Thoughts on Ebook Piracy
Unfortunately, I knew that the chances of this happening one day were likely... Today, I accidentally found someone in Australia who has been sharing epub files of Wide Awake. My immediate reaction was to report her to the website, among other places... well, after I did some Facebook venting.
I honestly have no words for people who do this type of thing, and that includes the ones who downloaded the file. That is pretty low. Authors work months, sometimes even years, to get their work done and published, then works a whole lot more to market their work, and someone comes around and does that...
If this is a matter of not having the money to buy books, you can go to your local library... it is as easy as that. Unfortunately, I don't think that is the case with the ones actually sharing the files, because they are taking their time to get that done and it just makes me sick.
The same goes to pirating music, movies, etc... there are people who work for that. Have some respect!
I will have to say... I'm really not motivated right now to do any writing, but going after the ones who did that makes me feel better.
Not to worry though... I've met amazing readers over the years, and I love how so many of them take their time to help authors promote their books and to take down the ones sharing files illegally.
I will just take a deep breath, focus on the readers who support their favorite authors, and keep writing!
I honestly have no words for people who do this type of thing, and that includes the ones who downloaded the file. That is pretty low. Authors work months, sometimes even years, to get their work done and published, then works a whole lot more to market their work, and someone comes around and does that...
If this is a matter of not having the money to buy books, you can go to your local library... it is as easy as that. Unfortunately, I don't think that is the case with the ones actually sharing the files, because they are taking their time to get that done and it just makes me sick.
The same goes to pirating music, movies, etc... there are people who work for that. Have some respect!
I will have to say... I'm really not motivated right now to do any writing, but going after the ones who did that makes me feel better.
Not to worry though... I've met amazing readers over the years, and I love how so many of them take their time to help authors promote their books and to take down the ones sharing files illegally.
I will just take a deep breath, focus on the readers who support their favorite authors, and keep writing!
sorry to hear about this..and hate that I am seeing this happening to more and more authors.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your support. Sadly, this is happening more and more. I hope authors keep fighting against it... that is the only way to stop this from getting completely out of control like in other industries.
ReplyDeleteDon't get mad, there isn't much you can do about it and should consider it an honor. It's like the person bought your hard cover book and liked it so much he/she gave it to their friends to read.
ReplyDeleteThis whole eBook thing is pretty new and authors like yourself as well as the big publishers are struggling to understand this new medium. It saddens me however to see the big publishing companies make the same mistakes the music industry made.
How did that work out for them?
http://www.ManOfLaBook.com
OK, "consider it an honor" wasn't what I meant, simply a different way of looking at things to keep you sane.
ReplyDeleteWhen someone cuts me off on the highway I always try to think "maybe he's on his way to the hospital" or some thought like that (usually after a cloud of curses hovers above my care).
I understand where you are coming from. I tried to think like that, but it didn't work. LOL
ReplyDeleteAuthors and publishers need to take action now, in order to prevent this from getting out of control like in the music industry. If there are no consequences, people will keep doing it. If things get worse, I wouldn't be surprised to see the cost of ebooks rise to make up for the ones being stolen, or for some to just go back to publishing paperback only (that would be crazy, but you never know).
I did hear this question from someone: "If a person can go to the library and read your book without paying, what is the difference?"
I was actually a little mad in relation to the question. lol It is a moral issue. I don't mind people going to the library or borrowing my books from readers who paid for it. Piracy is an entire different situation... whether they are giving it away, or even worse, selling your work... it is stealing!