Eric, what this comes down to is intent. People like Doctorow and Anderson choose to make their work freely available. That is their chosen method of promotion and distribution. Other authors choose not to make their work freely available, and that choice should be respected.

Chris Anderson's Free is not a book from which he intends to earn paycheck. It is nothing more than a promotional tool to drive attention and build a platform in order to increase his fee for speaking gigs (and that is perfectly valid). Speaking is his paycheck, not writing. This can be done with non-fiction, particularly non-fiction that appeals to the internet business/commerce/media space.

The fiction writer who cannot directly and deliberately market to geeks (I use that term in a non-derogatory sense), has far fewer speaking opportunities - virtually none, I'd say. 

With no disrespect to Mr Hewson, I doubt he would have a bustling army of people ready to hand over the kind of cash Chris Anderson demands, so they can hear him speak (would you pay that much to see your favoured fiction author?). HIs fans want his books, his words, his ideas, his stories, not advice the future of media. 

Steal a fiction author's words and you destroy their living. Destroy their living and they stop writing. 


