Your Mona Lisa Has A Mustache: How Indie Author Books Are More Valuable Than Published Books
If you are a visual artist, who creates valuable paintings or drawings, would you allow a third-party person to make alterations to your works without your permission? Probably not.
No visual artist in their right mind would allow anyone else to alter the scenes or layout of their paintings or drawings.
It is unheard of.
It would be unthinkable.
Paintings that are tampered with greatly lose their value.
You can see this when art restorers are so very careful to maintain the authenticity of a painting while they restore a work to its original condition.
Therefore, along these lines of thinking, if the rights of visual artists are protected in maintaining the originality of their works, why aren't literary artists permitted the same privilege? Let me explain.
When an author submits a manuscript for publication to a conventional book publisher, the editors often go to town on it shaping, rearranging, rewriting, and doing all types of editing.
Sometimes there are so many alterations done on a book that, technically speaking, the editor could be, consequentially, considered a co-author of the book.
Even though these edits are done in good faith for the benefit of the final published book, and some even do improve the readability of the book, they do, in fact, alter the originality of that literary work.
Any published book that has been edited by another person should not be considered an original work of that author.
A note on the copyright page should identify the editor(s) who have made alterations to a manuscript in the making of the book.
It should be clearly stated that the book has been altered from its original state so that a reader knows the book is not an authentic version written solely by that author.
Indie authors have a definite advantage over authors who have their books published through a conventional publisher in that books published by indie authors are always original, authentic, and unabridged.
Because of this, their books should be considered more valuable as literary works than books published through a conventional publisher, in the same way a painting is considered more valuable when it is created solely by the signing artist.
So, if you believe in authenticity and originality in the production of any art form, support the works of indie authors, and be wary of books published by conventional book publishers who often do extensive editing without acknowledging these alterations.
No visual artist in their right mind would allow anyone else to alter the scenes or layout of their paintings or drawings.
It is unheard of.
It would be unthinkable.
Paintings that are tampered with greatly lose their value.
You can see this when art restorers are so very careful to maintain the authenticity of a painting while they restore a work to its original condition.
Therefore, along these lines of thinking, if the rights of visual artists are protected in maintaining the originality of their works, why aren't literary artists permitted the same privilege? Let me explain.
When an author submits a manuscript for publication to a conventional book publisher, the editors often go to town on it shaping, rearranging, rewriting, and doing all types of editing.
Sometimes there are so many alterations done on a book that, technically speaking, the editor could be, consequentially, considered a co-author of the book.
Even though these edits are done in good faith for the benefit of the final published book, and some even do improve the readability of the book, they do, in fact, alter the originality of that literary work.
Any published book that has been edited by another person should not be considered an original work of that author.
A note on the copyright page should identify the editor(s) who have made alterations to a manuscript in the making of the book.
It should be clearly stated that the book has been altered from its original state so that a reader knows the book is not an authentic version written solely by that author.
Indie authors have a definite advantage over authors who have their books published through a conventional publisher in that books published by indie authors are always original, authentic, and unabridged.
Because of this, their books should be considered more valuable as literary works than books published through a conventional publisher, in the same way a painting is considered more valuable when it is created solely by the signing artist.
So, if you believe in authenticity and originality in the production of any art form, support the works of indie authors, and be wary of books published by conventional book publishers who often do extensive editing without acknowledging these alterations.