People don't talk about it much, but book piracy is booming — just check out the e-book section of The Pirate Bay. But Clay Johnson, author of The Information Diet , says he's fine with it.
If one file sharing site is to be believed, Clay Johnson's book has been pirated a minimum of 14,994 times. But he isn't mad. In fact, he seems a little bit flattered. "If that number was verifiably true, I'd be thrilled," he says.
Taking into account distribution on various torrent sites, on RapidShare-style services and subsequent direct sharing, Johnson imagines that "at least" as many people have downloaded his book for free as have paid for it in any form.
Johnson doesn't speak for all authors, or even most. But he can speak for certain subset: nonfiction writers who sell something more than a book — in Johnson's case, a sort of grand unified theory of content consumption.
"We make money off of speaking engagements, consulting, etc —not off of royalties for the book," Johnson says, "so that there might be 14k extra people out there that have at least downloaded the book is a great thing."
Johnson's arrangement isn't new — there are entire sections of Barnes & Noble that exist to boost authors' profiles outside the publishing world — but his views are still remarkably progressive. To hear him tell it, for a certain kind of author, reputation and profile are more important than sales. It's not unlike how recording artists' revenues are shifting from sales to live performances — Johnson can effectively "perform" his thesis as a speaker or consultant, so if those 14,000 downloads result in a few more attendees, or a higher fee, they were worth it. He gets paid and doesn't have to give his publisher a cut. In a way, it's empowering.
