[xhkkffbf]

I'm an author but I'm not rich. Therefore the only way I can afford to write books is because people pay the publishers who, in turn, then have money to pay me.

If you want to preserve human culture, you want to make it possible for the non-rich to help create it.

If you want to write books for free, go to it. But what the IA did was just plain wrong. Plenty of bookstores like Powells were operating remotely during the pandemic. Many libraries had curbside pick up. Amazon was still delivering. There was no reason to run up the pirate flag.

[account42]

Is it the only way or the most convenient way? The problem here is that that convenince afforded to creators has a substantial cost for everyone, including other creators.

[SkyBelow]

What about what libraries do in general. By buying some number of copies and then letting many people read those copies, it leads to fewer people buying books overall leading to less pay, meaning those who depend upon income from writing books to be less able to afford continuing to write books.

And any arguments along the lines that libraries actually lead to increased numbers of readers and thus overall increase book sales could also apply to this instance as well (I've even seen such arguments made about piracy in general, though I've never seen any conclusive research indicating if the argument is realistic or not).