[HansTWN]

there is a small, but significant difference. In any job, what you will be paid depends on how much income you generate. Yes, some jobs are paying very little. I hear people whining every day. Well, if you generate 500 USD in income for your employer you cannot expect to be paid 2000! If you feel underpaid, I have a suggestion for you. Start your own business or work somewhere else. Or go to your boss and demand a raise. If you are worth it, you will get it. If not, you should ask him to fire you -- that is what an old professor of mine recommended.

But a writer can create a lot of value, for a publisher, a book store, for himself -- if he writes a great book, people will be lining up to buy it. So if you give away free copies on the internet you are not just hurting the author. You are hurting all the people that work for the publisher, the bookstore, and indirectly all those that would benefit from spending the income that those sales would have created.

Let me again give you my example from the physical world that corresponds very well to ebooks. Someone has created a perfect rose after years of breeding. He has lined up tons of orders. Now someone takes a seed and breeds the roses by the thousands then gives them away. Yes, the original rose is still there. But you have stolen money, value from the breeder.