Cory Doctorow
Cory Doctorow
Cory Efram Doctorowis a Canadian-British blogger, journalist, and science fiction author who serves as co-editor of the blog Boing Boing. He is an activist in favour of liberalising copyright laws and a proponent of the Creative Commons organization, using some of their licenses for his books. Some common themes of his work include digital rights management, file sharing, and post-scarcity economics...
ProfessionJournalist
Date of Birth17 July 1971
CityToronto, Canada
hands facts somewhere-out-there
The fact is, almost everything you do is collaborative. Somewhere out there, someone else had a hand it it.
world firsts first-time
Universal access to human knowledge is in our grasp, for the first time in the history of the world. This is not a bad thing.
writing silence inner-peace
Write even when the world is chaotic. You don’t need a cigarette, silence, music, a comfortable chair, or inner peace to write. You just need ten minutes and a writing implement.
rooms return ethics
When you teach your students that it's "economically rational" to commit crimes where the fines for misconduct are lower than the expected return on the crime, you instill a professional ethic that has no room for morals.
determination kids little-brother
Never underestimate the determination of a kid who is time-rich and cash-poor.
buy character copy cut edit errors figure gives hand hours lay love novel online output page people post prefer printed promoting resulting return run second sharing simply spine turn willing work
There are people already sharing eBooks out there, ... and they do it simply because they love books. You don't buy a second copy of a book, cut the spine off, lay each page on a scanner, run that .tif through an OCR (Optical Character Reader), hand edit the resulting output for errors and then post it online if you don't love the book. it can up to 80 hours to turn a printed novel into an eBook. I figure if someone out there is willing to put in 80 hours of work promoting my book, then I'd prefer they do it in a way that gives a better return to me.
evolved people phenomenon unexpected uses
This is a fascinating phenomenon that evolved through the unexpected use of technology. It classically illustrates the way people find their own uses for technology.
amazing books connect flesh grow happens help kept might notebook post readers
Previously, such jottings might have been kept in the author's notebook but something amazing happens when you post them online. Readers help you connect them, flesh them out and grow them into fully-fledged books or blooks.
circles copies cut enable face format meet push readers whatever
if I want to enable my readers push copies to their friends, and they're in circles like Slashdot, Wired, Boing Boing, who never meet face to face, just online, well i need to give it to them in a suitable format so they can do whatever they need to do with it. SMS, MMS, Email, FTP, Cut and Paste, P2P, all are valid.
attention bit business created creative creativity creators deserve embrace entire eu european generation methods produce require revolution studios support systems talented thanks works
The EU and the world are experiencing a revolution in creativity thanks to the Internet, ... An entire generation of remixers, talented amateurs, and Creative Commons enthusiasts have created works that do not require DRM to thrive. NAVSHP should produce recommendations for systems that embrace unrestricted distribution methods in support of these new Internet-native business models. These European creators deserve every bit as much attention from the EU as do American film studios and other incumbents.
afford allow copies effort good hardcover living marketing means methods modern novelists possible print profit promote run selling tons tools year
And it is promotion. My publisher, Tor Books, have some modern methods that allow them to make a profit on as little as 3,000 copies of a hardcover novel. The traditional methods would need a print run of 50,000 paperbacks. That means Tor can afford to have tons of first novelists every year on much shorter runs. But then the marketing effort is diluted to cover all those authors. It's not possible to make a good living from being a mid-tier author, just selling in the bookshops. I need to promote myself, with all the tools I have.
running rocks play
I fireballed him as he was seeking out treasure after we wiped out a band of orcs, playing rock-paper-scissors with each orc to determine who would prevail in combat. This is a lot more exciting than it sounds. It's quite civilized, and a little weird. You go running after someone through the woods, catch up with him, bare your teeth, and sit down to play a little roshambo.