i think what larry fails to grasp is a rather subtle point. or perhaps its not subtle? writes, especially american writers, are also part of american culture. therefore many of them dream of getting rich and/or famous. lessig may not be in the top 100 but he does have a few relatively well-paid gigs. Bascially compared to 99% of the authors out there he already is rich-and-famous. And his goal is to get the message out. so for him going this route works best. but I suspect his situation is more or a niche than a large demographic. for the person who dreams of being the next king, dahl, ludlum or steele or chomsky but has not reached fame or notoriety yet... this looks like a way to NOT make as much money. why? because they would be dealing with three additional issues simultaneously: a) unwillingness of publishers to accept their work for print b) lack of 'name ' recognition to spark interest in print sales c) lack of the required high-level of interest in the blogging community in doing such derivative works for everyone a, b and c are all somewhat related. lessig can argue that there are creative ways for people to get around a, b, and c. after all hes a good lawyer but all those creative ways require work and there is a cost to such work. so it becomes a question of economics again. its the difference between niche and mainstream markets. lessig is mainstream masquerading as a niche. I suspect writers will instinctively react to this even if they have not reflected on it. Dan Steinerg