Denny, have you considered adding a "tip the artist" link to your product pages? I know people could accomplish the same thing by repeatedly buying the same set, but to me at least, offering a tip would feel much more natural.

There are a number of things WWG could do, right now, to stop its products being pirated. But will they help WWG's business?

For better or worse, WWG is in a market where piracy is rife. The things that make piracy so easy in this market, are the same things that enable WWG to exist commercially in the first place:
- Instant access to the global market at negligible cost
- Customers can locate and access ultra-niche suppliers easily and instantly
- Copying and distributing digital media is as almost free, instant and requires minimal investment
- Product is automatically downloadable and readable by customers

Eventually web technology will evolve to the point that it meets these criteria and prevents illegal copying and distribution of digital products. Until then, ultra-niche players like WWG are just going to have to a) accept a background of piracy, or b) accept reduction of their market.

I can't say that we have to like this, but this is the state of play right now.

I think plenty of people who pirate would have payed if the free version wasn't available. I can't put a number on it, but I'm sure it's WAY over 1%. Otherwise, wouldn't WorldWorks be pulling in significantly more business than it used to? Surely, they're more well known now. They have more sets available now. So why aren't they raking it in?

The root of the problem is that WorldWorks' primary product has no intrinsic value. It's a file. More accurately, it's a link that I can click on to have a file appear on my hard drive. Sure, it costs a lot of time to produce. Sure, people will pay for it - but what are they really buying? I know that when I buy a set from WorldWorks, I do it to support the work of the company and its artists. I buy the sets I like because I think Denny and company should be fairly compensated. I also want them to make more sets in the future. On the other hand, I can easily see how plenty of people could simply not care about Denny, nor the consequences of bleeding WorldWorks dry.

While I don't like DRM, I strongly suspect that anything that makes piracy harder would improve sales (assuming you don't take it too far and end up punishing your loyal customers).