I have a few things which I give away, which are lead-ins to the things I sell. I'm happy to give away the first couple of chapters of whatever I write, without strings attached. But everything after that I am going to charge for, and I don't see that ever changing.
A big part of it is expectations, on both sides of the counter. If I give something away, I not only condition other people to expect future things in the same vein to be given away, I condition myself to think that way as well. I don't want to get into the trap of getting into a race to the bottom with myself.
That said, I also believe the best copy protection for media is a good pricing structure for products which are easy to obtain and aren't in themselves obfuscated.
Also, if there ever comes a day when computers are able to compete creatively with humans, I suspect we'll have MUCH bigger things to worry about than whether or not human writers can compete effectively for a piece of the market.
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