, March 2012

I have been on travel lately and came home with a collection of pictures with the new and old cameras. While the new DSLR is fantastic, I still have plenty of use for my P300 because of its size. I’ve got two galleries to post, one from my week in Finland, and one from a day walk through Virginia.

Finland, even at the end of march, was still covered in snow. The part of the harbor in Helsinki visible from my hotel was still covered in ice. As you can see, there were still ice fishermen out catching.

I spent my time in two locations: Helsinki and Tampere. The pictures are labeled for which town they are from. Both were fun, and the beer was good.

Oh, and Iron Sky premiered in Tampere the Monday I was there… Which i found out about as i was flying home. I mention I didn’t have anything to do that Monday?

The next trip was out to western Virginia for a wedding. Tucked out on highway 81, Winchester is not quite in the mountains, but is close. “Quaint” is a good description for this town. There was a walking mall for a few blocks, and I brought my camera with me.

On Collector’s Editions, a Consumer Point of View

Brian Keene recently announced “Is There a Demon in You” anthology with three other writers. The book is currently only available as a collector’s edition. There was a comment on the price of the book, and Keene responded to it here.

Currently the title (for sale here) is $50 for the book. Some time down the road, a regular edition will come out. The comment that Keene is replying to is about the cost of the book.

But that isn’t the issue. Not really. See limited edition collector books SHOULD be expensive. They are, by nature, LIMITED and COLLECTOR versions of the novel. There is craftsmanship in the book cover, the printing. They are signed. They look great on a bookshelf.

I have several collector editions of Keene’s and others’ work. And despite paying upwards of $150 for a book, I’ve never read them. Why? Simple, why the fuck would I risk damaging a $150 book to read it? I didn’t buy it as a book, I bought it as a collector’s item.

Which goes back to the real issue. Keene says “respect those customers (the ones who want to buy these collector editions), and don’t complain about the price.” The real issue isn’t that the collector’s edition is expensive. The issue is that there is no other option. These people, some would refer to them as ‘readers’ or ‘fans’, want to read Keene’s work. They want to read the novel, and from a basic level, they want to give Keene money. They aren’t complaining about the price of the collector’s edition. They are complaining that there are no other options.

I think the idea is like this: release a collector’s edition of the book; wait a few years (yes years in this case); release a regular version of the book. Maybe the thought is that no one will buy the collector’s edition if they can buy a mass market. Maybe the thought is that the collector’s edition has no value if you can buy a mass market.

I say both thoughts are wrong.

People who buy collector’s editions, buy collector’s editions. People who don’t, don’t. We see the same thing in “normal” publishing all the time. “When does this book come out in paperback?” We were asked that all the time at the store. The publishers seem to believe that no one will buy the hardcover if the mass market is also available, and from my experience, that simply isn’t true.

The bad part is the time. Those fans who wanted that book are now moving on to read something else. When that book comes out? Hopefully they remember they want it. Because right now, they are lost sales, each and every one.

In fact, I’d argue that the collector’s edition would sell better AFTER the book has been released to the masses. Then we have read it. We’ve talked about it. We’ve decided if we like it. Then we would be more likely to drop $50, $75, maybe more on a nice signed limited edition of the book.

Again this is from my point of view, as a customer. Maybe there is an inside the biz, inside the game, point of view that makes these decisions sound more logical. But from here, I just scratch my head.

(For the record, I believe this particular anthology to be well worth the money for this edition.)