The argument for digital rights management (people will steal your stuff) sounds good from a retail perspective. Who would buy the book when they can get a pirated copy for free? But if retail sales aren’t the focus of your company, there is value in the illegal proliferation of your stuff.

This does not mean piracy is good. Pirates take from the producer without investing anything back, leaving that producer with fewer resources to make better stuff, and thus slowing the progress of knowledge, technology, and perhaps civilization as we know it. But piracy is an additional form of marketing. Unprotected content results in additional readers at the expense of lost sales. But “free” content will reach consumers that cannot afford or justify the cost of a book, so your content gains exposure to individuals who otherwise would not have access to the information.

Let’s say you’re a consultant. You attract your clients by being the authority on certain information. One way to prove your authority (see the connection, authority and author) is to create white papers and books that others find useful.

The more people that read and use your stuff, the bigger an authority you become on the topic. If piracy drastically increases the copies of your books being used, you have that many more people that recognize your authority.

The more individuals that recognize your authority, the more likely they are to come to you for answers not available in the book. Since cloning isn’t perfect, the public cannot pirate your personal knowledge and experience, and you get to charge the money for consulting services.

With everything going to the web, attention is rising in value. Your content is just one drop in a vast ocean of stuff and announcing your existence and value to potential clients becomes ever more difficult.

If pirated copies of a book generate more searches on the author and drive traffic to your site or blog, then perhaps there will come a time when you can’t afford DRM.