The Real Problem For Most Artists is Obscurity, Not Piracy
Two weeks ago author Megan Lisa Jones teamed up with BitTorrent Inc. to promote her new book “Captive.”
By now the book has been downloaded over 400,000 times, mostly because it’s bundled with the download of uTorrent.
Although the free downloads didn’t result in direct sales, it will be hard not to believe that the PR has boosted Megan Lisa Jones profile. And isn’t this the hardest part of making it as an author/artist?
Matt Mason, TorrentFreak contributor and author of The Pirate’s Dilemma sums it up quite nicely.
“The real problem for most authors, to quote Tim O’Reilly, isn’t piracy, but obscurity. There are millions of books on Amazon, and the average book in the US sells around 500 copies a year. A lot of authors, including Cory Doctorow, Seth Godin, Paulo Coelho and myself have had success by giving away electronic copies of our books as a way to promote the books. It can spread the message of the book further, boost sales of physical copies, boost ebook sales, and stimulate other opportunities like speaking and consulting engagements.”
You can read the rest of the article at O’Reilly Radar.
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