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 Summary For the first summary, let us stress that as long as this model creates a highly competitive environment, publishers have to fight to develop brand names. A publisher may achieve this by trying to: (a) always be first, (b) offer the best in terms of quality to the public, or (c) sponsor authors instead of “freeloading,” thereby providing additional incentives to authors.

It is noteworthy that as far as all works are accessible to all publishers, the success of an author depends solely on his talent. If an author lacks talent, no one suffers but the author.

Actually, I used to think that no-regulation environment would be much worse than it appears now. It looks as if it could result in a fairly self-tuned market that would be extremely challenging for all parties. It is unlikely that any work of art may escape unnoticed in this environment.

A Historical Excursus The Self-tuning model is based entirely on contractual law. If this model were in place, publishers with considerable economic power would eventually plot to contract authors and publish in a copyright-like manner. That is, they would try to get rid of competition and secure their portfolios and revenues for a certain period of time. The next step would be an attempt to gain government support for that “copyright-like manner” in order to hinder authors from dictating conditions. This is what happened in Great Britain with the Statute of Queen Anne in 1710.

For about two hundred years before that, the Crown had resisted the demands of licensed scribes (and later big printers) to limit printing and restrict the spread of the printing press. In 1710, the Crown was eager to get rid of anonymous pamphlet writers; this desire by the government for effectual censorship coincided with big printers’ thirst for easy money. That mutual interest brought about the Statute of Anne. It is ironic that the same law in its basic features was later adopted in the U.S. in order to provide for “the progress of science and useful arts.”