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As JSWolf says,
"I've come to find out that a lot of the books being shared on the net are books not available for sale as ebooks. Thus scanned and OCRed. So I think in this case we blame the publishers. If the books are available, there would be less need to scan and OCR."
this is correct. I don't see many pirated files of publishers who are selling their book as ebooks online at a REASONABLE price, but if their books are not online or if their price is UNREASONABLE like 3 or more times the usual paperback price for that particular book, then i'll see the files. Penguin books, especially. I sometimes laugh when i see a couple of books that would usually be paperback books for $5-$7 yet the publisher/author has to inflate it up to $15 to $30 for the hardback's introduction and do the same for the ebook, yet i'll see it FREE as a pirated file.
But they're getting sneaky. They'll offer a book for $15 in every ebookfile except mobipocket which will be for $5. Like there's a chance i'll EVER download mobipocket or any other proprietary software!! Forgetaboutit!! I'd rather pay more for a more open format like Microsoft's LIT.
And some publishers know the score like simon and schuster which lists their ebooks for a very low price. i'd rather save up all my $$'s for simon and schuster's site and even try out authors i don't know about from their site.
performers from Homer to shakespeare made a living not from copyright but from selling tickets, getting patrons, performing at events or castles or fairs. Today's "artists" before the mp3 era (hello, rolling stones) just want to collect and sit on their collective a***es.
in my humble opinion, i think the best way for authors/publishers to collect is to give away their books for free or cheap and insert advertisements in them. That way, everyone benefits.
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