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Originally Posted by Rosentredere
With books on the other hand most content is of the dead tree variety. Converting them into a pdf is not simply a matter of pressing “start” on a ripping-tool. It involves scanning, OCR, proofreading and re-layouting. Not something many people will do with their complete library. So the percentage of books that is available on p2p is not only much smaller than in the case of music, but also of a very variable quality, thus not nearly as great a threat to publishers.
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Don't underestimate the enthusiasm of the underground e-book scene. Remember Harry Potter 6, which was scanned, proofread and pirated
in less than a day after the official paperbook release? These guys are equipped with professional scanners and OCR software. As a matter of fact, I would guess that each month an addition of 500-1000 new books get out as illegal e-books. Sure it's not yet the size of the library of Alexandria, but it's getting there. And I bet the pirated books include most of what the average reader would ever want to read.
To answer your question, though, will it help? I don't know. Piracy of that sort is a two-edged sword. On the one hand, it makes access to a new technology easier and raises general awareness; on the other hand, publishers are not exactly known to be eager to get their products out in digitalized form - and piracy ain't going to convince them any better.