"Internet book piracy will drive authors to stop writing" was the alarming headline of this
Times Online article. Just as the music and film industries have had to contend with people ripping off songs and films, books too are moving more towards a free distribution model. That doesn't mean they can't content with piracy though. They could firstly make the bold move of giving away free PDFs of their books themselves (maybe even just a few chapters atleast). Then offer to sell printed versions directly, perhaps with a small note from the author/signiature. Instead of the typical lower price range they could charge significantly more for the book, as long as it's well crafted. Even subscription models (new chapters added to the site as they are written) is a viable alternative.
Piracy might be a big danger to a lot of creative works, but they will always lack authenticity, something authors and song writers, movie makers should leverage.
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