cross-posted from: https://piefed.world/c/questions/p/1330162/why-do-american-authors-who-advocate-for-noble-causes-keep-their-books-behind-paywalls-i
That one thing that keeps puzzling me.
it feels weird when an American author keep giving media interviews talking about the cause they are advocating for and keep referencing their paywalled book.
Why do they not at least release the book for free after say a certain period(say 3 months) to advance their cause beyond their existence.
I had seen this phenomenon with American politicians, people important in technology and even feminists and social advocates.
Why?
Get a library card, beep.
“library card” doesn’t magically make me get all the books that I want.
I currently just follow MIT open books and DOAB for interesting books.
I don’t know how libraries work in the US. In germany most libraries are part of a network. They can get you any book, that one of the other libraries in the network have. You are not limited to what is available at the specific library. If its available in one of the many other libraries (like one of the big public state libraries) then you can get it. Though you might need to wait a bit.
Money does. Congratulations, you now understand why everybody needs to get paid.