DMCA – To all the book hacker assholes out there!
I’m generally known as a friendly person. I work really hard on being one. But there’s one thing in the book world that seriously pisses me off and brings out the worst in me.
Book hacker sites! Also known as book piracy sites.
If you ever uploaded a book to such a site, YOU are an ASSHOLE.
And if you’re downloading books from there… finish the sentence yourself as you see fit.
Maybe you’re waiting for an excuse for my being so rude now, but I’m not going to. Because the truth is I’m so mad right now that I’m actually shaking. And the rude person is YOU.
Do you want to know what it takes for us authors to get those sites to take down our books?
Now, do you want to know the conditions for uploading any author’s books to this site? There are none! You’re free to go. No rules, no conditions, no legal punishment. No nothing. Fair…isn’t it? :)
Please let me explain now why you’re an asshole.
First, I want you to boot up your brain and do some simple math.
Writing my debut novel took me two years and a half. I had a part time job back then, came home at noon, started my computer and wrote for additional 8 hours every day. EVEN ON WEEKENDS!
How many writing hours are that, can somebody sum this up for us, please? No? Okay, I’ll do it for you.
8 hours * (365+365+182) = 7.296 hours for SUMMER OF MY SECRET ANGEL
I’m married and have a son. This is time I DID NOT spend with them. Time I DID NOT go out with friends or shopping or for walks or just relax on the couch or read or watch a movie. It’s fucking time I SPENT working for YOU!
Do you have a job? I hope you do. Let’s say it’s a 9 to 5 job and you’re getting paid, what, $15 an hour?
So, writing the book should have earned me … $109,440
Oh my freaking goodness!!! That much?!?! WOW! And only for ONE book!
Guess what! No one’s going to give me that.
All I can hope for is that people buy my book. With an average price of $2.99, I have to sell about 80,000 copies to earn what is rightfully mine, because not the entire amount is what I get to keep. My share of any book sale is 35% to 70%, depending on the price set. Oh, make that twice as many, because in Austria I have to pay 50% taxes too.
Fair enough, in the past three years I became a faster writer and I quit my day job to fully concentrate on writing. However, any good book you get from me is the result of about 3000 to 4000 working hours. Writing, revising, editing, designing covers, and preparing the book for release.
I published ten books. I should be a millionaire by now. Well. I’m not.
Now be honest.
How would you feel, if you went to work for almost two years (because that’s the time you spend in work, if you have an average 40 hour week) and at the end of the day your boss tells you, thanks for coming, but I decided not to pay you for it, because I found a way where I just don’t need to. Laters, sucker.
Wouldn’t that be just a little bit mean? I don’t wish this upon anybody, but I wish all of you would really understand how it feels.
Guys, I don’t get it. Why is $2.99 a price too high for you to pay for a book that takes you away to a wonderful, different world for hours? Days even. You can read books time and again. No extra charge, just the simple good feeling.
Would you ever walk into Starbucks, order a coffee for $4.75 and leave the shop without paying? Would you steal the cup of coffee?
Because that’s what you’re doing. You’re violating copyright. You are stealing books.
YOU’RE A GODDAMMED THIEF!
Still, I’m not wishing anything bad like scabies or cooties upon you. Because I believe in karma. I believe in the simple rule of life that one day everyone gets what he deserves.
I just wish karma would work a little faster sometimes…
Now, if you’re a real booklover and a true fan, help us authors in the battle against book piracy. Share this post. Write your own. Comment here. Share on facebook. Tell everyone you know. Do whatever it takes to stop those cruel, brainless people from destroying the wonderful world of books.
And ask yourself one question.
What would you do, if we stopped writing books for you?
From the heart,
Anna Katmore
