[Xanthe]

Originally Posted by Andrew H.

Are you seriously arguing that file-sharing has never caused any lost sales? That everyone who file-shares would have either never purchased the item in the first place, or will later pay for it?

I mean, sure it's true that *not every* file share results in a lost sale - but that's a far cry from denying that there are any lost sales. Of course there are, and it's not even that hard to find people to admit it.

It would be really interesting to find out how much file-sharing has actually increased sales for some authors. A judiciously-placed share can actually create interest in authors whose books are no longer being actively pushed by their publishers, or who have been marketed as a narrow genre. I've seen it happen, and I've seen the comments of people who say, "I've never heard of that author before", and the author has already had, say, five or ten books published. And then from never having heard of that author, I start seeing his/her paperbacks on the New Releases table at Borders. Or authors who have been published for years and years in paperback version only (I'm talking about you, Romance Writers) who finally start getting hardcover book deals and greater "legitimate" recognition, after their fans have created and uploaded ebook versions of their paperbacks and brought them wider recognition.

I'm sure that for authors like Rowling or Patterson, they see any fileshare as a lost sale. But for Joe Obscurewriter or Jane Obscurewriter who've been self-publishing and can't seem to get that coveted three-book deal, the chance of their book going viral, with the word-of-mouth something like that generates, it might be worth some initial lost sales.

I have some favorite books by authors who only published one-to-three books and then seemingly disappeared off the face of the earth (I'm assuming they went back to their day jobs when the writing gig never paid off). Their books are OOP now, so unless someone learns about them and is willing to make the effort to search out a used book, they will fade into obscurity. But I bet if I had the means and the desire to create an ebook of their works, put it up on the P2P nets, I could create new interest in those authors. (Let me just say here that I have neither the hardware needed nor the desire to tear apart my books to create such an ebook.) In this example, what would the author be losing? They're no longer earning anything from book sales, no publisher is banging on their door. If word-of-mouth can be generated for them and interest in their books stimulated, their books might go back into print. Frankly, if I was such an author, I would be putting up my own books, taking the chance on some future lost sales just to generate some current sales.