The same factors that make something inherenty viral or popular will also make something highly pirated. You can't draw causation because they are born from the same factor.
(Just from the excerpt in this article, I sent a link to this book to 3 people this moment.)
All this article does is massage the egos of pirates, it doesn't explain why this book was popular because of piracy or how it converted into real world popularity. This article has so little substance... it could be interesting if it had something worth reading.
It probably has to do with how word of this book and the book itself was practically viral among parents and the content was good enough to deem buying in hardcopy for a lot of those pirates. I was under the assumption that this is generally how the piracy success stories work. A lot of people pirate something only to discover that they really like it, and they'll buy it to make up for the piracy.
I'm not even a parent, but I saw the book on facebook through a friend-with-kids and was howling the entire way through. I preordered a copy on Amazon immediately after finishing reading the book and I bookmarked it for future reference for gifts to new parents. If it wasn't for the book being on facebook, I never would have heard of it and I probably wouldn't have bought it if I only saw the cover or a page or two on Amazon or at a physical bookstore.
This article is an example of where piracy has positively benefited a creative work. Previously the debate was that "All piracy is always bad". People are starting to find evidence that piracy can be good. This changes the debate.
I don't think this changes the debate. It adds another data point to the idea that piracy can give exposure to works that don't have massive amounts of money to spend on PR campaigns; such things that if they weren't heavily pirated, you probably wouldn't know about them. This idea has been around for a long time.
Coitus interruptus has a failure rate of 15%-28% per year, 4% when used perfectly. In comparison, condoms have a failure rate of 10%-16% (2% when used perfectly).
You were perhaps aiming for a sound-bite, but saying "It works in very few cases" is inaccurate.
I think it made my point quite nicely. Piracy works in a very small percentage of cases. We shouldn't be clinging to this fact and saying that it's an effective way to market and advertise.
If we were able to say why, definitively, something went viral, then viral wouldn't seem so unusual or special, would it. We're all left to guess when something like this takes off in an organic, viral way. What's more interesting than guessing at that is what the fallout will be for business--and the publishing model. That's what this story explored.
I think books are becoming more souvenirs than strictly vessels for information.
People I know get most of their information digitally, reading books, articles, news, doing research, etc., all via computers, ipads, kindles, etc. It's just an easier way to consume information.
But, a physical book can easily serve as a party favor or a souvenir, of an event or of an idea. If some information is particularly valuable, or moving, or memorable, it's nice to have something to put on your coffee table or shelf. I would guess that the types of books that fit that description, just like Go the Fuck to Sleep does, are going to be the only books that are still profitably printed a decade from now.
You're talking about "doing research" but reading a technical reference on a PC / iPad / Kindle DX is very painful - first you need a big screen (plain Kindle won't do), devices like the iPad don't do so well in strong light, and one thing I really miss - taking notes, which is very hard, if possible at all.
That said, a device like Kindle DX could very well replace my printed books someday.
I can't really speak to doing technical research digitally. I've read many coding/graphics/web books, all digitally, and found it pretty much the same as reading a book.
Literally all legal research is done online now, though.
What, specifically, is so difficult about replicating technical references digitally? Is it just the screen/notes aspect? (I bet that is fixed within 2 generations) Layout? Graphics? Is it limited by the reproductions rather than the physical displays?
My biggest problem is that I like taking notes, especially for programming-related stuff, using a pencil.
I'm reading books in my dead time, like the daily commute, and I don't have the luxury to use a notebook. I like marking important paragraphs, or add notes on stuff that was previously defined in former chapters, or add question marks reminding me to do further research online.
And yes, the device has to have a big screen with good resolution, and that screen has to be readable in sunlight. And my problem with E-Ink is that it doesn't come in color (making them useless for reading some topics, like design/photography stuff for example).
Of course, I will be very happy when such technical limitations are removed. And I'll also be very happy that such reading devices are more green, and my reading habits aren't the reason for cutting down forests :)
Very understandable. Full motion, color e-ink should be out by next year (according to rumors about Amazon's ipad competitor). Flexible screens are very close to being useful. I bet we'll see what you want within 5 years. It will be fun :)
Self-help books and the like can be comfort objects. When I was new to poly, though I had a PDF of The Ethical Slut, I remember wanting a physical copy to keep in my backpack and thumb through when I felt worried/jealous/uncertain.
I agree. It is nice to thumb through some books. But, if the kindle (or 2020's kindle equivalent) version is half the price of a hardback or paperback, are you really going to buy the physical version if you don't already know you'll love it and want to keep it on your shelf?
Some people will. They just like physical books. But I bet most people, in the future, would rather have it stored and available digitally at all times. Especially if they're worried about people seeing "How to be a Man" or "The Ethical Slut" on their bookshelves.
> People I know get most of their information digitally, reading books, articles, news, doing research, etc., all via computers, ipads, kindles, etc. It's just an easier way to consume information.
Any book-lover would tell you that reading them books is not only about "consuming information". Otherwise, I would be a little bit skeptical in announcing the death of a cultural item that has been with us for at least 2,000 years.
As I see it, people read books for two reasons: to gain some knowledge (consume info) or to be entertained. Maybe I'm missing something else?
And I'm not at all announcing the death of books. I agree that some books mean more than just the words they contain. For this reason, I think they'll stick around as souvenirs of events, ideas, places, and people.
But, many books don't represent more than the words they contain, so I don't think people will want physical copies of them. For these reasons, I would guess the staggering majority of books are consumed digitally in 10 years. I wrote more in depth about it here, if you're interested (and I'd love to know why I might be wrong): http://www.ajkesslerblog.com/books-are-souvenirs/
As I understand it, and in part how it is for myself; reading books can be a meditative practice.
Having a physical book can help someone focus and get in the mood, as well as help them create the enviroment around the book itself as they consume the contents.
An ipad or computer also has other purposes than reading, but a book does not.
Some people can do this with an ipad or a computer monitor, but I think the people who say there's no replacing a good book might prefer the in-part ritual around reading an actual book.
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You might be right in that people will eventually create these things around their ipad, but I still think there might be a value in, even if not more valuable than having grep for a book, the single-purpose existence of books.
I don't think you're necessarily wrong, maybe is just that us, "book-fetishists", are a dying species :)
Reading your post I thought a little harder about why I wouldn't like physical books to go away, or to be transformed into "souvenirs" (which I think it's pretty much the same as them books going away).
First, like I said, maybe I'm just a "book-fetishist". It's very hard to explain, Borges explained it best when he said that he hopes "Heaven is a library".
Second, and I saw that you wrote about that in your blog post, books do indeed "represent things, places, times, events or ideas to certain people". I know it happens to me very often to just sit in my couch and look through the titles of the books I've accumulated in my personal library. Half of them I haven't even read, but just reading their titles gives you a special feeling.
Last and not least, I still continue to believe that my interest in reading was very much nurtured by me growing in a small apartment filled up with the books that my dad had bought. I kind of hope that my unborn child will inherit the same passion, just because s/he would grow up in a house surrounded by books.
I think the artwork of a children's book, especially one as good as Go the F to Sleep make piracy beneficial. The content and the artwork are both very funny. So the PDF makes you realize it's actually quite good and then want the actual hard copy.
For parents on HN, if you haven't seen the book, you should. It'll make you laugh when you're having one of those nights.
I think this effect may only be successful in very specific cases of certain genres.
For example An Awesome Book (http://veryawesomeworld.com/), a similar adult/everyone children's book is offered for free and in full on the website while still quickly selling out on Amazon.
A childrens book is not a regular kind of book. The book is filled with full-page images that support the texts and these are better appreciated in hardcopy form.
Also, you're not going to sit down with your baby and read them a bedtime story from your laptop.
The same factors that make something inherenty viral or popular will also make something highly pirated. You can't draw causation because they are born from the same factor.
(Just from the excerpt in this article, I sent a link to this book to 3 people this moment.)