[yojo]

I believe Doctorow is doing this for the reasons he outlined, but let’s be clear: his brand is all about being anti this kind of shit.

Selling out on his principles to make half a million in the audible store might still be a net financial negative if it causes him to lose credibility with the many people who buy his other books and pay his speaker fees.

[nprateem]

No one would probably have thought about it or cared if he hadn't made a big fuss about it.

[yojo]

Maybe? You do enough of this kind of stuff and you’re going to lose credibility. Possibly your devoted fans let you off the hook for the first offense. But Audible has a pretty scummy reputation in some circles (as evidenced by other comments here).

Also, making a big fuss about it is content marketing, which works because of his brand. He’s on the front page of HN with a blog post that mentions a bunch of his offerings/plays up the quality of his audiobooks. More financial incentive to forego the Audible dollars.