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Professional writers are simply working for their living. To make the break from part-timer to full-time professional you need income enough from your writing to quit your day job. And if someone casually steals your work - and it is stealing - your income from writing may never be enough to allow you to make that break - you give up, and no more books are written by you. You've just been put out of business by thieves.
Perhaps those who think that "culture" should be free don't actually produce anything themselves that anybody would want to steal.
I have an interest here. I'm a published author of four (admittedly minor, modest-selling) niche works of non-fiction, and I can tell you from experience how much it hurts to find your hard work and yes, emotional commitment, casually stolen by others.
If you want to read a novel, you've got three honest choices: buy one; write one yourself; or confine your reading to bona fide free out-of-coypright books from legitimate sources such as this forum.
(Even they're not free, if you think about it; just royalty free. I downloaded a Gutenberg book, didn't like the way it looked on my reader--messy. Many hours later I had it re-formatted and recreated to my satisfaction. Cost: Well, I could have charged my time out to a client at 50 bucks an hour, so that 'free' book cost a bundle!
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