Quote:
Originally Posted by Jellby
I would say that, if it's theft, it's not $20, but maybe $3-6, whatever amount would be the profit for the publisher and bookseller plus the royalties for the author, etc., i.e., you shouldn't count the part of the $20 that's actually used to pay for the paper, printing, binding, storage, distribution, etc., since those are in fact items that are saved due to the "theft".  |
No, they're "sunk costs". They've already been spent. Downloading an illicit electronic copy instead of buying a paper copy is a loss of revenue for the publisher. But as discussed at length elsewhere, there is no way to measure the loss. It's just not possible tell how many illicit electronic copies are downloaded, and more important, it's not possible to tell how many copies are downloaded and read
instead of buying a legitimate copy.
The latter is the critical number. If you're an author, a simple download of an illicit copy of one of your books is meaningless. A download that is read
instead of paying you for a copy is actual lost revenue, and
that you're concerned about. But as mentioned, there is no way to actually measure the losses.
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Dennis