I wonder if copyright went away people would still write books? I respectfully suggest that you're asking the wrong question. Obviously some books would still

I wonder if copyright went away people would still write books? I respectfully suggest that you're asking the wrong question. Obviously some books would still be written. More insightful questions might be whether people would still write as many books, whether the books written would be as good, and whether books would reach as large an audience as happens under copyright. I contend that it is utterly implausible that an entirely voluntary or even patronage-based system would come anywhere close to our current situation by any of those metrics. The vast majority of the cost of making a book has nothing to do with buying a laptop or paying for an Internet connection. It comes from the time and skill and creativity and understanding of the author. Depending on the nature of the book, it also comes from the time and skill and creativity and understanding of proofreaders, editors, illustrators, graphic designers, researchers...