Sci-fi Icon Ursula K. LeGuin Denounces ‘Profit’ at National Book Awards

I am a fan of Ursula K. LeGuin’s The Left
Hand of Darkness and her Earthsea novels. At the National Book
Awards yesterday evening, LeGuin received an award for her
distinguished contributions to American letters. About time! The
plain fact is that so-called literary fiction has devolved into an
etiolated
academic enterprise while the best contemporary
novels are now being written by the authors of speculative
fiction like LeGuin.

However, in her acceptance speech, LeGuin weighed in on the
struggle between the international publishing conglomerate Hachette
and on-line retailer Amazon.com. As NPR
reports:

Once she was onstage, she pulled no punches in a fiery speech
about art and commerce. “We just saw a profiteer try to punish a
publisher for disobedience, and writers threatened by corporate
fatwa,” LeGuin said. “And I see a lot of us, the producers,
accepting this — letting commodity profiteers sell us like
deodorant!”

She was referring to the recent dispute between Amazon and the
publisher Hachette over e-book pricing. The power of capitalism can
seem inescapable, LeGuin said, but resistance and change begin in
art. And writers should demand their fair share of the proceeds
from their work.

“The name of our beautiful reward is not profit. Its name is
freedom.”

I doubt that LeGuin plans to give away her books for free.
(Available at Amazon for $8.99.) With regard to profits, LeGuin
somehow failed to note that Hachette’s revenues in 2013 were over 2
billion Euros with a
profit of $233 million Euros. LeGuin and other authors who want
their “fair share” are objecting to Amazon’s discounting policy
because, well, they feared that it would lower the amount of
royalties (ahem, profits) they would receive. Of course, writers,
like any other workers, certainly have a right to negotiate for the
“beautiful reward” of higher pay. On the other hand, if books are
cheaper, authors are likely to attract more readers. 

For an excellent analysis of the dispute between Amazon and
Hachette read my colleague Nick Gillespie’s article, “Amazon
is NOT the ‘Putin’ of Books.”

In any case, the two corporate giants apparently
buried the hatchet last week.