There is also just so much coming up that I need to understand and keep up with. Things like e-books, POD, e-readers, web-based content, copyright and contract issues and that big question – how do we embrace new technology and still manage to earn a living?

So. I’m representing illustrators and authors in Australia, and most particularly, in Victoria. If you’re not a member of the ASA I suggest you have a look at them. Even if you don’t use their resources very much there is a lot that they do behind the scenes. They’re hugely responsible for ELR and PLR and countless other initiatives, and provide enormous support to creators legally, politically and in their everyday working lives. I’m spruiking them but that’s because I think they’re pretty great. And if you are a member and you have problems/questions/ideas/requests then you know who to come to I’ve always been happy to help, but now it’s official.

Did you know that both ELR and PLR are permanent now? No more lobbying to keep them going! Hooray! Now we just need them to grow the pool of money to match the growing number of creators entering it…

So that’s my ASA news. I had a very full weekend of meetings and discussions and of course my friend’s reception which I managed to get back to Melbourne just in time for! Before the Sydney blackouts and baggage strikes. It was obviously fate.

Before you freak out – this is not a Death of the Book discussion. I don’t think books will die – a book is a thing of beauty and pleasure for too many of us. But I do think that people will prefer to read some of them at least on a reader . Consider this: you’re off travelling and would like to take a stack of trashy novels with you. Instead of losing a quarter of your luggage space you can have all of them in your reader, plus access to anything else you can think of. Your Lonely Planet guides, maps, and for when you feel out of touch – a daily newspaper from home… I love my books but I’d use a reader in a situation like that without hesitation.

So I’m going to make a few assumptions.
1. The readers will be as nice to read as old-fashioned paper.
2. All books will be available online free from somewhere (whether legally or not).

That second assumption comes from looking at parallel situations like the music industry. Regulating music and movies was much easier when there were few options for how we accessed the material. But that’s changed. ipods, phones, laptops… Why should you have to buy the same song or movie over and over just because you have more than one device or travel between countries? Regulation and trying to enforce limitations doesn’t work. I’ve borrowed dvds from the video shop and had them not work on my laptop simply because of overprotective coding. Insane! Either they hadn’t considered my needs or they didn’t care. Things like that make people feel justified in looking for free options. And when that happens with music, and you know that the artists get very little out of every transaction anyway, it feels much more like punishing a company than the creator.

So. Regulation is unlikely to work. And we now seem to be in a situation where people tend to expect that they can find everything free. As soon as there are electronic versions of content, we have to assume it will end up online.

The thing is… I don’t want to hurt the people who make the music, the movies and the books. They’ve shown the creativity and dedication to make this thing I’m enjoying. And if there was a way of downloading the things I want and paying them some money directly – I’d actually do it.

But it’s possible I’m the only one! I’d love to hear what other people think. If you could choose to support the artists you like directly while getting their stuff free – would you do it? Would it seem weird? What would you want out of it? From my perspective – I’d like to get versions of my books (especially out-of-print or unpublished) out there in a few different formats, free, and encourage people to send a few dollars if they wanted to support what I’ve done. Kind of like becoming a patron. I like the idea of having patrons. And being one myself to other creators whose work I like.