Chris Anderson says "Steal my book"

Chris Anderson is happy that his book is now available on BitTorrent. The reason for his happiness makes me happy.

"My publishers want to make money, and I like them so I usually do what it takes to keep them happy, but in truth I just want to be read/listened to by the largest number of people. Leave it to me to figure out how to convert that reputational currency into cash--just get me in front of the biggest audience and I'll do the rest. My agent doesn't want to hear this, but I'd rather take a smaller up-front advance or lower royalties in exchange for more liberty in distributing free versions, because I think I'll actually be better off in the end.

As Tim O'Reilly puts it, "Obscurity is a far greater threat to authors and creative artists than piracy".

As I always say - people just want to be heard.

I have had a fascination with this idea ever since my first major project - both on real radio and online which boasted huge levels of audience interaction (forums, chat, participant generated content etc) back in 1997. The slogan - "Don't just listen - Be Heard".

It has been a constant theme in my work.

Chris won't go hungry because of this little breach in his rights. He will only earn more audience and a louder voice. He will make his money from better jobs, more opportunities and a bigger booking fees.

The reality is though, us other content creators who are far less well known will have to find another way to make money from the long tail.