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Free culture on the net?
Yes, but at a what cost?

Paolo Roversi
Translated: Sarah Little

Paolo Roversi is a journalist and writer. He has published Blue Tango – noir metropolitano (Stampa Alternativa, 2006) and La mano sinistra del diavolo (Mursia, 2006). He is the founder and director of the NebbiaGialla Suzzura Noir Festival.

On the net, as we all know, you can find everything. Even literary criticism sites and blogs, a few of which are dedicated exclusively to noir fiction, and all for free at the click of a mouse. But are we really paying nothing or do free internet resources come at a cost?

Before you answer, allow me to digress a little. Around six months ago with some writer friends, I set up a blognoir dedicated to crime and detective fiction. It is called MilanoNera il lato oscuro della scrittura (literally BlackMilan the dark side of writing) and you will find it at this address http://www.milanonera.com.

The project fell together by chance, born from the desire to share reviews of crime novels we liked on the net. Then things really took off and before long the hobby had almost become an occupation. I invited other writer friends, literary critics, and journalists to contribute, and word of mouth did the rest. In no time at all MilanoNera had become a point of contact for huge number of fans; to date more than ten thousand every month.

We decided to make reviewing our priority because, in our opinion, people who love to read are always on the look out for a good reading recommendation. Our modus operandi, provided that you stick to the Noir theme, is simply to read a book, write a review and give it a rating. (Books are expensive and it is only worth reading good ones, after all). We are not just interested in newly published books either, just books that we like. So we don’t limit ourselves to new releases (where is it written that new books are the best?) but also look at older works, in an effort to refute that deplorable decree of the publishing world by which a book is dead and buried after three months. We do not see things this way. A good book will always be a good book.

We have also talked with and interviewed a great many authors including Alfredo Colitto, Andrea Carlo Cappi, Barbara Garlaschelli, Eraldo Baldini, Grazia Verasani, Loriano Macchiavelli, Luca Di Fulvio,Valerio Varesi and many more.

The secret of the project's success is probably its independence from the commercial practices typical of the publishing world. We defy the stranglehold of the press release. We pay no heed to the tyranny of bestseller lists or blaring promotional campaigns. We wanted to talk about the crime novel as we experienced it. Ours is a somewhat over-looked and apparently antiquated approach: Read then review. This ambit includes novels from the smallest publishing houses, where the most arduous, and noble, work in publishing goes on: scouting.

Of course, there is a snag. None of us get anything out of it financially. Nevertheless, as I said earlier, that which begins as a hobby may turn into a career. Our literary digest works much like the literary supplement in a newspaper. Publishers send us the books, press offices approach us, and our write-ups appear in the press reviews. All at no cost to the publishers, except the review copy they send us – when they send it, that is.

The difference between the internet and the printed page is this. You get the same service, the same review, with both but whilst the former medium comes for free the latter must paid for.

In essence, web-based literary criticism has always sprung from a desire not to tow the official line. On the internet you can experiment and express opinions freely. But it doesn't pay. You read for the love of it and write reviews to share your opinions with other aficionados. It is rather like discovering treasure but having nothing to lose and in fact something to gain from sharing it with others.

The interactive nature of the internet – the fact that the reader is able to disagree with a review and actually let the author know – is the icing on the cake. The internet is a well-honed and well-used form of communication, and can be the key to the success or failure of a book. In short, it is a formidable marketing tool at publishers’ disposal for free.

So, what should we do? I don’t have an answer other than a trepidatious "yes", the internet is free because no one has managed to get their hands on it. However, if a large publishing group invested heavily, buying up sites and blogs on an industrial scale, like Google did with YouTube when the site began attracting millions of users, then yes, even on the internet, some may succumb to the temptation of the corporate agenda.

The question at this point is simple: Is it better to be penniless and free, or to line your pockets bombarding readers with a barrage of promotional material?