I have to disagree. Copyright prevents re-use and new work. The novelist wishing to earn a living is also taking a risk being a novelist, just as I take a risk

I have to disagree. Copyright prevents re-use and new work. The novelist wishing to earn a living is also taking a risk being a novelist, just as I take a risk in paying for an education that may not land me a job. I still charge for my time. The novelist can still charge for his or hers. We both must do something useful. If his or her novel is useful "enough" to live on alone - wonderful - but we shouldn't take it for granted that that is necessarily going to be the case, or that something like copyright will help it to be, or that that would even be a good thing (that people can make a living doing something that society wouldn't even naturally value enough to remunerate). At the same time as all of that is going on, people are going to continue trying to make the best of what's around - and that includes copying.