According to an article at io9.com, noted Star Wars author Michael Stackpole (the Rogue Squadron series, NJO novels Dark Tide and Ruin, and I, Jedi) has no issue with online piracy in regards to online publishing.
"A lot of writers are worried about online piracy, but Stackpole dismissed those concerns. "People downloading my stories from the big torrent sites were never going to buy them anyway. It's no money out of my pocket." He even admitted to downloading some of his own books from bittorrent sites if he didn't already have a digital copy, saying it was far easier than scanning it in himself.
Writers still trying to break into the publishing world have an unprecedented chance to start their own websites, build an audience and create a market for their work without relying on major publishers at all, said Stackpole. Posting short fiction or even a serialized novel on a website won't cause problems if a writer tries to sign a publishing deal at a later date because mainstream publishers don't see digital publishing as a serious threat.
Rather than simply changing the method of delivering stories to readers, Stackpole believes digital formats will change the nature of the stories themselves. At the very least, authors should tailor their work to these new mediums. He cited what he referred to as "the commuter market," people who read two chapters per day on their half hour train ride to work. It's an ideal market for fiction broken into 2,500 word chapters, and could presage a resurgence of serial fiction. "It's kind of like a return to the Penny Dreadfuls," he said. "But the readers today are more sophisticated, so we as writers need to put more work into it."
Click here for the full article in which Stackpole promotes online publishing as a great way for new writers to break into science fiction.