Thoughts on Pirating
Way back in the day, I used to pirate music. That’s right. I’m guilty of making mix tapes of songs I bought and owned copies of, and sharing it with my friends, which was basically the same thing as pirating. I remember defending the Napster guy since I felt he was doing a hi-tech equivalent of making mix tapes, like I had.
I dated a guy who used to illegally download movies and TV shows and it always bothered me. Not badly enough to not watch the things he wanted to watch, but I used to tell him how I felt about it, and I think at one point I did get through to him especially with regards to pirating books. He said he didn’t feel badly about pirating movies because the actors already got paid, and the only people he was really screwing over were the executives who got residuals (or whatever BS he was slinging). But when it came to books, I think I got to him, because he realized it could take years for an author to write a book but only days for someone to read it, and that authors still got royalties well after publication and it was wrong to steal the hard work of someone who put their blood, sweat and tears into a novel. Hopefully he no longer pirates anything, especially books.
There is a fine line to walk here, as I’m guilty of pirating music and partaking in the enjoyment of pirated television. But as someone who’s recently discovered that her books have been listed on pirate sites, I’m feeling the sting. I don’t knowing that someone took a copy of my book, that was either given to them as an ARC or made available through an ebook promo, and posted it on pirate websites so that other people can read it for free.
Let me be clear: I have no problem with people reading my books for free. In fact, I encourage it all the time when I’m running promotions, or gifting copies to reviewers, or ordering copies for my local library. But the difference is, I am the one consenting to the free distribution of my book. I did not consent to have my book posted on pirate sites, breaching copyright laws, that makes it completely immoral and downright despicable. I’ve sent DMCA letters to these sites but to no avail; it’s sort of a useless effort, much like signing petitions seems to be as well.
It’s not as if readers can’t obtain books for free—this is why libraries exist. If the book you want to read isn’t on the library shelf, simply order it (which, by the way, also helps libraries). It’s free to sign up with NetGalley to obtain ebooks before publication. Bookfunnel is a great platform where indie authors share downloads of their books for free to promote their writing. You can also write directly to authors asking for a free copy to review.
Most indie authors sell their books at reasonable prices too, typically between $0.99-3.99, much lower than traditionally published books, which is why pirating indie author books is especially egregious, since the only person getting screwed is the author. You’re not “sticking it to the man” when you pirate independently published works. I don’t understand why people will balk at paying $2.99 to read a book with 75,000-90,000 words, an entire world you can fall into and escape from everyday life for a few hours, with characters who stay with you and bring you to a happy place whenever you like, but will have no problem spending $5.99 on a birthday card with 10 words in it that you read in under a minute and smile, and forget about.
Believe me, I know how expensive it is to be an avid reader. I’m always browsing used bookstores, or using the library, or borrowing books from friends. My book club is reading a book for April that I don’t have a copy of, so I went online to see how much it is. $17.99 for the paper copy, and $13.99 for the ebook, which I thought was a bit much so I went on Google shopping to see if someone was selling a used copy somewhere and lo and behold, I was able to purchase a paper copy on Pango for $5 with $5 shipping, a total of $10. This entire effort took me less than 5 minutes to do.
Pirating isn’t ever going to go away, but it’s something I certainly won’t be partaking in anymore.
I dated a guy who used to illegally download movies and TV shows and it always bothered me. Not badly enough to not watch the things he wanted to watch, but I used to tell him how I felt about it, and I think at one point I did get through to him especially with regards to pirating books. He said he didn’t feel badly about pirating movies because the actors already got paid, and the only people he was really screwing over were the executives who got residuals (or whatever BS he was slinging). But when it came to books, I think I got to him, because he realized it could take years for an author to write a book but only days for someone to read it, and that authors still got royalties well after publication and it was wrong to steal the hard work of someone who put their blood, sweat and tears into a novel. Hopefully he no longer pirates anything, especially books.
There is a fine line to walk here, as I’m guilty of pirating music and partaking in the enjoyment of pirated television. But as someone who’s recently discovered that her books have been listed on pirate sites, I’m feeling the sting. I don’t knowing that someone took a copy of my book, that was either given to them as an ARC or made available through an ebook promo, and posted it on pirate websites so that other people can read it for free.
Let me be clear: I have no problem with people reading my books for free. In fact, I encourage it all the time when I’m running promotions, or gifting copies to reviewers, or ordering copies for my local library. But the difference is, I am the one consenting to the free distribution of my book. I did not consent to have my book posted on pirate sites, breaching copyright laws, that makes it completely immoral and downright despicable. I’ve sent DMCA letters to these sites but to no avail; it’s sort of a useless effort, much like signing petitions seems to be as well.
It’s not as if readers can’t obtain books for free—this is why libraries exist. If the book you want to read isn’t on the library shelf, simply order it (which, by the way, also helps libraries). It’s free to sign up with NetGalley to obtain ebooks before publication. Bookfunnel is a great platform where indie authors share downloads of their books for free to promote their writing. You can also write directly to authors asking for a free copy to review.
Most indie authors sell their books at reasonable prices too, typically between $0.99-3.99, much lower than traditionally published books, which is why pirating indie author books is especially egregious, since the only person getting screwed is the author. You’re not “sticking it to the man” when you pirate independently published works. I don’t understand why people will balk at paying $2.99 to read a book with 75,000-90,000 words, an entire world you can fall into and escape from everyday life for a few hours, with characters who stay with you and bring you to a happy place whenever you like, but will have no problem spending $5.99 on a birthday card with 10 words in it that you read in under a minute and smile, and forget about.
Believe me, I know how expensive it is to be an avid reader. I’m always browsing used bookstores, or using the library, or borrowing books from friends. My book club is reading a book for April that I don’t have a copy of, so I went online to see how much it is. $17.99 for the paper copy, and $13.99 for the ebook, which I thought was a bit much so I went on Google shopping to see if someone was selling a used copy somewhere and lo and behold, I was able to purchase a paper copy on Pango for $5 with $5 shipping, a total of $10. This entire effort took me less than 5 minutes to do.
Pirating isn’t ever going to go away, but it’s something I certainly won’t be partaking in anymore.
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