Quote:
Originally Posted by binaryhermit
And it's not entirely like these stats are actually realistic
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84M55-TL5go
EDIT: I'll admit to pirating stuff in my younger, dumber days, and I regret doing so, but a lot of it I wouldn't have purchased anyway, so calling one pirated copy one lost sale is not true. I suspect they do that because they want to push the narrative that they're getting killed by piracy because they feel that makes it easier for them to get certain changes they feel would be beneficial pushed through. |
I think that Neil will find out that, as ebooks become the most desired format, people won’t buy his books after having pirated them. It was the same thing with the Baen Free Library. Plenty of testimonials that people would buy a book after having read it for free.
It’s not that there isn’t some amount of truth that piracy (and libraries) act as advertising. And clearly there isn’t a one to one “a pirated book equals a lost sale”. There is truth to both.
But take a look at the history of Napster. When pirating becomes so easy, and the pirated product indistinguishable from the commercial...profits of an entire industry can plummet.