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Comment by Aurornis

8 hours ago

> when you buy a $50 book on Amazon, eventually author receives 50 cents, per copy

Royalties are much higher than 1%. Royalties are very high with eBooks (the closest analog to pirated books)

> So one would say, "piracy" even helps out author in this regard

Oh the mental gymnastics people will do to justify not paying people for their work.

> makes books available to wider audience, hence more publicity.

You downloading a pirated book does not do this. You just get their work without them getting any money in return.

“Do it for exposure” ignites justifiable outrage when we are asked to work for free. Why would it be a good thing to apply to authors?

Even if it was true, you cannot deny that exposure + payment is better than exposure plus nonpayment, right?

5 comments

Aurornis

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zerr  8 hours ago

Ok, if we fallow that line, it's about worthiness in a certain region. And authors/sellers rarely implement regional pricing. Would you pay your one-month or even half-year salary for a random book? Same goes for software. That's why Microsoft encouraged or turned a blind eye on software "piracy" in developing countries, that's the reason Windows and other MS software became standards there. Most of users who "pirate" things won't pay a dime if you restrict it, they will just go find something else, e.g. Linux :)

  • Aurornis  7 hours ago

    > Would you pay your one-month or even half-year salary for a random book?

    What on earth are you talking about? Books do not cost a half year of salary.

    If they did, nobody would buy them.