But many creatives out there dream of earning enough from their art to pursue creative work full-time. It seems counter-intuitive to think that giving away one’s creative output could serve that goal, but obscurity = poverty. Perhaps even worse, obscurity = no one can hear the really important thing you have to say. But if no one pays the creators, there’ll be few creators to make the cool, quality stuff we love. Right here is the heart of the matter, and the eternal question regarding piracy and giving away our work. If I ever transition to full-time writing, I’d love to be able to earn enough to buy food and pay the bills. The only way to make that happen is to develop an audience now, enough of whom are willing to pay to enjoy my work later. So am I bothered by my book getting ripped and torrented? Sure, at least I was when I first discovered the piracy. Now I see it as an irritant; I’m annoyed that the folks who ripped and shared it didn’t ask if I was willing to give it away and let me handle that. Heck, I told an audience at ConQuesT (the Kansas City SF convention) last spring that I was going to give it away, and I’ve been telling people that ever since – and even wrote it on my website and blog! In fact, I’m a bit flattered that someone liked it enough to share it. But when people read my book in shadowy corners of the internet, I don’t know about it. On the other hand, when they buy a Kindle edition or a paper copy, my publisher tracks those sales. When they download the ebooks from my website, I know about it. My primary motivation in writing is to share stories about things I can’t not write about, so I want to know when people are reading it. I want to hear what they think about it! So I urge you: If you enjoy a creative work – especially one you got for free! – tell the world about it. With my novel, at least, you needn’t worry about getting caught, because I’m giving it away. Blog about it, post reviews at Amazon or Goodreads or wherever, and tell your friends whom you think might also like it. Post a link to my site where others can download it. Because those small efforts are payment-in-kind for my effort-cost to create the work and distribute it without demanding payment or imposing DRM on the free copies. Visit my my blog or Facebook page or send me an email to let me know what you think. Heck, buy a copy and give it to your local library or to a friend if you really liked it, but largely I simply want to know that I’m being read, that someone out there gets what I’m saying and is affected in some way by my work. It would be awesome if my writing could provide enough income to pay for a trip or fix the roof or so forth, but I’m not banking on it. I just don’t want to be the idiot who worked his ass off for years to create something and then just let people run off with it without even saying, “Thanks.” (via The Stars My Destination – Thoughts on piracy, freedom, and making a living as a writer.) found via BoingBoing.net