A Monday of Pirates

Yesterday I found out that my short story “The Collector” had been pirated.  I spent my lunch hour drafting a DMCA compliance letter informing the offending website that they were violating my copyright.  Fortunately, they promptly took it down.  I have no way of knowing how many people downloaded the pirated copy.  Honestly, it makes me sad more than it makes me angry. 

I try to make my work available to readers for FREE several times per year.  I like the idea of free books.  This is one reason I love Amazon, and I love my Kindle, and I love libraries.

And I love readers.  I love their voracious appetite for stories.  I love it when they share their enthusiasm with other readers, or write a review, or pick up another copy of a book to give to a friend.   

I also love writers…and I understand that they need to eat, and that their writing is their livelihood.  So I buy books, I recommend books, and I download free stories that they sometimes make available on Amazon.  If I enjoy it, I buy more books.  I write reviews.  I try to support the writers I enjoy…because I want them to keep writing!

I try to balance my passions:  I write and hope that my stories will find readers who care enough about the characters to invest in them and buy my stories.  For those whose paychecks cannot keep up with their desire for more stories, I make my stories available for free several times a year.  Seems fair to me.

SPOILER:  I will have a FREE STORY available on Amazon this month!  More details will be coming soon.