Will writers keep working for free?

Thoughts about online piracy and Shakespeare from Scott Turow (Authors Guild)

What happens when a writer loses his monetary incentive to write? The February 2011 essay Would the Bard Have Survived the Web? in the New York Times by Scott Turow (president of the Authors Guild), Paul Aiken (executive dir. of the Authors Guild) and James Shapiro (Columbia U. Shakespeare scholar) uses as a case study the Enlightenment’s explosion of famous playwrights in the late 16th century to conclude that literary talent will often remain undeveloped unless markets reward it. Their point being that current literary markets are unraveling in part due to online piracy.

Do you have any examples of online piracy biting into your sales? Or are the smaller margins of ebooks your current concern?

By Laura

Helping creative entrepreneurs manage their online presence. Website builder & social media consultant, ebook creator, book marketer, editor, writer, blogger. (Avocations are movie review writing and graphic design.) Worked in book and magazine publishing for many years as an editor and executive.