Piracy isn't the big problem for authors, obscurity is

In today's word where big recording studios and copyright-obsessed corporations are in their spasms of death trying to introduce things like SOPA and PIPA, this older but very relevant article from Cory Doctorow should be reminded again:

Why do you give away your books? Cory Doctorow answers:
For me — for pretty much every writer — the big problem isn't piracy, it's obscurity (thanks to Tim O'Reilly for this great aphorism). Of all the people who failed to buy this book today, the majority did so because they never heard of it, not because someone gave them a free copy. Mega-hit best-sellers in science fiction sell half a million copies — in a world where 175,000 attend the San Diego Comic Con alone, you've got to figure that most of the people who "like science fiction" (and related geeky stuff like comics, games, Linux, and so on) just don't really buy books. I'm more interested in getting more of that wider audience into the tent than making sure that everyone who's in the tent bought a ticket to be there.

Continued here:
http://craphound.com/littlebrother/about/

Embedded Link

Little Brother » About this book/FAQ
About this book/FAQ. What's Little Brother about? Why do you give away your books? How do I donate to you? What's Little Brother about? Marcus, a.k.a “w1n5t0n,” is only seventeen years old, bu…

Google+: View post on Google+