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?
I’m puzzled that you think this is a uniquely American phenomenon. But to answer the rest of the question:
Most of these people are probably spending time on their causes that they’d otherwise spend working. Their need/desire for money didn’t suddenly go away.
Politicians need campaign money
Important figures in tech pretty much always want as much money as possible, whatever else they claim; that’s part of why they do what they do
A lot of feminists and social advocates probably need the money for their living expenses
Also, this plays into the norms of book publishing. People sometimes value things they pay for more. I tend to assume free books that aren’t classics are worse books, because in my experience, they often are. Traditional publishers usually won’t allow the book to be free (because they’re not charities, even if the book is about a cause), and self-published works have extremely variable quality.