Why authors should not have to "get over" piracy
The other day, an author friend of mine alerted me to the fact that ePub Bud, an online e-book site, had a Facebook page allowing people to comment with requests for books and have them sent to them. For free. Several authors jumped on this, and to the requests they saw, they were sending links to where to legally purchase the books.
I took it a step farther by sending a message to the person who was fulfilling these freebie requests, and posted on the ePub Bud wall, that they had two days to remove their copyrighted material or I would be filing copyright complaints with Facebook and my publisher. Many authors commented with their support of this, along with links of other places wherein we could complain if our wishes weren't met.
Today, the ePub Bud wall has either deleted all the messages, or switched to friends only, because I can't see a thing. I will still be reporting them.
Then another friend wrote a blog post in response to some people saying that authors should, "get over" piracy, because it's going to happen no matter what, and aren't we supposed to be writing because we love to write as opposed to being in it for the money.
To that, I say in the nicest way possible: please think about the words that come out of your mouth.
I don't make enough money to support me and my family with just my writing. I wish I did. I've been working toward it for many, many years. I've never received an advance on a book. I don't get to lounge around all day doing nothing but writing. When my first book came out, I was still working 10 to 12 hour days at Wells Fargo just to make ends meet and having to put any tiny bit of free time toward that book. I'm going to be returning to school for a few months in April in order to get a certificate for another job because I need to still be working.
Every time a site posts one of my books and people download it for free, that is taking me several steps away from my goal of doing what I want to do: write for a living.
Why? Because I love to write.
There you have it. It's really quite simple. Yes, we write because we love it and can't imagine not writing and sharing our stories. But in order to have time to do what we love, we need to get paid for it. I know very few authors who make enough with their writing to live off of. And those that do? They worked damned hard to get where they are and deserve it.
Everyone in a profession they love should be compensated for their craft if it's being shared. All of my books are extremely cheap. My EP books are less than $6. My self-pub books are less than $2. Not exactly breaking the bank. If even that is too much (and, trust me, I understand why it would be for some people) there is a perfectly legal way to obtain books they want without having to resort to piracy: go to your library and check it out. FREE BOOKS! Isn't that fucking amazing?! What's more, with B&N and Amazon's lending system you can borrow books from friends. There are book lending/sharing sites out there that are also 100% legal. And I, personally, hold a ton of giveaways on various sites for people to win free copies of my books.
I don't care if piracy is "always going to happen." I acknowledge that. But it doesn't mean I'm going to sit back and say "Oh well" and let it go on right under my nose. When I see it happening, not just to me but to my friends, I'm damn well going to speak up and make some noise. Anyone who tells me to sit down and "get over it" is not going to get a pleasant response.
I took it a step farther by sending a message to the person who was fulfilling these freebie requests, and posted on the ePub Bud wall, that they had two days to remove their copyrighted material or I would be filing copyright complaints with Facebook and my publisher. Many authors commented with their support of this, along with links of other places wherein we could complain if our wishes weren't met.
Today, the ePub Bud wall has either deleted all the messages, or switched to friends only, because I can't see a thing. I will still be reporting them.
Then another friend wrote a blog post in response to some people saying that authors should, "get over" piracy, because it's going to happen no matter what, and aren't we supposed to be writing because we love to write as opposed to being in it for the money.
To that, I say in the nicest way possible: please think about the words that come out of your mouth.
I don't make enough money to support me and my family with just my writing. I wish I did. I've been working toward it for many, many years. I've never received an advance on a book. I don't get to lounge around all day doing nothing but writing. When my first book came out, I was still working 10 to 12 hour days at Wells Fargo just to make ends meet and having to put any tiny bit of free time toward that book. I'm going to be returning to school for a few months in April in order to get a certificate for another job because I need to still be working.
Every time a site posts one of my books and people download it for free, that is taking me several steps away from my goal of doing what I want to do: write for a living.
Why? Because I love to write.
There you have it. It's really quite simple. Yes, we write because we love it and can't imagine not writing and sharing our stories. But in order to have time to do what we love, we need to get paid for it. I know very few authors who make enough with their writing to live off of. And those that do? They worked damned hard to get where they are and deserve it.
Everyone in a profession they love should be compensated for their craft if it's being shared. All of my books are extremely cheap. My EP books are less than $6. My self-pub books are less than $2. Not exactly breaking the bank. If even that is too much (and, trust me, I understand why it would be for some people) there is a perfectly legal way to obtain books they want without having to resort to piracy: go to your library and check it out. FREE BOOKS! Isn't that fucking amazing?! What's more, with B&N and Amazon's lending system you can borrow books from friends. There are book lending/sharing sites out there that are also 100% legal. And I, personally, hold a ton of giveaways on various sites for people to win free copies of my books.
I don't care if piracy is "always going to happen." I acknowledge that. But it doesn't mean I'm going to sit back and say "Oh well" and let it go on right under my nose. When I see it happening, not just to me but to my friends, I'm damn well going to speak up and make some noise. Anyone who tells me to sit down and "get over it" is not going to get a pleasant response.
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Mιss •kαthєяίиє•
(last edited Mar 28, 2013 08:57AM)
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Mar 28, 2013 08:56AM
What you write is true and I agree with you! But I just wanted to point something out: libraries in other countries (outside the USA) don't have most of these (foreign)books. So, it's a matter of availability rather than money in some cases.
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