[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by DawnFalcon

Of course there is, bar usenet. Get an account on the common ebook trackers (and most have public domain sections so you can maintain an account without breaking the law), and check the numbers.

Easy enough for things like Grokster, but less easy for torrents which may use private trackers, and you can't really bar Usenet.

I would not consider such numbers reliable, without knowing far more about where they came from and how they were collected.

And even with those numbers, there's still a crucial missing piece. They just tell me something has been downloaded. They don't tell me it's been read instead of purchasing a legitimate copy. And when I see things like torrents for 17,000 books, I simply don't believe the downloader will read even a small fraction of them. I've heard too many stories of folks who don't even know what all they have from stuff like that.

Mere downloads are meaningless. Download and read instead of buy is not, but that's far harder to track.

*points at Baen*

So do I, but Baen's model may not work for all publishers.

And while I can't prove it, I suspect that Baen doesn't have the issue of ebook sales cutting into hardcover sales. Lots of folks who want to read it now happily buy an ARC ebook edition, but I suspect they also buy the hardcover when released. I suspect I'm not the only one who considers ebooks an additional format, and not a replacement for paper books.

In many cases, even with PD works converted that way, the quality is higher thanks to the time people put into them than the "official" ebooks, IME. (And I don't mind admitting I've gone to the darknet twice when the official ebook was completely unreadable)

Oh, I concur. I've seen enough horror stories about things like Kindle editions, and they aren't the only problems. Even publishers who want to publish electronic editions are still learning how to do it right.

And I've gone to the darknet for a couple of things that have never had a legitimate ebook edition. I have the paper versions in hardcover, but the authors/author's estates never licensed an electronic copy. I'd happily buy one if it existed.
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Dennis