Quote:
Originally Posted by Andrew H.
I agree that there is probably not much harm done to the obscure author either.
I just don't think he will be helped much, even if one in 100,000 people do look at the 1,998 books that came with the books they actually wanted to pirate. Being pirated is just not really a viable way to escape obscurity. And I'm not sure many authors make that specific argument.
Instead, I think the more viable (and more common) argument is that: (1) obscurity is your biggest problem; (2) the best way of overcoming obscurity may be by doing things that make piracy easier (giving books away, selling them cheaply, not using DRM, distributing by torrent); and (3) the exposure you will get will benefit you more than taking significant steps to prevent piracy would.
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I can understand this part, but what is disconcerting to me is that some smaller authors and artists like Colleen Doran have specifically asked sites and individuals to honor their wishes not to be pirated, and have been roundly ignored. Very rarely in these discussions of piracy do we talk about what it means if we're at a point where people can't do something so basic as take things without paying.