[throw0101a]

> wouldn't have reached anywhere near the level of fame (and thus sales)

Cory Doctorow in 2008:

> For me — for pretty much every writer — the big problem isn’t piracy, it’s obscurity (thanks to Tim O’Reilly for this great aphorism). Of all the people who failed to buy this book today, the majority did so because they never heard of it, not because someone gave them a free copy.

* https://craphound.com/littlebrother/about/

Now that he's more established and has a fan base it may be less applicable (just like Stephen King may not want to give away his stuff), but if anyone is starting out, getting readers is a challenge in the first place.