The internet has transformed publishing so that dilemmas like Carlyle's now seem impossible. Most authors write their books on a computer, save their work to hard disk, back it up, and email it to close friends or the publishers. And Carlyle's spirit can rest easy in the knowledge that even if every existing copy of his book were to go up in flames, he would still have the e-book. Unfortunately, as Meyer found out, the advantages of new technology have corresponding disadvantages, greater opportunities for privacy violation being one. 

But both these authors — despite having lived very different lives and written very different books — actually suffered from the same old problem in the end: human carelessness, whereby a maid accidentally burns your magnum opus, or a friend stupidly forwards an email to the wrong person. No technology can cater for that.