Quote:
Originally Posted by DiapDealer
I think this is often overlooked. I don't condone copyright violation--and I'm certainly not going to to say it doesn't have any effect. But I think that some authors/publishers choose to blame "piracy" for their flagging sales when the fact is that "Legal Free (or very cheap)" is very, very hard to compete with these days. Libraries were free, of course, but the sheer amount--not to mention sheer variety--of Legal Free avaialble to those with electronic devices is monumentally staggering. Electronic copyright violation may be pinching some a bit, but it's not running anyone out of business, by any means.
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Libraries and publishers used to say that by putting free books in libraries they were publicizing books. I have no idea whether that's true but my guess is the publishers wouldn't have said it without reason to think so. But with publishers you never really know.
Of course if that's also true of piracy it would be immoral to say so, and probably dangerous in this forum. To say nothing of the fact that the libraries did have to pay for their books and probably the pirates don't.
My guess is that nobody really knows if piracy hurts or helps publishers. My guess would be that it hurts them but I don't really know either. I'd be surprised if it hurts them nearly as much as they claim.
I buy books when they go on sale, with very few exceptions. I subscribe to Bookbub and Book Gorilla and I read them both carefully and if I see something I want I buy it if it's $2 or less. If it's $3 I have to want it pretty badly. And this is part of what sellers are competing with. I'd say half of the books I buy for $2 cost $10 or more normally. It's a great system for readers. I'm glad I don't have to make a living as an author.
Barry