In the past 24 hours, four separate writers have emailed me to tell me my books are being stolen online.Well... no duh.
The internet was created to share and distribute data. It's the whole reason the world wide web exists.
Of course some of that data is going to be copyright-protected work. If it can be digitized, it can, and will, be shared.
What continues to amaze me is how freaked-out authors are by this. The thought that someone is sharing their work--without paying for it--seems to evoke the same reaction as having someone hack your bank account and drain your life savings.
As you see by the recent picture, I'm being pirated. Google pointed to 8880 different sites where my work is being illegally shared. And these are just torrent sites. This doesn't count file lockers, which I believe account for many more downloads than torrents.
And yet, I'm not worried. I'm currently selling 220 ebooks per day, and that rate shows no signs of slowing down.
So everyone needs to take a big, collective breath, let it out slow, and stop worrying about illegal file sharing. Here are some reasons why.
1. Copyright is unenforceable in a digital world. Period. Exclamation point. At no time in history has any individual, company, or industry been able to stop file sharing. No country or law has been able to stop it. No technology has been able to stop it. Which brings us to...
2. People want to share files. There is this much file sharing going on for a reason. It's what people want. Fighting piracy is fighting human nature. This is a battle no one can win. Getting your undies in a bunch at the thought of someone copying your ebook is a waste of a good ulcer. Worry about some problem that eventually will be solved. Like world hunger. Or cancer. Or war. Those will be conquered before file sharing is.
3. There is ZERO reliable evidence that file-sharing hurts sales. A shared file does not equal a lost sale, any more than someone reading a library book is a lost sale.
My ebooks that I'm selling on Amazon and Smashwords are available for FREE on my website. As in "they cost zero dollars." And yet the ebooks keep selling. Clearly, being able to get something for free doesn't inhibit sales.
4. The more people who know who you are, the better. File sharing certainly helps spread brand awareness and name recognition, and it does so without any effort on your part.
Now we'll take some questions.
Q: But Joe, if everyone steals your ebooks, how will you make money?
A: Show me an artist bankrupted by piracy, and we'll revisit this question.
Q: No, seriously, in a future where everything is free, how will...
A: We're not in a future where everything is free. But I'll play the "let's pretend" game. Let's pretend that all ebooks are free. How will writers make money? The same way all media makes money. Advertising, merchandising, and licensing.
Q: But I don't want ads in ebooks.
A: I don't want ads in anything. But that's how capitalism works. Deal with it.
Q: Piracy is immoral, and illegal. We need to spread awareness, then people will stop doing it.
A: Sure... that's how religion was able to successfully put a halt to masturbation, pre-marital and extra-marital sex. And why the US successfully won the war on drugs.
Illegal doesn't matter. People do what they want to do. Immoral is subjective. And teaching people to behave in a way contrary to human nature DOES NOT WORK.
Q: If I create something, I should have the right to do what I want with it, and make money from it. Piracy takes that right away from me.
A: No it doesn't. The vast majority of piracy doesn't monetarily benefit the pirate. It's simply sharing, where no one makes a profit.
Q: That's not true. The sites that host piracy make a lot of money.
A: So does Google. So does any popular website. But those sites aren't making money off the illegal sales of your material. They simply facilitate sharing.
Q: Why doesn't anyone close those sites?
A: They try. Then new sites come up. It is unstoppable.
Q: But I don't want my writing to be shared.
A: Then don't write. Simple as that. JK Rowling has lost millions of dollars, because she refused to let Harry Potter come out in ebook form. Newsflash: you can get ebooks of all the Potter books from pirate sites. She didn't cater to her fans, so her fans catered to themselves. And if Rowling can't stop it, with her billions and armies of layers, you can't either.
Q: Piracy is theft, pure and simple.
A: That's not actually a question. And that's not actually true. First of all, the stealing of a physical object deprives the owner of that object, which is a monetary loss. Copying a file does not deprive the owner of that file--the owner still has it.
Q: It's the theft of intellectual property.
A: Okay, even though I think this point is pretty much useless, I'll play.
Have you ever read a library book? Recorded a song off the radio? Tivo'ed a show and zipped through the commercials? Lent a CD to a friend? Rented a movie or videogame? Bought a used book?
Guess what--you just experienced someone else's intellectual property without compensating the artist.
We could play "gray areas" and "where to draw the line" all day. It ultimately comes down to what constitutes ownership of intellectual property--actually owning a tangible object, or experiencing it sensually?
If the IP argument is that every time you sensually experience a work of art you should compensate the artist, then we're all thieves. But if stealing isn't about the experience, it's about the tangible object, then sharing intangible objects, such as data files, is not stealing.
Q: Look, it's stealing, no matter how you try to justify it. We need to create better technology to make sure that pirates can't steal.
A: There's a reason iTunes no longer uses DRM (digital rights management, the industry standard for copy protection.) Because PEOPLE DON'T WANT DRM.
Do you know who wants DRM? Artists and companies who don't know what the hell they're doing because they have knee jerk reactions to the word "piracy."
If you really fear piracy, educate yourself. Read about it. Learn how it's done. Hear both sides defend their positions.
If you have an ounce of brains in your head, you will quickly realize that piracy is always going to be here, that nothing can be done to stop it, that artists can still make money, and that you'd be much better off worrying about something you have control over, like writing more and better books.
And next time you see your ebook on a file sharing site, don't say, "Oh no! I'm being stolen!" Instead say, "Cool, I'm being read." That's what I do.
Addendum:
There are some dissenting opinions in the comments thread, so I just wanted to clarify and distill some of my thoughts. I'm not sure how I went from "don't worry about piracy" to being a full advocate for piracy, but I'd like to make it clear that I believe piracy is stealing. I simply do not equate it with stealing something tangible.
I'd also like to offer my final (for the moment) thoughts:
1. You CANNOT assume that a downloaded free book is a lost sale. It isn't 1 for 1.
In some cases, the pirate would have never bought the book in the first place.
In some cases, the pirate does buy the book, and other books by the author.
In some cases, the book languishes on a hard drive, never read at all.
In some cases, the pirate would have never even been aware of the book or the author without finding it on the file sharing site.
And so on.
2. It is impossible to prove the effect of file sharing on sales without actually interviewing every single pirate and having them answer truthfully about their sharing and buying habits.
3. Industries can lose money for many reasons. There is no study that clearly shows piracy is the only cause, or even proves it is part of the cause.
4. Piracy is big business for groups that make money studying and combating piracy. Fair, unbiased reports are hard to come by, especially when capitalism and politics are involved.
5. I have shown significant growth in the face of freebies and piracy. So have many others.
While it is impossible to prove a direct link between piracy and sales, showing rising sales in the face of piracy is a damn good indicator that piracy isn't harmful. Or if it is harmful, it isn't enough to impact growth.
This isn't opinion. It is fact. And it is repeatable.
You cannot prove piracy has harmed you. But I can prove it hasn't harmed me. Ergo, my argument is sound.
6. Don't worry about what you can't control. You'll sleep better.
7. The only way to combat piracy is with cost and convenience, which I have blogged about before.
230 comments:
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Publishers on groups I'm on are currently sharing the infringers names and will block those people who have a consistent pattern of theft.
Block them how? From what?
They'd have to tie me to it, and since I would never upload an illegal file, good luck to them trying to make the case.
The burden of proof is (or at least should be) so high as to be more or less unattainable. Since any branding system is easily spoofed, I just fail to see how such thing would even begin to work unless you throw out reasonable doubt entirely (not to mention how it's supposed to work internationally).
A vast majority of those in trouble for illegal downloading have been warned repeatedly, but they continue to do it and pay the price. Stupidity and arrogance, as I said before.
Such as...? The only cases I have ever heard of have involved single instances of IP addresses being traced, which isn't much proof anything.
If everyone gives up the fight to protect copyrighted material because too many people do it, there will be no new copyrighted material before long.
This is based on two rather spurious assumptions:
A) That people only create art in order to make money.
B) That no one is willing to pay for anything.
There seems to be no proof of either of these.
After all, would you work for free when you still have bills to pay?
If you do it for the love of creating, yes. That doesn't mean I think it's right that you do not get remunerated if your work is enjoyed by a great many people.
most people, once they realize that it costs them by taking away their entertainment and hurting those that entertain, do stop the illegal behavior.
Then what, exactly, is the problem? If you can just give people what they want, they will pay for it, especially if they're fans of the creator. I like paying artists directly if I can, but mot of the time, there's no such option. When it's there, it tends to work quite well. Singer/writer Momus has released albums on small labels for about 25 years - he claims never to have made more money than when he put up a PayPal link on his web site a few years go.
My main point is this: if you can get a reasonable number of stalwart fans, say in the region of 1,500 and upwards, you'd have to be a real klutz not to be able to leverage that into a reasonable living. And anyone who can't scare up a thousand or so fans on the internet, with a global reach in the billions, might just not be good enough (or mainstream enough - I know my band will never get thousands of fans, but we make the music we want to make).
I heard a rumour that one of the online bookstores with its own proprietary ereader was embedding credit card numbers in the e-book purchases.
I've not seen it, so don't know for a fact if this is true.
One gets at least a part of one's credit card number printed on any receipt (gas station, supermarket, shoe store etc) so I don't see why there should be a legal problem.
Great post :) Much more succinct than my own on the topic, and from the horses mouth.
Here's a few more thoughts - do authors of traditional published books feel like someone is stealing from them when their book sells in a bookshop for $24 but only $4 comes back to the author?
Or when 10,000 copies of their book fail to sell within the 3 month release period, and gets pulped by the publisher rather than waste warehouse space?
I can understand why publishers complain (they have the most to lose from digital distribution), but it's not like most authors have a good deal under the old way anyhow.
Smart content creators will look at the changed landscape, find the opportunities, and embrace it rather than fear it.
Header: After righting this message out I found that it's 4 times longer than the acceptable length for a post. Thusly, I'll be submiting this in 4 parts, each being with “Part #.” Please take your time reading through this article as I tried to apply all I knew to make justify my views on piracy.
Part #1
I'll admit it, I'm known to pirate books, music and even videos on occassion. But, I can justify my reasons on the first two (books and music) quite easily.
Books - Most of the books I do download are books that have broken past the copyright laws and are now considered public domain anyway. My favourite author, "Dean Koontz" has a few of his holder books, which are out of print, and nearly impossible to find in paper form. The final stack of books that I've downloaded I actually bought the paperbacks off and then just donated the. Since I -bought- those books do I not have the right to convert them into a different media format to enjoy? I mean, that Author is still getting royalties this way. And, when you've got over 50 books, loaded up in bins, that's a lot of wasted space and issues when you have to move. I can put over two hundred books on my iPad and then all I have is a 1 pound device that takes up the space one of those previous books did, and it can hold over 200 or more books on it!
Music - Why, if the music labels are correct, there's been a sharp decline is "kinda" based on pirating. Many years ago, before mp3s, you had to fork up cash just to buy a CD and probably knew 1-2 tracks off of it you enjoyed; only to get it home and realized the rest of the album was crap. With torrents you can download the whole CD and go "Yeah... I'm really digging this" and decide whether it's moved you enough that you feel like supporting the artist buy picking up their CD. Combine that with a lot of new bands deciding it'd be a lot easier just to rent a sound studio, record their album, and then upload it to iTunes so they can actually bypass the whole label companies all together. You also get bands like "David Usher" and "The Offspring" who just post their entire CD up on their website for free download. As any good band with tell you, the money you make for every seat you fill in a concert is far greater than record sale royalties. And, what an easier way to get your music heard by more and attract an even bigger fan-base than letting anyone listen to your albums? Heck, I've converted a lot of people over to enjoy "The Offspring" simply by advising them to go download their album off their sight and give it a listen. All it's costing them is time that way... Oh, and just as spur of the moment consideration that might also be affecting the music sales. Back in the 90s, whether you hated them or loved them, a record company could take a group of singers and turn them into the biggest, most desirable "band" out there. Look and "The Spice Girls", "Nsync" and "The Backstreet Boys." They made those groups such power stars that it was almost impossible not knowing someone who didn't own one of their CDs.
I used to travel a lot and liked the idea of having copies of my favorite books on my laptop. I purchased ebooks from Amazon, had to go through the trouble of getting Adobe Reader registered, and then get a Microsoft passport as well. When my first laptop crashed - I was not able to deactivate the Adobe Reader account - so from the five activations that are possible (in one lifetime) one was lost. Whenever your hard disk dies on you you lose the activation and it can't be reset. And of course we are all expected to know when our computers crash so we can deactivate our account.
In summary this means: out of the over 100 ebooks I purchased - I can't read a single one anymore (and yes, I do have backup copies on file) so all that money is wasted. Nobody cares about the items I purchased and that I can't use them. Any other business would go bankrupt with business policies like that.
So, yes I did get readable copies of all ebooks I purchased from sites where I didn't have to pay for them because I already did.
Do I feel like a pirate? No, because I was ripped off in the first place.
Totally agree with you. We need more authors like you.
To all those greedy control freak publishers I have news for you. YOur rights stop where my rights begin. It seems the law agrees with me pretty much worldwide.
If I'm not selling it or pretending that I made it, I'm not a pirate. Either adapt to changing technology or good riddance. Get a clue.
Piracy definition:
Noun
* S: (n) plagiarist, plagiarizer, plagiariser, literary pirate, pirate (someone who uses another person's words or ideas as if they were his own)
* S: (n) pirate, buccaneer, sea robber, sea rover (someone who robs at sea or plunders the land from the sea without having a commission from any sovereign nation)
* S: (n) pirate, pirate ship (a ship that is manned by pirates)
"Piracy"
The practice of labelling the infringement of exclusive rights in creative works as "piracy" predates statutory copyright law. Prior to the Statute of Anne 1709, the Stationers' Company of London in 1557 received a Royal Charter giving the company a monopoly on publication and tasking it with enforcing the charter. Those who violated the charter were labelled pirates as early as 1603.[1] "Piracy" referred to the unauthorised manufacturing and selling of works in copyright.[2] Article 12 of the 1886 Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works uses the term piracy in relation to copyright infringement, stating that: "Pirated works may be seized on importation into those countries of the Union where the original work enjoys legal protection."[3] Article 61 of the 1994 Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) requires criminal procedures and penalties in cases of "wilful trademark counterfeiting or copyright piracy on a commercial scale".[4] Piracy refers to acts intentionally committed for financial gain, though more recently copyright owners have described online copyright infringement, particularly in relation to peer-to-peer file sharing networks, as piracy.[5]
[edit] "Theft"
An unskippable anti-piracy film included on movie DVDs equates copyright infringement with theft.
Copyright owners frequently refer to copyright infringement as "theft". In law copyright infringement does not refer to actual theft, but an instance where a person exercises one of the exclusive rights of the copyright owner without authorisation.[6] Courts have distinguished between copyright infringement and theft, holding, for instance, in the United States Supreme Court case Dowling v. United States (1985) that bootleg phonorecords did not constitute stolen property and that "...interference with copyright does not easily equate with theft, conversion, or fraud. The Copyright Act even employs a separate term of art to define one who misappropriates a copyright... 'an infringer of the copyright.'" In the case of copyright infringement the province guaranteed to the copyright owner by copyright law is invaded, i.e. exclusive rights, but no control, physical or otherwise, is taken over the copyright, nor is the copyright owner wholly deprive of using the copyrighted work or exercising the exclusive rights owned.[7]
Sharing copied music is legal in some countries, such as Canada and The Netherlands (downloading only),[20][21] provided that the songs are not sold.
source http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piracy_(media)
wow. i actually think ur the ONLY author who isnt CRAZY! i think its great. if i find a book for free be it yard sale or discount book rack or friends and i like the author i tend to buy everything by them. now for the authors who have stick up their asses HOW IS SHARING A BOOK (yard sales, discount book shops, library, or book swapping) ANY DIFFERENT THAN EBOOK PIRATING?
PROFIT? well ebooks being free and file sharing sites being free whos making a profit? nobody?
library and discount book shops and yard sales? PEOPLE ARE MAKING A PROFIT!
just wtf! i mean really! the radio is obviously pirated music too. gah!
but i like ur ideals. u rock.
For a discussion on pirating and everything concerned with it, this was a lengthy read but I thought about putting my two cents in here just for the argument :) I'm another self-confessed pirater, I grab books and music off sites and despite that, I still buy what I like when I can afford to.
You see, the problem with books is just this; it's expensive (at least where I live), there's the issue of availability in bookstores, you don't know what you're getting even if you've read the excerpts (trust me, I HAVE been let down by crappy endings), and it takes up a lot of space to store.
Let me elaborate a little, most of the people posting here talk about the Kindle, the iPad and other readers, and literally the book market as I see it in the Western world. Well what about the East? What do you think the price of books is like to those of us who don't stay in the US?
It's not cheap. A book is the equivalent of a pretty decent dinner for two, or a slightly expensive dinner for one. What about the price of a Kindle, an iPad or even some other type of e-reader? We get the price here in my country, based in USD, times our exchange rate plus the import duties for electronics. It is HEFTY. So what about buying ebooks for these readers? haha... another price no one would be willing to pay if they could not afford it. Try USD times the exchange rate, say about 3. Calculate it for every book you think you might be able to afford and add to that a low income level and high inflation. I'm surprised anyone in my country even reads for the kinds of prices we pay.
But back to the topic at hand. Why exactly do I download books? It's not because I can. It's because I can't afford to buy every book that I want to read. A downloaded copy lets me evaluate the storyline and maybe read through the entire thing at least once so I'm satisfied. The next time I can afford to, I'll try to buy the book.
Seeing as I'm a voracious reader, I can finish up to a dozen or more books in a week or less. Less if no one interrupts me at all. One week, I read Anita Blake until book 14. I found it trashy after book 7. Had I gone and bought the books and followed the entire series, I think I would have trashed them in the end. Sad to say, a lot of writers just produce crap. I've wasted some money just buying books that seemed good at the beginning and then...wow. Eg, Chris Bunch's Dragon Master. I got it as an Omnibus, specially ordered plus import duties as nobody carried this title in the country. Thankfully the first two books were alright, the last book however, utter BS. What to do? Already bought the book. Can't be forced to trash it...Had I been able to find a downloadable copy of it somewhere I probably wouldn't have wasted my money. Go figure.
Don't even get me started on Harry Potter...there's a reason why I stopped reading at book 4.
Nothing proven by any research is actually going to get pirating sites shut down. I mean, I've been doing it since LONG before Y2K and I've bought a ton of books and built an entire library since then even while I was downloading. I feel that people just need some nonsense issue that they can keep harping at just to say that they don't suck as authors or suck as musicians. And that's really the truth of it.
And if you really want to find out about what piracy can do for advertising, go look up anime and j-rock and how the heck the east got those things to the US and the rest of the world, eh?
Didn't mean to offend but sorry if I did. Ciao.
I work in the game industry and it's the same thing. Putting DRM on games is the surest way to lose sales.
I think the main problem of piracy is simply because in the information age, digital things span the globe, but prices DO NOT compensate for differences in standards of living or exchange rates. A 'cheap' software in a first world country, is often unjustifiably expensive in 3rd world countries. Do note for instance that the average ebook costs what... $10? Now take into consideration that for a majority of people on the planet, $10 keeps an entire family fed for 2 weeks at least. The most damning thing is that these aren't ignorant illiterate people, but are actually considered 'middle class' in their countries. If they attempted to keep their sense of morals intact by bowing down to first world capitalism, they would never catch up.
A good example of this is 3d software. Applications like 3ds max cost thousands of dollars. And yet a vast majority of people who eventually get hired in big companies who buy the software license started out by learning it through piracy. Because without piracy, there simply is no other way any individual can afford it, much less those coming from developing countries. If 3ds max enforced antipiracy aggressively against individuals, guess what would happen?
They would lose their entire userbase. No one would bother learning it, since they can't afford it, therefore companies would have no reason to buy it for the artists they eventually hire.
Hi,
Somehow I found myself on your site and really enjoyed your musings on this topic.
I haven't read all the comments, so I am not sure if someone has already said something similar, but I felt like adding my two cents.
I used to buy many ebooks a couple years ago. I've always been an avid reader, specially of thrillers and romance, so when I discovered ebooks I felt as if I had found a gold stash: all my favourite authors cheaper and in their original version; I didn't have to bit my nails wondering if/when they would be translated! I devoured books and rejoiced in all the new authors and genres that I discovered. I got really into m/m romance which does not exist in the publishing market here in my country while I still read my previous favourites.
The big but came when the ebook retailers began to block sales to foreign countries: I could no longer buy from places like Fictionwise. That's when I stopped buying ebooks except for the odd one from well liked authors that I can get directly from the small publishing companies. I felt as if I had been dropped like old news.
I feel that this will be one of the big buts in the future. In this modern society where I can meet people around the world, chat with them and they can introduce me to authors, musicians and artists from anywhere, companies like iTunes and Fictionwise insist in selecting which media I can buy, insist in puting borders, in trying to contain water with a colander. Not working. It's frustrating that I am a big fan of bands and authors that I will never be able to find in my music stores or bookshops, that I'll never get to meet in person or see live because they are halfway around the globe and that I can't buy them online either.
The authors who think there is direct 1:1 ratio regarding piracy and lost sales is ignoring two things:
1) the factor of fanfiction. Fan Fiction is legally free and in some cases better than actual published books.
For example one Harry Potter fanfic has 9,800 reviews on fanfiction.net. It is that good.I found it more absorbing than many published SF works. So why would I buy a book by an author I like only middling? In this case the author whose book I would have bought has lost a sale --- but not through piracy.
2) Even ebooks cost money and I have to think before I actually spend it on a product I might not like. For example, I have never seen any of Marilyn Byerly's books before. I am sorry but I can't take the risk. On the other hand suppose someone recommends her books and does file sharing with me. In this case again, she has her book pirated but she has not actually lost a sale because I would not have bought it anyway.
Hi, I happened upon this article kinda randomly and its nice for an owner to be so level-headed about such a touchy subject.
I'm a poor poor student so I need to get by any way I can. Piracy, that dirty word sometimes is the only option. I really don't pirate books. I work in a book store so I have options. But then again those employee discounts and then reward money from the account I have with my own work place might as well be piracy. I once walked away form the counter only paying a dollar for an originally full priced book after the discounts and the "bucks" I had on my membership card.
A good example of a noble pirate (me) is for instance: I just pirated one of my favorite bands. Their whole new album is mine for zero dollars. I did not do this because I'm an evil little troll, but rather record stores simply do not carry music anymore. The mall I work in has no music stores at all, the only one is hot topic and that place's selection has become a joke, and calling it a joke is being nice. Even though I have their album on my MP3 player and listen to it all day every day I still go to hot topic once a week and ask why their devoting space to Ke$ha and lady Gaga and not a good goth/industrial like ya know, they should.
I know the next question is why not buy it online and the answer is I will, but I don't want to pay shipping and am waiting.
Truth is even if I do share files I do eventually give money to said person or persons. Almost everyone I know is like that and unless you're 13 and glued to your computer twenty-four seven you don't take away any real thrills from piracy it's just avoiding unfair regulations set in place by greedy companies, of whom will end up with my dollar anyway.
My only real grudge is with software companies, they are getting tougher and tougher on this stuff and they don't realize their loosing the loyalty of the individual. I don't have numbers or any proof but I bet most of the big software companies make their money mostly from corp accounts not the private users. All of my once company owned software is being replaced by good freeware. IE has given way to fire fox and chrome. Microsoft office's place on my hard drive has been replaced with sun soft's open office. I would uninstall it but its rooted into my system so far I fear it will never go away. I found a promising replacement for illustrator and am currently looking for a free replacement for photoshop.
I hope in the next decade or so piracy will not be seen as such a horrible unforgiven thing and maybe the people who create these products will realize that loyalty makes money not squeezing out every dime right up front.
I draw, I try not to use the term "artist" but I have been described that way. I realize my crap will be stolen at one point or the other. What can I do? In high school I drew almost exclusivity on the computer and displayed it on the net. My stuff every once in a while ended up as someones clip-art (back then geo-cities was the shit, and people actually made real home-pages... although they all mostly sucked lol). Oh well, I mean I had my page address watermarked but they never asked.
I think once the idea of the "global village" sets in people will be less antsy about the whole idea.
Thank you for this blog and for the discussion that followed - very enlightening, not to mention giving me the chance to read on an issue with the usual avalanche of hysteria and histrionics.
As a reader, I see piracy as a tool. My points:
1. I discovered authors and genres through these freely downloaded ebooks. I have bought paperbacks of the books I really liked.
I had made a mistake before of buying an author's books because people were raving and requesting her books in Demonoid. That will be the last time I will buy a book without reading the ebook first.
Suffice to say, not only did I regret spending 1/3 of my weekly school allowance on that book - but that book really made a nice thump bouncing on the wall.
I think I gave that book away.
2. When sales are declining after a week or two, maybe an author should think - they don't like my book. My book is awful. Just because it is being downloaded it doesn't mean people would buy them.
It's there for free but otherwise, nobody's going to buy them. Don't rely too much on the Goodreads reviews. I've seen their lists and most of the time I can't understand why a book even merited 3 stars.
3. Don't punish the readers if your books aren't selling well after the 4th or 5th in the series. Most of the time, your writing has become formulaic and boring.
I think it's more preferable to blame pirates than to accept that people don't to read your books.
I have ebooks I have never read just because i read one ebook from that author and it was awful. This happened to me with all the Artemis Fowl books, the Inheritance series, and other YA fantasy books I bought.
At least I'm thankful Harry Potter is finished. It exhausted me - financially and emotionally (yeah, I get emotionally invested in book characters, whether I love or hate them). At least my suffering will end this year when it comes to Harry.
4. I seriously drop authors (I mean, I don't buy their books anymore) because i felt cheated by their writing, by the decreasing quality of their work. So why shouldn't I test-drive their books first.
5. And finally, if you read some of the pirate forums, lots of people buy the hard copies of ebooks they liked.
Some rely on ebooks because they can't get buy them in their own countries.
6. I'm not going to be a pirate forever, once I get access to internet financial transactions - I'll start buying my ebooks. I have my iPod and I'll probably get an iPad and finally have licensed stuff.
But before that, I'd rather vett what books I want.
I'm sorry to if many authors are harmed by piracy. I feel harmed by many authors too. But I have not sued them for literary incompetence or the publishers for editorial mischief.
I grinned and bore it, even if it meant my school allowance for weeks. And threw those books away. Actually, I threw them against the wall. Now i just delete the awful ebooks. And emptied the recycle bin.
Thank you for this blog and for the discussion that followed - very enlightening, not to mention giving me the chance to read on an issue with the usual avalanche of hysteria and histrionics.
As a reader, I see piracy as a tool. My points:
1. I discovered authors and genres through these freely downloaded ebooks. I have bought paperbacks of the books I really liked.
I had made a mistake before of buying an author's books because people were raving and requesting her books in Demonoid. That will be the last time I will buy a book without reading the ebook first.
Suffice to say, not only did I regret spending 1/3 of my weekly school allowance on that book - but that book really made a nice thump bouncing on the wall.
I think I gave that book away.
2. When sales are declining after a week or two, maybe an author should think - they don't like my book. My book is awful. Just because it is being downloaded it doesn't mean people would buy them.
It's there for free but otherwise, nobody's going to buy them. Don't rely too much on the Goodreads reviews. I've seen their lists and most of the time I can't understand why a book even merited 3 stars.
3. Don't punish the readers if your books aren't selling well after the 4th or 5th in the series. Most of the time, your writing has become formulaic and boring.
I think it's more preferable to blame pirates than to accept that people don't to read your books.
I have ebooks I have never read just because i read one ebook from that author and it was awful. This happened to me with all the Artemis Fowl books, the Inheritance series, and other YA fantasy books I bought.
At least I'm thankful Harry Potter is finished. It exhausted me - financially and emotionally (yeah, I get emotionally invested in book characters, whether I love or hate them). At least my suffering will end this year when it comes to Harry.
4. I seriously drop authors (I mean, I don't buy their books anymore) because i felt cheated by their writing, by the decreasing quality of their work. So why shouldn't I test-drive their books first.
5. And finally, if you read some of the pirate forums, lots of people buy the hard copies of ebooks they liked.
Some rely on ebooks because they can't get buy them in their own countries.
6. I'm not going to be a pirate forever, once I get access to internet financial transactions - I'll start buying my ebooks. I have my iPod and I'll probably get an iPad and finally have licensed stuff.
But before that, I'd rather vett what books I want.
I'm sorry to if many authors are harmed by piracy. I feel harmed by many authors too. But I have not sued them for literary incompetence or the publishers for editorial mischief.
I grinned and bore it, even if it meant my school allowance for weeks. And threw those books away. Actually, I threw them against the wall. Now i just delete the awful ebooks. And emptied the recycle bin.
I meant WITHOUT the usual hysteria or histrionics. sheesh, sorry for the errors :)
an interesting topic, and controversial.
My stand point is a bit different.
1. I'm a pirate(by necessity, since I live in a forgotten country in eastern Europe; by choice, since it's convenient for my poor pocket and I don't end up buying crap)
2. I'm an author and trying to get published.So I'll love to have more books bought.
Now, I think I can understand both stands, pro or against piracy. Truth is piracy can be useful for an author. It's in a way, free publicity. Even I, with my revenue of 200 dollars/month would have bought some of the ebooks I've read(I even did it a couple of times). The authors that really deserve to be out-there published, won't be harmed from piracy, they can do more sales even.
Now, from the point of a struggling author, yes, I'm annoyed when I think I could have been paid for that pirated ebook. Or could I? Since let's face it, those who steal those books (like myself), don't have the intention of buying them. But they could end up buying if they like it well enough.
so...is piracy detrimental? I don't think so. Frankly, I think it's beneficial.
is it wrong? maybe. yes, if we live in a black&white world where everything works as it should be. It's stealing , but also not- because a writer writes to be read not to make money and get rich, yes? right.
anyway,a pirate doesn't harm the sales, because he wouldn't have bought the book anyway. or if he would have,he would buy it anyway if he likes it.
well, I know, not everybody thinks that way. But even if he doesn't buy eventually, that pirated book can still be free publicity for other works of yours.Somebody gave an example with free samples that make you buy something in a store. So true. You can gain more exposure,therefore more sales. A larger distribution of your book will bring bigger sales, regardless of how this distribution is made.For now, at least,this is true.
In the future? I don't know.Soon nobody will want to buy books,we'll want them all for free. And that is the the main problem. It's obvious piracy won't be stopped. And I don't know if it should. Take my case. I'm a book addict with no money. would it be fair for me to pay 3-4dollars for an ebook just to get a failed attempt at writhing in return? because, the market is full of those.Plus,I can't even borrow them from the library, another gray area regarding the piracy subject, since in my country we don't have those books at all.
As an author, I probably should be more desperate than most of those who wrote here against piracy. Well, I'm not . Writing isn't a career,nor a hobby. It's more of a calling. I would love to be successful, and support myself from writing. If I'm good enough, I will, even with the piracy. It's still a competition, and those who are good enough survive. I'll bet you anything you want that the most pirated authors, the best of those writers, have bigger sales than the less pirated ones. why's that? people just love them.
grow up, it's still a world ruled by the same old thing: survival of the fittest.lose some here, but gain some elsewhere.no piracy?less sales.
and justice because piracy is stealing?huh. this world should focus on bigger things.
I'll bite. I'm a thief. What sentence I should be given for pirating, when I earn 200 dollars /month , 100$ being my rent? Is it bigger than the one for the author that writes some crap and takes 4$ for it? that's stealing,too. people who have the money to buy books usually don't mess with strange websites and the risk of viruses.
I think almost everybody with an basically informed opinion , that posted on this blog, was right. Conclusion: there's none.
as a pirate , I support piracy. as an author, I want sales.
I've read somewhere about distributing the books free and letting the readers pay you what they think it's wort it. That could be a solution. Or the future view of books that contain advertising. Or both.But something's gotta change, and it won't be the free sharing of books.
If people can get it for free they will, it's simple human nature. Authors need to be investigating how revenue streams can be generated.
On a plus side of downloading my partner has literate aspirations and now has quite a following on free download site, obviously a paying ckareer would be an end goal. Through sponsored sites perhaps a happy ending can be achieved for all!
As someone who pirates ebooks, here's my point of view:
-I pirate ebooks because I want to check out the author's work, but do not want to pay for something I might not like.
-If I happen to like the author's work, chances are high that I will become a fan, recommend their work to friends and family, and actually purchase said book pirated and old or new works. I do this quite often actually.
-If I dislike the author's work, I will stop reading, delete the file, and go on my merry way. This author would not have gotten money from me anyway. They should be grateful that I wasted my time on their book at all.
Personally, if I was an author, I wouldn't care all that much about piracy. I would actually - proactively post my own pirated work on the torrent sites for the exposure.
In fact, I sell 3d models and textures and have posted some of my work on these sites. Sure, I lost some money from this endeavor, but these are from the people who would have NEVER paid for it anyway. I also made a bunch of sales from buyers who tried some of my "samples" and wanted/needed more. I view it as more of a marketing expense for the exposure.
Oh, and if you're wondering, I haven't pirated any of Joe's books. Police procedurals isn't a genre I care too much about.
It would be helpful if the pirates would post some good reviews while they're at it. (g)
Morgan Mandel
http://www.morganmandel.com
http://morganmandel.blogspot.com
I look at piracy as free extended exposure. As you say, it might never have been a sale but someone (hopefully) is being introduced to my work that would not have heard of me. Besides, I kind of like the idea of a grizzled, one eyed, peg leg commenting to his parrot about an interesting passage. "Arrh me fine feathered friend, this matey knows how to warm the very cockles of me heart, he does".
I don't know how this fits in, but I have written just one book. It is nonfiction and is available at smashwords as "reader sets the price" because it was written for people who might be in a situation where money is an insurmountable obstable. I have figures for the number of people who have downloaded the book, both free and for some price and I average about $1.50 per book, that's my cut only, which I think is pretty fair for a first time author. Everyone who buys the book from smashwords can see the option to get the book free, but people still chose to pay because they perceive the value of the information. I don't think anyone will pirate my book, it's too obscure and I'm giving it away myself, but I wouldn't care if they did--more readers for me.
I am working on other books and although I may not do the "reader sets the price" thing on the others, I won't get bent out of shape if I see them free on other sites. More readers for me is always good.
Hmm . . .I think sometimes the availability of a free copy of a work can inspire people to go out and get a paid copy or some product related to the work.I know for myself after someone uploaded the Harry Potter uk version audiobooks to youtube and I started listening to it, that inspired me to buy the series. Prior to that I had no desire to buy anything written by Rowling. I've also purchased books that I thought were really good after reading a free version. So free doesn't always have to equal no sales.
I've struggled with this idea over the years.
Ultimately, I cover a lot of this in a recent blog post I made (which I would be happy to repost here, if you were interested) where I decided to upload my own ebook to The Pirate Bay, but my feeling was:
-I believe you can’t turn readers into pirates, but you can turn pirates in readers.
-I believe some people will pay for quality writing, they may just not pay right then.
-I don’t think of each copy downloaded as a purchase lost, but a potential reader gained.
-I believe most people don’t find their favorite author or musician on a bookstore shelf or on a CD they paid for. They find them by borrowing a friend’s copy or hearing a song on the radio.
http://andrewvanwey.com/why-i-nuked-my-writing-career-before-it-even-started/
~cheers,
-D-
Your point is invalid. You can't say "in a world where things are" artist won't make money. Because in a world where everything is free you don't make money. You do things merely to do them. Base principal of life, things just are.
Lmao authors and musicians and artist don't lose out its the "marketing/publishing" companies that are ripping most true creators off. We wouldn't create if we didn't want it to be shared. It's propaganda to dilute and brainwash humanity in a level of control.
Why doesn't anyone get that original copyright laws dictated that you could not make a PROFIT off of it. Have you ever lent a book or CD to someone, well they didn't pay for it. All things are relative to who wants to bitch about it.
Not to be rude but I'm tired of repeating myself. So think about this, of your not making 200+ a day maybe your doing something wrong? I said it before what I'd someone buys one book and shares that book with everyone. There you go, sharing is now "piracy" over your own selfishness. Why don't you "write" and teach society to do things for free and for the fact that things must just be done
I went through a lot of the comments here and I agree with Joe. Its interesting when you find out that shutting down the pirates almost totally shut down the music industry. They now make less than they used to before Napster. BTW, do you hear much about Metallica now? Their fighting piracy is what killed their music career.
Good for you. I love this attitude, far better than Terry Goodkind's who went so far as to publicly humiliate someone for sharing a link to one of his books on facebook. The poor kid had to delete his facebook account because of all the nasty responses he was getting.
I admit to downloading books of authors of whom I am interested in but am afraid of wasting money on a bad book. If I like the book, than I will gladly purchase said authors work in the future.
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