Cash for the fantasy! Cash
for the sci-fi!
Cash for the Lackey and the Heinlein and the Niven!
Cash for the Stirling, Brin, and Hamilton,
Cash for the Asprin, amd the Pratchett and the Robinson!
Look, whaddaya write, whaddaya write, whaddaya write,
Where do you get it?
You can write, you can edit, you can write, you can edit,
You can write, write, write, write, edit, edit, edit,
You can write all you wanna, but it’s different that in it was!
No it ain’t, no it ain’t, but you gotta know the business
end.
Click, Click, Click, Click, Click, Click, Click
It’s this internet thing made the trouble,
Made the people wanna click, wanna click, wanna download and click,
7,8,9,10,12,14,22,23 chapters on the internet.
Yes, sir, yes, sir, who’s gonna patronize the little bitty
two by four book store any more?
Whaddaya write, whaddaya write,
Where do you get it?
It's not the interntet at all! Take a gander at the store,
At the modern store, at the coffee-book store,
At the coffee-book, music, departmentalized warehouse store!
Whaddaya write, whaddaya write, whaddaya write, whaddaya write, whaddaya write?
Where do you get it?
Whaddaya write, whaddaya write, whaddaya write?
Where do you get it?
You can write, you can edit, you can write, you can edit,
You can write, write, write, write, edit, edit, edit,
You can write all you wanna, but it’s different that in it was!
No, it ain’t, but you gotta know the business end!
It’s the word wide web made the trouble,
Put the chapters on the website, on the website.
The world wide web with the freebies read ‘em as you click ‘em
Made the local bookstore obsolete, obsolete!
Local bookstore went out the window
With the click-clack double-spaced typewritten page.
Changed the approach of the fiction writer.
Made it pretty hard…
No it didn’t, no it didn’t, you just gotta know the business
end!
Look, whaddaya write, whaddaya write, whaddaya write,
Where do you get it?
Ever read a novel by a guy named Drake?
Drake? Drake? Drake? Drake? Drake?
Drake!
No!
Just a minute, Just a minute, Just a minute!
Never heard of any sc-fi Drake.
Now he doesn’t know the business end.
Doesn’t know the business end?
What’s the fellow’s rate?
Never worries ‘bout is rate!
Never worries ‘bout is rate?
Nor a doggone thing,
He’s just a damn good, web-posting, book-writing, sentence-crunching,
fantasy and sci-fi wordsmith,
That’s Mr. David Drake, David Drake!
Tell us, what’s his rate, what’s his rate?
He’s a fool and he doesn’t know the business end!
He’s a modem man.
He’s a what? He’s
a what?
He’s a modem man, and he puts all his books on the world
wide web,
And they’re all free of charge for the readers to peruse.
Point and click! Point and click!
Heart of Darkness! Cross the Stars!
1632!
With all of the chapters on the site, and a—
Well, I don’t know much about Baen,
But I do know you can’t make a living writing books for free,
No, sir!
Sample chapters, perhaps, and here and there an interview—
No, the fellow posts books, whole books!
I don’t know how he does it,
But he sells like a fiend, and he rakes in the cash,
And when the man publishes, certainly, friends,
What else? The readers pay him!
Yes sir!
Yes sir!
But he doesn’t know the business end!!
