<i>I've suddenly started looking at hardcover buyers with more respect. These people aren't suckers, or at least they aren't mere suckers. They are the patrons, the hardcore fans, that are keeping my favorite writers in business.</i><p>For years I felt proud of that -- as I mentioned yesterday, I used to buy hardcovers pretty indiscriminately.  I'll happily pay extra for quicker access.  That's why I shelled out $350 for the machine which teleports books directly into my hand.  When I hear publishers talking about windowing books on my Kindle to protect their no-longer-relevant-to-me   hardcovers and physical distribution systems, I get a little upset.  I mentioned so on my blog.<p>This morning, I woke up to an inbox full of mail from people who profess to be professional communicators telling me that I "stabbed them in the back" and was a "useless parasite" and "tightwad" for expressing my desire to continue paying them thousands of dollars in return for fastest possible access.   I think of myself as a patron.  They clearly think of me as a sucker.  Did the Medicis ever have to put up with this?  Of course not: in addition to hiring artists they also had assassins on the payroll.  I'm strangely tempted.<p>It seems like six authors have a radically different understanding of the patronage relationship than I do. In a not totally unrelated turn of events, today my To Read list got shorter by two books.