For several years, it seemed as though the book industry was getting a reprieve. As the music industry was ravaged by file sharing, and the film and TV industry were increasingly targeted by downloaders, book piracy was but a quaint cul de sac in the vast file sharing ecology. The tide, however, may be changing. Ereaders have become mainstream, making reading ebooks palatable to many more readers. Meanwhile, technology for scanning physical books and breaking the DRM on ebooks has continued to advance.
A recent study by Attributor, a firm that specializes in monitoring content online, came to some spectacular conclusions, including the headline claim that book piracy costs the industry nearly $3 billion, or over 10% of total revenue. Of all the conclusions in the Attributor study, this one seemed the most outlandish, and the study itself might be met with some skepticism since Attributor is in the business of charging companies to protect their content from the threat of piracy.
Nonetheless, the study, which monitored 913 titles on several popular file hosting sites, did point to a level of activity that suggested illegal downloading of books was becoming more than just a niche pastime. Even if the various extrapolations that led to the $3-billion figure are easy to poke holes in, Attributor still directly counted 3.2 million downloaded books.
For some, however, the study may inspire more questions than answers. Who are the people downloading these books? How are they doing it and where is it happening? And, perhaps most critical for the publishing industry, why are people deciding to download books and why now? I decided to find out, and after a few hours of searching – stalled by a number dead links and password protected sites – I found, on an online forum focused on sharing books via BitTorrent, someone willing to talk.
He lives in the Midwest, he’s in his mid-30s and is a computer programmer by trade. By some measures, he’s the publishing industry’s ideal customer, an avid reader who buys dozens of books a year and enthusiastically recommends his favorites to friends. But he’s also uploaded hundreds of books to file sharing sites and he’s downloaded thousands. We discussed his file sharing activity over the course of a weekend, via email, and in his answers lie a critical challenge facing the publishing industry: how to quash the emerging piracy threat without alienating their most enthusiastic customers. As is typical of anonymous online communities, he has a peculiar handle: “The Real Caterpillar.” This is what he told me:
The Millions: How active are you. How many books have you uploaded or downloaded?
The Real Caterpillar: In the past month, I have uploaded approximately 50 books to the torrent site where you contacted me. I am much less active then I once was. I used to scan many books, but in the past two years I have only done a few. Between 2002-2005 I created around 200 ebooks by scanning the physical copy, OCRing and proofing the output, and uploading them to USENET. I generally only upload content that I have scanned, with some exceptions. I have been out of the book scene for a while, concentrating on rare and out of print movies instead of books because it is much easier to rip a movie from VHS or DVD than to scan and proof a book.
I have downloaded a couple thousand ebooks via USENET and private torrent sites.
TM: Do you typically see scanned physical books or ebooks where the DRM has been broken?
TRC: Most of what I have seen is scanned physical books. Stephen King’s Under the Dome was the first DRM-broken book I downloaded knowingly.
TM: Why have you gone this route as opposed to using a library or buying books? Do you consider this “stealing” or is it a gray area?
TRC: I own around 1,600 physical books, maybe a third of which were bought new, the rest used. I buy many hardcovers in a given year and generally purchase more books than I end up reading, so I have not chosen to collect electronic books as opposed to paper books but in addition to them. My electronic library has about a 50% crossover with my physical library, so that I can read the book on my electronic reader, “loan” the book without endangering my physical copy, or eventually rid myself of the paper copy if it is a book I do not have strong feelings about.
I do not buy DRM’d ebooks that are priced at more than a few dollars, but would pay up to $10 for a clean file if it was a new release.
I do not pretend that uploading or downloading unpurchased electronic books is morally correct, but I do think it is more of a grey area than some of your readers may. Perhaps this will change as the Kindle and other e-ink readers make electronic books more convenient, but the Baen Free Library is an interesting experiment that proves that at least in that case, their business was actually enhanced by giving away their product free. That is probably not a business model that will work for everyone, but what is shows is that as a company they have their ear to the ground and are willing to think in new directions and take chances instead of putting their fingers in their ears, closing their eyes, and railing against their customers, as the
music industry is doing. The world is changing and business models have to change with it.
Three additional points:
1) With digital copies, what is “stolen” is not as clear as with physical copies. With physical copies, you can assign a cost to the physical product, and each unit costs x dollars to create. Therefore, if the product is stolen, it is easy to say that an object was stolen that was worth x dollars. With digital copies, it is more difficult to assign cost. The initial file costs x dollars to create, but you can make a million copies of that file for no cost. Therefore, it is hard to assign a specific value to a digital copy of a work except as it relates to lost sales.
2) Just because someone downloads a file, it does not mean they would have bought the product I think this is the key fact that many people in the music industry ignore – a download does not translate to a lost sale. I own hundreds of paper copies of books I have e-copies of, many of which were bought after downloading the e-copy. In other cases I have downloaded books I would never have purchased, simply because they were recommended or sounded interesting.
3) Just because someone downloads a file, it doesn’t mean they will read it. I realize that buying a book doesn’t mean someone is going to read it either, but clicking a link and paying $10-$30 is very different – many more people will download a book and not read it than buy a book and not read it.
In truth, I think it is clear that morally, the act of pirating a product is, in fact, the moral equivalent of stealing… although that nagging question of what the person who has been stolen from is missing still lingers. Realistically and financially, however, I feel the impact of e-piracy is overrated, at least in terms of ebooks.
TM: How easy is it to go online and find a book you’re looking for? How long does it take to download and how much technical expertise is required?
TRC: I have specific tastes, so it is usually not very easy to find specifically what I am looking for. The dearth of material I was interested in is what prompted me to scan in the past, in order to share some of my favorite, less popular authors with as many people as possible. It does not take much time to download once something you want has been found, however, and little technical experience is required.
Since books are generally very small files, they can be downloaded in minutes. You can then convert the file using one of many applications, for instance Mobipocket Creator, to PRC or another format that works with your reader. You can then plug your Kindle into your computer and copy the file over. The entire process typically takes 5-10 minutes.
BitTorrent technology is easy to install and use, and just about anyone can install the basic software needed and begin downloading their first torrent in less than an hour. However, discovering and gaining access to private torrent sites (invite only) can take a lot of time – and of course, that is where the good stuff is. Public sites (no account needed) and semi-private sites (sites that require an account, but usually have open enrollment) have a limited selection, but are easily accessible and anyone with basic computer skills can find and download very popular novels.
Usenet is an older technology, and is considered a safer place to pirate files. For older users like me who were around at the beginning of the internet it seems very simple, but to newer computer users it may seem unnecessarily complex, and more expensive because you need an account separate from your regular internet connection to access it.
TM: Once you’ve downloaded a book, what format is it in and how do you read it? On you computer? Printed out?
TRC: My preferred format for distribution is RTF because it holds metadata such as italics, boldfaces, and special characters that TXT does not, is easily converted to other formats using Word, cannot contain a virus, and is an open format that will be readable forever. Other popular formats are DOC, HTML, PDF, LIT (Microsoft Reader), PRC (Palm), MOBI (Palm), CBR (rar’d image files) – and there is a new format with each new reader that is released. Most formats can be converted to your preferred format with enough ingenuity or the
correct software.
To read, I convert to PRC and load the books onto my Kindle. Before I got that, I read on my Palm or laptop.
TM: How long does it take you to scan a physical book?
TRC: The scanning process takes about 1 hour per 100 scans. Mass market paperbacks can be scanned two pages at a time flat on the scanner bed, while large trades and hardcovers usually need to be scanned one page at a time. I’m sure that some of the more hardcore scanners disassemble the book and run it through an automatic feeder or something, but I prefer the manual approach because I’d like to save the book, and don’t want to invest in the tools. Usually I can scan a book while watching a movie or two.
Once scanned, the output needs to be OCR’d – this is a fairly quick process using a tool like ABBYY FineReader.
The final step is the longest and most grueling. I’ve spent anywhere from 5 to 40 hours proofing the OCR output, depending on the size of the book and the quality of type in the original. This can be done in your OCR tool side-by-side with the scan of the original image or separately in your final output type (RTF, DOC, HTML, etc.). If there are few errors on the first few pages of text my preference is to proof in RTF, otherwise I do the proof within Finereader itself.
TM: What types of books do you look for? What is generally available? Is any fiction or popular non-fiction available?
TRC: I restrict my downloads to books I will likely read – this includes some popular novels, literary novels, and general non-fiction such as humor, biography, science, sociology, etc. Unlike DVD rips, the newest releases are not typically available two weeks before the product is released, if at all. I’m assuming that this is due to the smaller devoted audience books have, as well as the increased difficulty of sharing a book.
TM: Do you have a sense of where these books are coming from and who is putting them online?
TRC: I assume they are primarily produced by individuals like me – bibliophiles who want to share their favorite books with others. They likely own hundreds of books, and when asked what their favorite book is look at you like you are crazy before rattling of 10-15 authors, and then emailing you later with several more. The next time you see them, they have a bag of 5-10 books for you to borrow.
I’m sure that there are others – the compulsive collectors who download and re-share without ever reading one, the habitual pirates who want to be the first to upload a new release, and people with some other weird agenda that only they understand.
TM: Is it your sense that a lot of people are out there looking to get books this way? Or is it just a tiny group?
TRC: I would say that there is a small unaffiliated “group” of people responsible for sourcing the material.
Also, keep in mind that everything I’m saying applies mostly to fiction and general-interest non-fiction.
Textbook, programming and technical manuals are all over the place and its very easy to obtain almost anything you want. I assume there are more sources for that material, and that their high price is a larger factor in people deciding to pirate them. Similarly, there are many communities creating comic, graphic novel and magazine content of whom I am only vaguely aware.
TM: Do you worry at all about getting in trouble for scanning and uploading ebooks?
TRC: A little, but the books I do are typically not bestsellers and are rarely new. I figure I have a bit of a buffer if trouble comes down because the Stephen King or Nora Roberts or “whoever the latest bestseller is” scanners would be the ones to get hit first. I’ve done a lot of out-of-print stuff, and when it is not out of print it’s books by authors like John Barth – someone who no longer sells very well, I imagine.
I’ve debated doing some newer authors and books, but I would need to protect myself better and resolve the moral dilemma of actually causing noticeable financial harm to the author whose work I love enough to spend so much time working on getting a nice e-copy if I were to do so.
TM: What changes in the ebook industry would inspire you to stop participating in ebook file sharing?
TRC: This is a tough question. I guess if every book was available in electronic format with no DRM for reasonable prices ($10 max for new/bestseller/omnibus, scaling downwards for popularity and value) it just wouldn’t be worth the time, effort, and risk to find, download, convert and load the book when the same thing could be accomplished with a single click on your Kindle. Even in this situation, I would probably still grab a book if I stumbled across the file and thought it might interest me – or if I wanted to check it out before buying a paper copy.
I was impressed by the Indie filmmakers of the movie “Ink” – when their movie leaked before the DVD was released, they put a donation button on their site doubleedgefilms.com. I donated even though I haven’t watched the movie yet, just because of their thoughtfulness and sincerity. This didn’t seem to work for King’s “The Plant“, but I think that had a lot to do with the lack of reading technology at the time. I would like to see the experiment tried again by someone like Eggers or Murakami – someone with a very devoted fanbase.
Perhaps if readers were more confident that the majority of the money went to the author, people would feel more guilty about depriving the author of payment. I think most of the filesharing community feels that the record industry is a vestigal organ that will slowly fall off and die – I don’t know to what extent that feeling would extend to publishing houses since they are to some extent a different animal. In the end, I think that regular people will never feel very guilty “stealing” from a faceless corporation, or to a lesser extent, a multi-millionaire like King.
One thing that will definitely not change anyone’s mind or inspire them to stop are polemics from people like Mark Helprin and Harlan Ellison – attitudes like that ensure that all of their works are available online all of the time.
[Image credit: Patrick Feller]
E-mail
Reddit
StumbleUpon
Support the Millions
subscribe to our RSS feed
become a fan on Facebook
at 11:44 am on January 25, 2010
[…] Confessions of a book pirate. [via] He lives in the Midwest, he’s in his mid-30s and is a computer programmer by trade. By some measures, he’s the publishing industry’s ideal customer, an avid reader who buys dozens of books a year and enthusiastically recommends his favorites to friends. But he’s also uploaded hundreds of books to file sharing sites and he’s downloaded thousands. possiblyrelated.★ Publishers Losing Billions Publishers are losing nearly $1-trillion every year because of libraries! Hilarious! [via] Hot on the heels of the story in…★ Star Trek Torrents One list Star Trek did top – most illegally downloaded movies of the year. [via] … […]
at 2:24 pm on January 25, 2010
[…] The Millions has posted the Confessions of a Book Pirate. […]
at 2:47 pm on January 25, 2010
[…] The Millions converses with an online book pirate: I do not pretend that uploading or downloading unpurchased electronic books is morally correct, but I do think it is more of a grey area than some of your readers may. . . . […]
at 3:29 pm on January 25, 2010
[…] The Millions, Max Magee interviews a “book pirate.” “One thing that will definitely not change anyone’s mind or inspire [pirates] to stop are […]
at 4:16 pm on January 25, 2010
I’m a thief, but ‘Hey!, I don’t like big nameless corporations’, so it’s cool, right? I understand that what I do is morally wrong, but ‘Hey, i like and buy books!’, so it’s cool, right?
I wonder how he’d feel if it were his own work that someone else was ripping off? different I’d bet, and not as cool.
at 7:30 pm on January 25, 2010
[…] The Millions: Confessions of a Book PirateReally eye-opening interview/discussion with an admitted file uploader. Gets into the why question. This is a must-read! […]
at 7:37 pm on January 25, 2010
Alas, when the big nameless corporations who own our publishers lose money, they take it from the individual writer’s revenue stream. They don’t count the books you’ve downloaded free as sales and we don’t get those added to our “numbers,” so ultimately, it’s our pockets and our careers as writers that are being affected by big nameless piracy.
Some of us choose to give away some of our work, but don’t you think perhaps it should be our choice?
at 8:17 pm on January 25, 2010
“Therefore, it is hard to assign a specific value to a digital copy of a work except as it relates to lost sales.”
Well, that is the point, isn’t it? Lost sales will be factored in by publishers and ultimately will mean either less author’s royalties or worse paid proof-readers, translators and other professionals involved in the publishing process.
And by the way, I think Harlan Ellison, for all his bombastic antics, has a very valid point when he stands by the writer’s right to make a decent living out of his work. To say that this means all his works will be available online sounds like an ugly threat to me.
at 10:40 pm on January 25, 2010
[…] The Millions – Confessions of a Book Pirate […]
at 2:37 am on January 26, 2010
“I think most of the filesharing community feels that the record industry is a vestigal organ that will slowly fall off and die – I don’t know to what extent that feeling would extend to publishing houses since they are to some extent a different animal. ”
I think you’re on the right track but they’re almost the exact same animal. Independent production in all fields is the future. Goodbye record industry, publishing, movie studios – dinaours will die…
Publish your own book, charge less, make more!
at 10:20 am on January 26, 2010
I should note that Baen does a lot more with ebooks than just the free library and other giveaways such as the CDs in selected first edition HBs. It also sells (almost?) all its ebooks directly – with no Amazon cut and no DRM – at a price of between $4 and $6 . Furthermore my understanding is that it manages to do that and pay authors a higher royalty rate than they normally get for paper books.
The result of this is that there are in fact very few “booklegged” Baen books on the internet and lots of social pressure in the booklegging circles to not distribute unauthorized versions of Baen books. Baen also allows all would-be readers to chance to sample the first 25% or so of all books for free figuring that if you haven’t been hooked by then, then they haven’t lost a sale. On the other hand of you did like what you’ve read it is very easy (all too easy my bank balance says) to buy the rest of the book. This approach also applies to eARCs which are sold at a premium price of $15 each and yet seem to thrive without notable booklegging. Compare this approach to say, Harper Collins who plan to delay ebook editions until some time after the HB edition has been released.
Baen is a private company and doesn’t release figures but my understanding is that Baen is thriving in a market where many publishers are struggling. I suspect affordable DRM-free ebooks, which Baen has been offering for some 10 years now, are one of the reasons why.
at 10:52 am on January 26, 2010
You, sir, should be burned at the stake.
at 11:20 am on January 26, 2010
I have downloaded pirated e-books. I really wanted the book (checked the local libraries) but didn’t want to pay the $45 for the new book. I gave a couple of thousand paid books in my library and I prefer to read in paper form, but for some non- fiction instructional books i’m willing to read onscreen and save money. I know this is stealing. No excuses. If the price was $10 i would buy all my books, but with limited budget I buy one per month and beg, borrow or steal the others.
at 11:32 am on January 26, 2010
The pirate says: “In truth, I think it is clear that morally, the act of pirating a product is, in fact, the moral equivalent of stealing… although that nagging question of what the person who has been stolen from is missing still lingers. Realistically and financially, however, I feel the impact of e-piracy is overrated, at least in terms of ebooks.”
The key issue here is who has been stolen from–it’s the author, stupid! When you pirate a book, sure you’re depriving those big publishing companies of their money, but you’re also making it harder for an author to support herself. If she has to make money in ways other than writing because her work’s been stolen, then that’s the end of her career. The writer loses, the reader loses and that’s the end of it.
The thief’s right when he says that piracy is the moral equivalent of stealing, but he’s too busy justifying Takin’ Down the Man to remember that when art is stolen, it’s stolen from its creator. He’s a thief, what he’s doing is illegal, he’s a weasel for attempting to justify his crime, and he should accept the consequences of being a criminal.
at 12:42 pm on January 26, 2010
[…] , technology Leave a Comment Tags: asides, books, piracy, social, technology The Millions has an interview with a book pirate. I found it interesting, but the questions, as well as the answers just skimmed the surface of this […]
at 1:21 pm on January 26, 2010
[…] for us, we can get some answers from the blog The Millions. They posted a fascinating article Confessions of a book pirate where they interview a book pirate, who of course stayed anonymous. What he says is fascinating and […]
at 1:59 pm on January 26, 2010
“if every book was available in electronic format with no DRM for reasonable prices ($10 max for new/bestseller/omnibus, scaling downwards for popularity and value) it just wouldn’t be worth the time, effort, and risk to find, download, convert and load the book when the same thing could be accomplished with a single click on your Kindle.”
I seem to have gotten a different impression about the pirate than most so far. Yes, he’s stealing, and he seems pretty aware of that fact, but if you’re interested in stopping book piracy it’s worth understanding why. DRM didn’t work for the music industry and I can’t imagine that it will work for E-books any better. If I buy a digital product, it has to provide the same amount of quality as the physical copy – for CDs this was the ability to share songs “the old fashioned way” and for books the ability to loan it out without hassle to an interested friend.
Books will always (or at least for the foreseeable future) have devotes like me who buy them because they can’t stand reading anything other than a physical copy, but this group will shrink. Publishers need to give e-book buyers a fair, DRM-free deal to insure that books don’t join music as something younger generations consider free.
at 2:00 pm on January 26, 2010
A message to writers with an established fan base. Don’t hand over ebook rights to your publishers. Upload your books to your fan sites and ask for donations with a suggested donations of $5. I promise you, your fans will donate. All the money will go in your pocket. Some fans may even donate more then your suggested price knowing that the money is going to you. I’ll stop downloading books when publishers stop ripping off writers.
at 2:02 pm on January 26, 2010
“Just because someone downloads a file, it does not mean they would have bought the product I think this is the key fact that many people in the music industry ignore – a download does not translate to a lost sale.”
THIS! And also, THIS:
“if every book was available in electronic format with no DRM for reasonable prices ($10 max for new/bestseller/omnibus, scaling downwards for popularity and value) it just wouldn’t be worth the time, effort, and risk to find, download, convert and load the book when the same thing could be accomplished with a single click”
at 2:39 pm on January 26, 2010
I have no idea where commenters are coming up with this idea that the interviewee wants to “take down the man” as that’s a perspective that is not raised. The gist of his point, if you believe he has one and isn’t just elaborating on his day-to-day book habit, is that he is willing to buy books. A reasonable product, distributed reasonably, at a reasonable price.
If the product was DRM-free and priced at $10 — not a ridiculously low price, and he’s actually willing to put a dollar amount on this — then he’d be purchasing these books. For lesser-read authors, he’d be contributing money to back catalog sales for titles that are out of print.
Instead of finger-pointing and gnashing teeth about how he’s trying to justify what supposed evil he’s done, why not concentrate on how the publishing industry could adjust to make him a loyal customer? Writers and publishers sound more like scorned lovers than vendors of a product.
at 3:04 pm on January 26, 2010
[…] across this on a random jaunt through cyberspace. The term ‘Book Pirate’ conjures up images of […]
at 3:04 pm on January 26, 2010
I’d be interested in knowing how this guy (and the commenters) think profit sharing for an ebook breaks down, and why $10 works out as a reasonable price for one.
For a house to release an ebook, there’s still development costs; editors, proofreaders, book designers (yes, the interior of a book–a good book, at any rate–is still designed, not just covers), IT staff to maintain servers and websites and so on, just to scratch the surface, all of whom need to be paid before the author gets their cut. At small houses that only put out a handful books a year, that maybe amounts to two or three people and the odd outside contractor. And even after the author’s cut gets factored in, they still have to pay off their advance before they start getting paid. Going digital cuts out a big part of the overhead, but not all of it, and not the bits that are ultimately most important for creating a book.
Now you may think that authors should cut out the middle men all together, no editors or proofreaders or marketers and do all that work themselves. And a few can, actually, and bully for them. But the set of skills that allow you to sit alone in a room for a year or two with nothing for company but a laptop and imaginary people talking in your head is not always, nor indeed usually, the set of skills that allow you to glad-hand and relentlessly self-promote. This is not going to magically change because a handful of middle class digital trinkets suddenly become popular. And then there’s the editors; if you think most writers are capable editors of their own work, allow me to point you to the train wreck that Anne Rice has become.
Now there’s arguments, and pretty good ones, about how writer/editor/publisher relationships can and should change so that everyone is justly compensated for their work, and those are worth taking a look at. But to say that you know the true, reasonable value for their work just because Amazon has started using digital books as a loss-leader to get you to buy more plastic toys is absurd; even if it does settle somewhere around ten dollars, that’s a bad, bad reason for it to do so.
Things will change. Things need to change. But let’s not kid ourselves; just as writers, with the exception of a handful of outliers, get the royal shaft in the current system, writers will continue to get the shaft (again, except for a handful of well-adapted outliers) in this magical new system, just for different reasons.
at 3:54 pm on January 26, 2010
I’ve heard this “If only books were cheap and DRM-free, I wouldn’t pirate them” saw before. It doesn’t wash with me. Why not? Because ebooks that come from the publisher with no DRM and at prices far below the interviewee’s $10 are among the most pirated ones out there.
At this point, I’ve issues take-down orders for every one of my five non-DRM, digital-only ebooks. To date, I haven’t gotten a Google alert indicating that my one, NY-published title, which would have DRM in its digital form, is available on a torrent site. That doesn’t mean it’s not out there, of course, but the point is, most people aren’t pirating solely or even primarily to strip the annoying/intrusive DRM. Maybe that’s the interviewee’s motivation–I’m not casting aspersions on his honesty–but in the scheme of things, I think it’s at best a minor factor in book piracy.
at 4:07 pm on January 26, 2010
@August at 3:04 pm on January 26, 2010
I’d be interested in knowing how this guy (and the commenters) think profit sharing for an ebook breaks down, and why $10 works out as a reasonable price for one.
I think $10 is a reasonable price because I buy most of my ebooks from Baen at about half that price. In fact I consider $10 to be at the upper end of acceptable
at 4:17 pm on January 26, 2010
And then there’s the editors; if you think most writers are capable editors of their own work, allow me to point you to the train wreck that Anne Rice has become.
OMG, thank you! Best comment so far.
I’m really baffled by the persistent notion that because there’s no physical object, an ebook is somehow worth LESS than a paper book. Yes, they cost slightly less to produce, but really, only slightly. The hard cost of printing a paperback is surprisingly low and gets smaller the larger the initial print run. In most cases, I doubt the actual cost of paper, printing, and binding for the average trade paperback is somewhere in the neighborhood of $1 per copy, with mass-market paperback being even cheaper. Everything else that goes into the production of that book also goes into the production of the digital book–the author’s time and effort, the editor’s time and effort, the cover artist’s, etc. etc.
The value of a book is NOT the paper it’s printed on. If a book has any monetary value at all, it rests of the words it contains, not the format in which it’s delivered. Maybe ebooks should cost slightly less than a paperback because the cost of paper and printing has been eliminate, but only slightly less. Not half as much. Certainly not nothing, which is what pirates appear to be willing to pay.
at 4:45 pm on January 26, 2010
@FrancisT at 4:07 pm on January 26, 2010
I think $10 is a reasonable price because I buy most of my ebooks from Baen at about half that price.
That doesn’t really answer my question about how you think the profit sharing might break down (by which I mean how much the author gets, the designer, the editor, the publisher, etc).
In addition, much of Baen’s digital offerings (not all, of course, but a lot) comes from a backlist where the editorial and other production costs were paid for years ago through sales of physical books. I’m not trying to call folks out, I genuinely want to know how you think the dollars get distributed from a $10 (or even $4 or $6) sale so that everybody actually gets to earn a living.
at 6:21 pm on January 26, 2010
Why should the consumer have to worry about who makes a living? All that was asked in the interview was what would inspire him to stop downloading books, and it looks like he threw out some guideline numbers that he considered reasonable as a consumer.
If the industry cannot meet those numbers, it has to either disregard what he is saying in terms of price points or slim down. I’m certain the guy did not do any research when he threw the number out.
at 6:38 pm on January 26, 2010
The pirate rationalizes that people steal because they [they rationalize] that they are stealing from a large corporation rather than individual authors.
The royalties to the actual author, in many publishing avenues, is now higher than that to the publisher/printer. Does anyone care to bet about whether the theft will decrease?
The interviewee admits he is a criminal and a thief. It is outrageous that there is not criminal prosecution of people like him. The Justice Dept. has the resources to nail people like him, yet is doing nothing.
at 6:39 pm on January 26, 2010
As an independent author/publisher, I’ve been following the whole ebook piracy saga with much interest.
I don’t considered a pirated copy to be a lost sale, because as was mentioned above, a lot of people who download books have no intention of paying for something they know where to get for free.
However, I also agree that the cover prices of books have been steadily increasing over the last couple of decades, and that has had a major effect on my ability to purchase books as a reader.
They’re just too damn expensive to buy many of in any given year any longer.
Even so, the remark made above in the comments about “I’ll stop downloading books when publishers stop shafting authors”?
Allow me to play Devil’s Advocate:
You’re contributing to the shafting of authors, because traditional publishers likely view pirated copies as a loss to their bottom line, and want to make that money up somewhere.
You’re contributing to higher prices, because again, they want to make that loss up somewhere.
The lack of availability in digital format mentioned as one reason people download books is a good point.
However, because book piracy IS growing and IS a hot topic, publishers AND authors are reluctant to put titles out in a format that makes it even easier for those books to be pirated.
So piracy basically contributes to lack of digital availability, higher ebook cover prices and authors getting shafted over their share of ebook profits.
/end Devil’s Advocate
I’m not too worried about ebook piracy. I’m not a well-known author, I don’t depend solely on my writing to put food on the table, clothe my kids, pay my bills, etc.
I used to worry about it, because everyone was freaking out about it, but after some thought, I decided the worry was just getting in the way of writing, and if I kept worrying, I might end up quitting.
So I don’t worry about it. =)
Now, a break down on a $10 cover price? I can’t give you an idea for traditional publishing, but I can give you an idea of independent:
$10 title listed at Amazon.
Amazon currently receives 65% of that, or $6.50. I’d receive 35%, or $3.50.
Out of that, 15% of the cover price goes to my editior (whom I’m very lucky to have worked such a deal out with!). So I would receive a whopping $2.00 in royalties for each sale of a $10 title.
But I do my own cover art and formatting for digital release, so I don’t have those expenses to cover. Other independents/small publishers might have those expenses.
$10 title listed at Amazon by an author I publish.
Amazon receives same cut as above ($6.50).
Now, I decided to have my authors select the percentages, so out of that $3.50 received as our share of the sale, I might receive as much as 25%, or 88 cents, for cover creation, editing, formatting and submission, plus marketing/promotion.
The author would receive $2.62 per sale of it.
I should note that none of our titles are priced that high. We’re sharing out with distribution outlets with titles priced from 99 cents to $5.25 currently.
None of us are making bucket loads of money, though we all have sales.
at 7:29 pm on January 26, 2010
I noticed one question that was not asked. He said if the price was cheap enough he would buy the eBook but he would still, I bet, “loan” it to as many of his friends he thought might want one. That was the reason he said he made eBooks from scans in the first place and I saw no notion that the behavior would change. Thus he thinks $10 is a fair price, loaned to 10 friends and the author gets a piece of $1.
I was at CES and was talking to one of the workers who liked to read. He thought paperbacks were too high at $7.95 so he just stole them because he couldn’t afford to feed his reading habit. This is the way of the world these days.
Moral stealing doesn’t even mean anything when you have no morals in the first place. The worker did mention he didn’t steal on the job because he needs his job. Too much risk. No risk, no problem.
at 7:39 pm on January 26, 2010
The music industry lost my dollar a long time ago, with their attempts to stifle digital music until they were sure they had squeezed every last penny out of physical sales.
With eBooks – I’m already frustrated with competing standards, some ridiculous DRM methods, and high prices – sometimes outstripping the physical cost and often not beating it by much.
Charge me £3/$5 for the unrestricted file, you’ve got yourself a deal, but charge me $12 and tell me what I can and can’t do with my file – then you’ve got yourself a pirate.
I could not wait for Stephen King’s Under the Dome. He’s an author whose got many tens of ££s from me over the year, plus many library rentals and second-hand purchases. But when I was told the Under the Dome e-book was out three months after the paperback version and would cost $20… Well, I went and got it in under 10 minutes online, and read it at leisure on my phone.
Treat us like customers, you got yourself a purchase. I’m off to check out Baen!
at 7:57 pm on January 26, 2010
I haven’t pirated any books, but… I don’t understand the high moral dudgeon. The pirate concedes that he is stealing the books, so how is indignation going to solve anything? The reality is that the prices on e-books are too high for many readers, and some of them are willing to steal rather than pay.
One reality is that books have increased in price much more rapidly than inflation. Forty or so years ago, when I was a kid, you could buy paperbacks for a few bucks. Now they are perhaps 400% of that price — often more, since many books are now sold in the trade paper format. How important is piracy vs. the pricing of the goods?
And we live in a world with many more alternatives. Now I can see vast numbers of movies whenever I feel like, play video games, surf the web… if books don’t compete more effectively, they will become an increasingly niche player. But book publishers are still trying to approach things the same way, and are trying to price e-books to support their existing infrastructure. Like newspaper publishers of a decade ago…
The good news is that the situation is not likely to decline as quickly as it did for newpapers or record companies. But that may just delay recognition of the problem.
at 8:07 pm on January 26, 2010
My grandpa used to pay a nickel for a soda. Look at ’em now.
at 8:09 pm on January 26, 2010
[…] The Millions: Confessions of a Book Pirate (tags: magister) […]
at 8:16 pm on January 26, 2010
So many people missing the point.
1. If it isn’t worth more than $10 to someone, then they are just not going to buy it. It doesn’t matter what it costs to produce. Book prices keep going up, book value does not.
2. DRM lowers the value of a digital good to a consumer by limiting what they can do with it. DRM gives no added value to a consumer.
3. If they can download it for free, with no DRM they will. Its cheaper, more useful, and often easier to get and use. Right or wrong, this is the real world. Free is out there you cannot stop it.
4. Downloading isn’t stealing, it is copying. It may or may not be right, but it does not match the definition of stealing. Nothing is taken, only copied. Are the following stealing? What is the difference, the artist makes no money either way? There are differences, but you know what they really are?
• Borrowing a friends copy of a book.
• Reading an article on a website.
• Photographing a painting.
• Buying a sculpture from anyone other than the original artist.
If I make a chair, I do not get paid every time somone sits in it, or every time someone sells it. Why should writers keep getting paid for work they already did? If you think they should (and I actually do) you need to be able to explain why.
at 8:29 pm on January 26, 2010
“None of us are making bucket loads of money, though we all have sales.” Scath
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._K._Rowling
I bet you won’t have any trouble finding a Potter book to download.
Don’t blame lack of sales/profit on downloads.
at 8:37 pm on January 26, 2010
[…] contrario, lo disfrutarán otros ojos). Y hace un rato estaba leyendo por encima mi Google Reader y he visto este interesante artículo compartido por @eduo y no puedo dejar de reproducirlo aquí, ya que contiene tres puntos que me […]
at 8:41 pm on January 26, 2010
“For a house to release an ebook, there’s still development costs; editors, proofreaders, book designers (yes, the interior of a book–a good book, at any rate–is still designed, not just covers)”
I’m curious if the person who wrote this has read many ebooks. I bought a Kindle about a month ago. Since then I have purchased 3 ebooks from Amazon. Each one of those three has been returned for a refund because it is clear that no proofreading or book design was done on the ebook. And these weren’t fly-by-night publishers. These were the largest publishers on the planet and the books were top shelf stuff (one even a Pulitzer Prize winner).
When I buy an ebook from Amazon that is $1.60 cheaper than the paperback I expect that price difference to come from savings on printing, warehousing, and delivery. BookFinder tells me that the average book costs about $2.83 to print. So I’m apparently not even getting the full savings of that on my purchases.
at 9:06 pm on January 26, 2010
“Downloading isn’t stealing, it is copying. It may or may not be right, but it does not match the definition of stealing. Nothing is taken, only copied.”
I find it interesting that only one of the items you listed as “not illegal” involves actual copying. Loaning a print book to a friend does not create an additional copy of it. A photograph of a painting will never be mistaken for the original painting nor would you be able to resell it as if it WERE the painting. Buying a sculpture from its current owner doesn’t create an additional copy of the sculpture.
Only the website reading example actually works as an analog, and it’s not a great one since most websites are free to read anyway.
The one good analog you didn’t mention is photocopying an entire book. And guess what? That’s illegal.
at 10:40 pm on January 26, 2010
[…] Millions offers Confessions of a Book Pirate. “In truth, I think it is clear that morally, the act of pirating a product is, in fact, the […]
at 11:44 pm on January 26, 2010
I respectfully submit that anyone who thinks of customers as thieves and threats to be quashed has not taken the challenge they face at all seriously. That, in itself, is a serious threat to the rest of us.
Make no mistake, publishers are facing unprecedented challenges. But that doesn’t justify the extremity of their responses. As Lawrence Lessig has observed, “in a physical world, the architecture of copyright law regulates a small set of the possible uses of a copyrighted work. In the digital world, the architecture means the law regulates everything.”
By way of analogy, consider the Exxon Valdez. Before it crashed, copyright law was like the oil it contained – a valuable resource that was restricted to a very small geographical area, and safely separated from the waterways used for its transport. The twin developments of digital media and open networks were like the reef it collided with. Suddenly, a desirable payload turned into a toxic mess that permeated everything, spreading death and liability in equal measure.
Before you dismiss that analogy as over-the-top, take a moment to familiarize yourself with the legislative wish list of major publishers. It necessitates the creation of a system for electronic surveillance and punishment so far reaching that would take Stalin’s breath away. For a taste of the capacities systems like these can offer, consider the highly centralized internet and telephone controls built for Iran’s Revolutionary Guard – systems which are now being used to hunt down and murder dissidents and their family members alike.
No one doubts the importance of allowing artists to operate on a professional basis. But very few artists (and none worth the name) would justify the creation of police state infrastructure to ensure they get paid properly. If nothing else, those with brains to match their talents realize that the gains would be short-lived, at best.
So before you add the fire of moral condemnation to file-sharers, consider who – exactly – these arguments support, and ask yourself if they’ve done all they can or should to protect the cultural environment in which we all live. (Hint: they haven’t done anything.) Meanwhile, the Internet has demonstrated the potential to be the single most important driver of human progress since Gutenberg’s invention spawned mass literacy in the first place.
This is why we should all step back for a moment, and consider three of Gutenberg’s (rough) contemporaries, Copernicus, Galileo, and Kepler. Between them, they transformed our understanding of the solar system. The observations, models, and laws they produced enabled astonishing advances in science, cartography, navigation, and (by extension) exploration, commerce, and the development of modern nation states – all of which were accelerated by explosive growth in the book supply, and a growing number of readers. At the same time, their contributions to humanity posed a direct threat to established religious orders that had mistakenly conflated a flawed idea about cosmology into self-serving justifications for their legislative authority.
Today, we face a similar problem with our concept of intellectual property. Like medieval astrologers stubbornly trying to force fit a faulty metaphysical construct into observable (but contradictory) reality, today’s IP lobbies are trying to protect their established positions by simply denying that anything fundamental has changed in the world, then proceeding logically (yet blindly) from there.
Like drunken captains with no sense of the underwater landscape, they have no idea how close they’re coming to doing horrific damage to the cultural environment. If something as slippery and sticky as copyright law threatens to coat everything that lives and breathes, then look out. Also, change course. Ah, but that’s lost on these ‘captains’ of industry. They continue to insist that everything revolve around a concept of ‘property’ that is as unfounded as it is dated.
Of course, deep down, they know they’re wrong. Nobody who truly felt as though he were on the side of the angels would feel compelled to negotiate secret treaties shielded from all Congressional oversight due to laughably phony ‘national security concerns’ (ACTA is supposed to be an anti-counterfeiting treaty, remember?)
Seriously, our friend the diligent reader should be the least of anyone’s concerns. So please, hold your fire. Or at the very least, refrain from aiming it at individuals – unless they’re busy subverting the same democracies they’re sworn to defend. If that’s you concern, I suggest you start with Joe Biden.
at 11:56 pm on January 26, 2010
taf: “Don’t blame lack of sales/profit on downloads.”
I don’t, nor did I mean to give that impression. =)
I blame lack of profit on the sales we do have on the distribution channels that want a gigantic percentage of the cover price in return for mostly automated work listing the titles.
Amazon is increasing the publisher/author split to 70% come June, so that’s going to be a nice change for us, since 55% of our sales are through Amazon and that will be double what our royalties have been there.
We’ve tried to be sensible about our ebook pricing, which works to produce sales, but when you have distribution channels taking 50 -65% of 99 cents to $5.25, it pretty much sucks for the authors’ earnings.
We’re stuck using distribution channels readers know to go to when looking for books/ebooks, and there are thousands of us trying to get our titles out in front of the readers who’ll want to read them.
So we’re also stuck with whatever those channels decide to offer by way of splits, and it’s a crowded market.
at 12:00 am on January 27, 2010
>> Downloading isn’t stealing, it is copying.
Don’t fool yourself! As an author, I can tell him that it is legally stealing, because I own the copyright. The publisher pays me to ‘borrow’ my stories but the copyright stays with me. These pirates pay me nothing. They steal.
And the one who loses most from downloading is not a big corporation, but the author. If not enough copies of a book are sold, not only will the author be out of pocket but the publisher won’t publish the author’s next book. Thieves conveniently forget what exactly they’re stealing.
People seem to think all novelists make a fortune. Don’t I wish. Stephen King does but 90% or more of authors don’t. We make a living like all those poor souls who ‘have to’ steal because they can’t afford to buy.
By working ten-hour days, 6 days a week, I make a decent living, not a rich one. I don’t steal anything to do that. But then, I have a disabled daughter who is partly dependent on what I can make as well as myself to feed, so I’m well motivated to work hard.
You thieves who take my work without payment are not only stealing from me, but from my daughter and other authors’ dependants, too. How you sleep at night, I don’t know!
Thieves, I cry! Stealing not from the rich, but from ordinary workers.
at 12:13 am on January 27, 2010
[…] on January 27, 2010 1. Get to know a book pirate: ‘The Real Caterpillar’ exposes his methods, why ‘e-piracy’ isn’t stealing, and how to occupy your time while you […]
at 12:52 am on January 27, 2010
Lic: “Downloading isn’t stealing, it is copying. It may or may not be right, but it does not match the definition of stealing. Nothing is taken, only copied.”
Actually, it’s illegal distribution and copyright infringement, if my understanding is correct.
Whether it’s actual ‘stealing’ or not, it’s considered by law to be illegal.
Loaning a physical book to a friend isn’t stealing – because of the First Sale doctrine on physical objects, once you purchase a print book, it’s yours to do whatever you want with.
But ebooks aren’t physical books, they’re digital files. You can’t ‘loan’ a digital file, you have to copy it to make it available to that friend.
A physical book is gone from your possession until your friend returns it. An ebook file is still in your possession and your friend has a full copy as well – which is distribution without permission of the copyright holder, thus illegal by law.
Authors/publishers have long accepted that a print book is out of their control once that first sale is made.
But ebooks are the proverbial horse of a different color. Both readers and many authors/publishers want to pretend they aren’t. That they’re just a more convenient form of books.
Which they are; but with that convenience of less cost to produce, collect and store also comes the convenience for those who decide to illegally distribute them for whatever reason they have.
It’s not surprising authors and publishers get so angry when they learn their books are being downloaded for free, and see each download as a financial loss.
DRM isn’t the solution. Consumers complain it implies they’re all criminals, and writers that do use it are trying to protect their work and ability to earn an income.
Scanning books or putting them on file sharing downloads also isn’t the solution.
Both are just causing a widening division between authors and readers.
I wish there was an easy solution, but there’s just not at this time.
at 1:04 am on January 27, 2010
[…] The Millions: Confessions of a Book Pirate (tags: Copyright Books ereader ebooks) […]
at 3:14 am on January 27, 2010
[…] di un pirata 2010 gennaio 27 by Mario Mattioli Ho appena letto una bella intervista ad un “pirata” di […]
at 4:07 am on January 27, 2010
How about doing what Manning Publications did with a recent purchase; add a unique ‘code sheet’ in the book, ask for 3 random entries from it and, if not previously used, allow the person who bought the hard copy to download a *personalised* (ie their email address is embedded in various places throughout) electronic copy.
Most books that I want to read in an electronic form I’ve already bought the dead tree version of!
All credit to Baen and their authors though. Fantastic library, bought many more books they’ve published as a result.
at 5:28 am on January 27, 2010
“I’d be interested in knowing how this guy (and the commenters) think profit sharing for an ebook breaks down, and why $10 works out as a reasonable price for one.”
I don’t see any reason why anyone other than the author and the retailer would get a percentage. Editing, layout, proofreading should IMHO be “work for hire” one off payments, paid for by the author with some form of loan or the proceeds of previous work (like any other profession) if you want high visibility, feel free to pay Amazon, if you are happy to promote yourself, run your own website with a paypal link. Sure this isn’t the way it works _now_ but copyright laws to encourage the production of valuable works _not_ to support what is currently known as the “publishing industry”
at 6:57 am on January 27, 2010
[…] tammikuu 27, 2010 · Aihe: kirjasto · Tagged e-aineisto, e-kirja, harrastus, kirja, piraatti, piratismi Tsekatkaa Kirjapiraatin tunnustukset. […]
at 9:37 am on January 27, 2010
Curt, you can promote yourself by a variety of free methods (e.g. social networking sites) until you’re blue in the face, and never manage to draw the traffic some place like Amazon receives on an hourly basis.
The average reader isn’t going to spend hours surfing from author’s site to author’s site. They’re going to go to Amazon, B&N, etc. and spend that time browsing books.
Or they’ll hit a download site, download a bunch of books, which they can pick through at their leisure later – and no one earns a penny, author or distributor.
at 10:20 am on January 27, 2010
Scath,
I would argue that not much browsing happens online, not in the traditional sense of the word. I’m sure Amazon sells a fair number of titles off its “Other customers who purchased Going Rogue also bought this” function, but my educated guess would be that roughly 90% of all online purchases have been decided on before the customer even fires up the web browser. They go to Amazon, BN, or Indiebound or wherever looking for a specific book, and they buy it.
Your point about self-promotion stands, though. And it’s only going to get harder the more authors get savvy to the web (there are still many who view that as someone else’s job). The big question right now isn’t one of delivery or even, despite all the arguing here and elsewhere, of protection, the question is one of discovery. How do we find the books we decide to read, and how might that change if we continue to see erosion in brick-and-mortar retail (which I think we will).
at 10:24 am on January 27, 2010
Maybe I’m not the traditional “pirate,” but I download books that are out of print or are so rare as to be unaffordable.
Current copyright law is ridiculous to the point of being immoral. Author’s lifetime makes sense, author’s lifetime + 14 years was reasonable, but now it’s almost in perpetuity, so nothing reaches the public domain. Why should an author’s grandchildren be able to profit from something they didn’t create? And since both political parties receive massive donations from media there is no way this will ever change to benefit consumers or culture.
News flash to distribution channels: Your traditional business model is dying, thanks to the internet. Others have figured out how to make it work so you can too.
No wonder people are infringing.
at 11:02 am on January 27, 2010
Someone said: Editing, layout, proofreading should IMHO be “work for hire” one off payments, paid for by the author with some form of loan or the proceeds of previous work
In reference to the comment above…there are very few authors who can pay an editor what a good editor is worth. Truth is, nowadays, a book with flaws gets publicly ripped for even the smallest errors. That boils down to the fact that the author will pay dearly to even consider having a successful release after such an incident.
Most editors do, as you said ‘work for hire’…they receive a percentage of the publisher’s profit from the book they edited because most authors can’t afford to hire an editor. On top of that, word has it that trusting a house that doesn’t provide in-house editors is never a wise business decision.
You try getting a loan to pay an editor…I promise you, it’s is a surefire way to get laughed out of the bank if your name isn’t in the top 10 list of well-known authors.
at 11:08 am on January 27, 2010
Many of those points are perfectly valid – what has hardly been covered, though, is the emotional imapct of epiracy on the writer. We all have “google alerts” set up to track reviews and launched across etailers. Now, every day, we get alerts telling us our books are up on any number of torrent tracker sites.
There are people talking about “how much they love author X, do you have their next release – can you email me the file offlist?” So, great, we see these people “love” us so much they deprive us of payment for the books they “love so much”.
What it does is kill the goose that lays the golden eggs. Authors spend so much time closing down torrents and often fighting legal battles in addition to that, that, comes the time to write, they are emotionally and spiritually exhausted. Writing in itself is a leap of faith.
For me, personally, when I come home after my rent-paying job, I have to sit down do write, and motivate myself to do it. Now, imagine the first thing I see when I check my emaiol account is another alert that some community on the internet that says they are my “fans” has “shared” my latest work. Checking my royalty statement, I see that those few hundred downloads have just made sure that my sales for that month are significantly less (read: less sales/revenue). So I sit down in front of my computer, and the sense of defeat and violation (writing is supposed to be a safe space, right?) undermines my joy of writing.
Quite literally, every day, I face the decision wether to sit down and write or, you know, meet friends, hang out in front of the TV or do absolutely nothing (maybe exercise). Pirates, alerts I’m being pirated, and the self-entitled attitude of those “fans” in those pirating communities that seriously believe that I should write and put everything out there for free because I somehow owe it to them and that putting more than 15 years of hard work of learning how to write is worth quite literally nothing – those things destroy my motivation to sit down, and religiously write.
We writers are on the internet, too. We see those discussions, and most of us are terrified to speak up and thus become targets.
Some fans those people are.
(BTW, I firmly believe that the vast majority of people have a sense of morality and actually like to support “their” artists)
at 11:15 am on January 27, 2010
Scath: “Whether it’s actual ’stealing’ or not, it’s considered by law to be illegal.”
My point was merely that calling it stealing is incorrect. Most consumers know this and learn to ignore such hyperbole. RIAA is vilified not because downloading is legal, but because many people see it as little worse than making a mix tape for a friend. They see there is no real scarcity, copying music is easy and cheap, and won’t pretend there is.
Remember, Copyright is something we give authors to encourage them. A gift from the people, not some inalienable right.
Copyright Is An Exception To The Public Domain
http://techdirt.com/articles/20100125/0539377890.shtml
at 11:22 am on January 27, 2010
Patrick, I agree. ‘Browsing’ doesn’t mean exactly the same thing anymore. =)
Aleksandr Voinov raises an excellent point, and I must admit, even though I haven’t had but one instance of something resembling piracy with my titles, I’m currently arguing with myself over continuing to write and publish ebooks, to stop ebooking and concentrate solely on producing print books, or to just throw in the damn towel, turn it all into free web fiction and hope people might toss a dollar here or there into my tip jar.
Or buy a print or some other merchandise related to the stories in appreciation for the entertainment.
After all, I’m not going to stop writing. I have to write. I enjoy writing. I just don’t enjoy all the headaches that go along with it once the writing process is finished.
at 11:29 am on January 27, 2010
Aleksandr Voinov: “Many of those points are perfectly valid – what has hardly been covered, though, is the emotional imapct of epiracy on the writer.”
You are selling the wrong thing. The text of your book is not scarce, it is easily copied. Consumers know this and dont see much added benefit from a legally purchased copy. Give your fans a reason to buy. Use the book as a way to attract more fans, fans who can buy things from you, things they can’t get for free. Like it or not your books are free to anyone who want’s to look. I am not arguing the morality, simply the reality. The era of being able to make tons of money by copying the easily copyable is fading fast.
Take comfort and pride that people like your work and want to read it and share it. Use that attention to sell them something they see value in purchasing.
at 11:32 am on January 27, 2010
@Scath: Same models I’ve been looking at. Donating, subscription, pray and hope for the best. At the moment, I’m doing a combination of all of them – produce print books, sell ebooks, pass the donation hat around, and never, ever, not possibly, quit my day job if I want healthcare and a pension (I’m 34, soon 35, I kinda like the idea of possibly, one day, owning my own house and writing will definitely not get me there. It’s secondary income at best, or, right now, pocket change and a way to feed MY book habit).
But I’ve seen my fellow writers get demotivatd, throw the towel, and I know writers who have 2-3 hours every day to write (because we’re corporate drones in addition to pilots of flights of fancy) and they spend one hour of that to fight piracy. ONE THIRD of their total writing time, every day, goes to protecting their assets.
The damage of that… the way pirates PREVENT the books they are just dying to download – is potentially enormous.
Because – newsflash, we’re not just automated typewriters, we are people that have feelings, and we must be very disciplined to finish a book at all. Getting constantly b*tchslapped by what we can only assume are “our biggest fans” – that’s really pretty hard to stomach. One of my writer friends called it “date rape” – you think they love you, but all they do is bend you over and laugh at you while they do it.
at 11:36 am on January 27, 2010
@Lic: I got nothing else. I’m not physically attractive enough to sell sex or “dinner with the author”, I have no design skills for merchandise, and I can’t travel globally to hold readings (I read so fast and am so nervous we both wouldn’t enjoy this). Should I sell Aleksandr Voinov T-shirts? “Test of Faith” mugs? Maybe pens and notebooks with a logo?
Where’s that “alternative revenue stream you speak of”? I’m not Bono or Angelina Jolie. People don’t pay me because I’m famous. I’m just a writer, making up stories. I’m not even very good at marketing. And I have 3.5 hours a day to write, provided I don’t hit the gym to lift weights.
at 11:37 am on January 27, 2010
Lic: “Remember, Copyright is something we give authors to encourage them. A gift from the people, not some inalienable right.”
And I could argue that authors give the ‘gift’ of their writing by making it available to people, even if for a fee. =)
In the comments there, someone said to not forget that copyright law was written to make certain creators earned from their creations while alive.
Perhaps I’m wrong, but I thought copyright protection was making certain the creator retained control of his/her creation.
Even so, whether it’s an inalienable right or not, apparently many thought creators deserved to the right to control/earn income from their creations.
To some, it may now appear that people are just as determined to wrest that control and ability away.
Matters like book piracy only enforce that opinion for them.
at 11:41 am on January 27, 2010
I’m happy to cede my copyrights IF you bring back the system of patronage that kept our forebears fed. Let’s see, one gay banker could probably afford to keep me as his house author and pay me a living wage.
I better not alienate my hypothethical gay banker, though, so I’ll very likely only write the books that he wants, exactly the way he wants them, and only for him (no mass distribution). It worked for Michelangelo!
Hmmm. Not really a winning model, or is it (add sarcasm emoticon).
at 12:08 pm on January 27, 2010
Aleksandr – I’m testing them. I have a web fiction section, a subscription section, published ebooks at various distribution channels and have had POD books available.
In my experience thus far, the ebooks earn some minor compensation for all the hours I spend working at this gig. Admittedly, my subscription and web fiction sections are relatively recent additions, so more time is required to see how those work out.
As I mentioned, I haven’t had any true instances of piracy of my ebooks – as far as I currently know.
I did have someone use the title of one of my ebooks, along with other authors’ titles, to entice downloaders into downloading a virus.
I want people to read my stories, but I don’t feel that it should be at the expense of my being able to earn that tiny bit of compensation in return for all the time I spend writing and preparing them, or money spent for the items needed to present them as professionally as possible, given my current skill level and knowledge.
How will I handle it if one or more of my titles is pirated?
I don’t know. I’ve considered ignoring it, or quietly sending a take down notice and not publicly mentioning it.
After all, attempting to defend your creation is apparently politically incorrect now.
at 12:16 pm on January 27, 2010
@Scath: I’m with you there, and, from one colleague to the other, best of luck. And, no, I want to earn money from my writing. I put up 2.5 years worth of writing free on my website, plus some pieces I wrote for the hell of it – but if writing wasn’t commercially viable at all for me, I might just share my writing with a few friends. I’d be the kind of writer who would produce 20 POD copies and give them to friends on birthdays and for Christmas.
I guess I’m still too ambitious, curious, and entrepreneurial to throw in the towel. Also, there are many readers I met who love what I do and who are happy to pay for what I’m doing (and I adore them in returnf or it), and I honestly don’t want to take my books away from these people just to spite those people who feel entitled to my work. They are not, quite simply put.
at 12:32 pm on January 27, 2010
“You are selling the wrong thing. The text of your book is not scarce, it is easily copied. Consumers know this and dont see much added benefit from a legally purchased copy. Give your fans a reason to buy.”
1) The text may not be scarce, but most of the price of a book does not go to scarcity; it goes toward labor. Labor ought to be paid for.
2) “Consumers” are not a monolithic group. I very much see a benefit from a legally purchased copy.
3) Good writing is, in itself, reason to buy.
at 1:16 pm on January 27, 2010
Hank: “1) The text may not be scarce, but most of the price of a book does not go to scarcity; it goes toward labor. Labor ought to be paid for.”
Not how economics works. Just because you put effort into it, that does not mean some one should pay you. That is the mindset of homeless people washing your car windows weather you want them to or not. (not intended as a dig, just a quick analogy) Economics works on scarcity and demand. You need some of both.
“2) “Consumers” are not a monolithic group. I very much see a benefit from a legally purchased copy.”
I didn’t mean to imply they were. You might see a benefit, many don’t.
“3) Good writing is, in itself, reason to buy.”
For you, but not for everyone. A reason to read certainly.
Scath: “I got nothing else. I’m not physically attractive enough to sell sex or “dinner with the author”, ”
Physically attractive? I never thought of Asimov as attractive, but I sure would have loved to sit down and talk with him. There are more ways to make money than your strawman suggestions.
Aleksandr Voinov: “I’m happy to cede my copyrights IF you bring back the system of patronag:e that kept our forebears fed.”
It’s still around, no one is stopping you from looking for a patron. It worked for a long time.
I’m not really trying to argue what I believe is right or wrong, just what is current reality.
at 1:44 pm on January 27, 2010
Lic, both of those quotes were Aleksandr’s, not mine. =)
Yes, now we have the opportunity and venues to interact on a regular basis with our readers.
I’ve jumped into Twitter, met readers and other authors. Talked to them, not just tried to push my ebooks down their throats.
I’ve been myself, in other words. Seems to have worked to a point.
I’d say that was probably why I sold three times the number of ebooks in 2009 than I did in 2008. =)
at 1:49 pm on January 27, 2010
I’m an author of (predominantly) e-books. And I won’t be shy. Last year, I made a whopping $25 in royalties. Why? No, it wasn’t all due to piracy. But I’d wager that entire $25, plus some, that at least 50% of the problem was piracy. As more piracy sites went up, and e-book piracy became more prevalent, my royalties dropped from around $500 a year to *blinks* $25?? Coincidence? Well, you do the math and see if you still think so.
For those of you arguing that authors should just put our books out there for free and consider ourselves lucky you’re all reading them, you’re so missing the point. Look at it this way: Say you create Widget 1, and put it up for sale. Then someone comes along, says “Oh, I like that, but I don’t want to pay for it” so they simply TAKE Widget 1, and then make their own copies and distribute them (for free) to 20 of their closest friends, what do you think that will do to your business revenue for the year? You’d consider that to be thievery, no doubt. Well, you’re still “taking” something when you download a book from a torrent site. You didn’t pay the author in any way, shape, or form, and they are the “craftsman” of this particular brand of widget. And when you upload to one of those sites, you are, in effect, giving away free copies of something you haven’t paid for the right to give away (unless you’re giving away your only, purchased copy, and erasing it from your hard drive, and let’s face it, you’re not).
This is a lesson in economics. Yes, I believe that the price on books can be palpably absurd. I’m not arguing that point. But I, as the author, don’t set those prices. All I see are my small %s that make up the royalties. And I don’t see those if people are stealing the books, rather than buying them. You want a free copy? Come along to one of my contests and EARN one, by simply participating… It’s not difficult, and you’ve put in a little time, instead of money. If you’ve got time to surf a torrent site looking for my books, you’ve got time to come and hang out online with me – the result’s the same for you (a free book), and yet you’ve shown you actually DO support me, rather than just SAYING it.
There is no justification for copyright infringement. Believe me, authors are held to the same (and higher) standards in that regard. I remember the recent media coverage of the Cassie Edwards copyright infringement case, where she supposedly “borrowed” directly from non-fiction texts. People were up in arms about her use of small amounts of information taken verbatim from the non-fiction texts… I imagine some of those irate people were simultaneously sitting in front of a piracy site, downloading entire books. And I know enough about copyright law to know that YES, it is copyright infringement to download a work without proper compensation to the author, or at least the author’s permission. And NO, it is not a “gift” from the reader to the author – it actually IS a right, under the law. That’s WHY it’s written law. It’s not implied. It’s not hinted at. It’s not just a rumor. It’s written law in the USA, and violation of it can end up with you in court. Ask Cassie Edwards.
I don’t mind giving away a few free books, here and there. I’m all for encouraging reading, and I’m usually happy to help out a reader who approaches me openly and says “Hey, I really want to read your book, but I can’t afford it right now.” I can be quite creative about coming up with ways to help them get a copy for a reduced amount, or even for free, if I happen to have extra copies available. I’m even likely to autograph a physical copy on CD-ROM and send off, at my own expense. But I DO mind when someone takes something without asking. It’s a lot like breaking into my house and stealing the family silver. It’s going to leave me violated and angry. I have a right to those emotions when someone steals from me – the same way I’m sure all of those pirates would be angry if someone stole their computers or e-book readers… So, my point is this: If you want a book but can’t afford it, try approaching the AUTHOR first. If they can help you out, I’m sure most will. We don’t want to alienate readers – but we DO want to be respected, same as everyone else, and theft is a sure sign of disrespect.
at 1:57 pm on January 27, 2010
[…] My Response to E-Book Pirates: Walk the Plank! Found this article on the web… And my blood pressure went up! Here’s the link (authors, beware… it’s liable to raise your blood pressure, too!): http://www.themillions.com/2010/01/confessions-of-a-book-pirate.html/ […]
at 2:01 pm on January 27, 2010
I am the original publisher of THE BOOK OF ELLISON, via my Algol Press in 1978. It is long since out of print. Despite Harlan Ellison claiming that the book was done without his permission, this is not correct—and I still have the cancelled royalty checks to him to prove it. Although I’ve approached Ellison about reprinting it, he refuses to allow this. As far as I know, it’s not available on line.
at 2:37 pm on January 27, 2010
Why is it okay to steal from me for your own pleasure?
I’m a writer and have worked like hell to get published. Every time someone steals one of my books through “piracy,” he or she takes away from ME. Directly from a real person with real financial needs.
Would these people enjoy it if I walked into their homes and took something they’d worked very hard on simply because it was inconvenient to pay — or I just didn’t want to?
Why is creativity in our society so horrendously undervalued that others think they can just lift it . . . no regrets, no remorse, no conscience?
I don’t get any of the justifications. They all seem like a slap in the face to those of us who provide entertainment.
at 2:44 pm on January 27, 2010
“Not how economics works. Just because you put effort into it, that does not mean some one should pay you. That is the mindset of homeless people washing your car windows weather you want them to or not. (not intended as a dig, just a quick analogy) Economics works on scarcity and demand. You need some of both.”
Indeed, and there is demand for books, as far as I can tell. The fact that there are people illegally copying and distributing them proves there is demand. What it also means is that those people who are pirating books don’t care at all about the labor that went into the creation of those pieces. Tell me — how many great works of literature do you think were made for free?
at 2:45 pm on January 27, 2010
It seems like writers need an entirely new sort of agent. Not one who will represent them in negotiations with publishers, but one who will engage directly with their audiences. Call it a publication agent.
On the one hand, these people (or groups) would know the writers intimately – well enough to understand their material and circumstantial needs, and to speak on their behalf wherever and whenever their works are being discussed online. In the process, they’d need to know, understand, and be trusted by these audiences well enough to formulate a successful pitch for patronage. In other words, they’d need to secure advances.
In all likelihood, these agents would do so by filling a curatorial role – working with enough authors to identify compelling organizing patterns, and involved with enough readers to understand how to present a collection of new work in terms that are deeply interesting in and of themselves. In other words – terms that enable audiences to take the risks of patronage by knowing that at least some of what they commission will be excellent, while the rest can afford to be exploratory, experimental, or just plain disappointing.
I was serious about what I said above – about publishers not respecting the cultural environment. I realize that this is hard to recognize for people who feel they’re getting the shaft, but I assure you, the attitude of aggressive entitlement you’ve all seen (and from which, you’ve no doubt recoiled) masks a deeper sense of fear, pain, and anxiety that is caused by some truly toxic conduct on the part of historically, culturally, and politically ignorant IP lobbies who are striving not to maintain traditional measures of balance in response to epoch-defining change, but to obliterate them entirely – transforming not just work, but ideas and knowledge themselves into commodified property.
In other words, for all the concerns about ‘fans’ who don’t pay killing the source of their delight, there’s an equal – and perhaps stronger sense – that the current approach to developing a framework for intellectual property in the 21st Century is on a suicidally dangerous course. And believe me, fans have plenty of justified contempt for artists so short sighted that they fail to see the creation of a police-state surveillance and enforcement structure as a major threat to everyone including artists themselves. To put it bluntly, some of that backlash you experience may be unjustified, but not all of it.
Assuming you do recognize the nature of the situation, anger should have turned to ambivalence. “Okay” you concede, “we live in a very gray and shifting world, but if this new breed of fan is not the enemy of the craft, their actions are hardly those of friends”.
I agree. So work from there. And recognize that doing so will – again – demand a new type of agent; one who doesn’t struggle to conceal their ambivalence about the New Fans, and can – instead – expand their numbers to the point where they can actually sustain the work itself.
I know it’s been heavily criticized, but Kevin Kelly’s theory of 1,000 True Fans produced two excellent insights. The first is that the artists need a surprisingly limited number of supporters at any given time. The second (and this is the source of the criticism) is that maintaining this base is a full time job. Obviously, this theory won’t work for the artist who simply wants to work.
But given a publication agent who could represent, say, ten artists (carefully curated for their ability to define an interesting portfolio), then the concept gains value. Ideally, you take the best aspects of publishers, editors, and agents from the analog world, blend them together, and drop all the baggage that made each of them a chore under the old paradigm.
The only request is that authors realize these new agents are also playing imaginative and creative roles – and that the people filling them should be regarded as neither servants nor masters, but as equals.
Indeed, their own interest may be in ideas themselves, with the work they do may include a measure of direct expression for which they’re seeking harmonious and complementary developments.
There will be problems with the model, no doubt. But that’s life. As long as good work is being done by people who can deliver it on a professional basis to audiences that are free from coercion, then truly liberal culture can survive and flourish.
In the meantime, recognize that the old system is falling apart, and no longer has the capacity to serve anyone the way it once did. Nevertheless, it’s clinging to life in an increasingly toxic fashion. So do yourselves, your audiences, and society a favor, and abandon your old expectations and allegiances. Make yourselves available to a new sort, and come to a collective decision about who the new agents should be.
Just don’t be too demanding, least you discover that those with a more liberal attitude have engaged the better people and that they’re now winning the audiences (and cultivating the patronage) that you’re only dreaming about. Understand, too, the fundamentally entrepreneurial nature of this effort (for all involved), and remember the entrepreneurs absolute first rule: don’t die.
at 2:46 pm on January 27, 2010
It doesn’t sound like you spend much time at private torrent sites. Of the ones that I frequent that host book torrents, a substantial number of the books are medical textbooks, computer books, or involve role playing games.
You just don’t see NY Times Bestseller list books in real time, not at the music filesharing sites. What you see are books that the readers are most likely compelled to own, either because of their assigned college readings, work profession, or gaming hobbies.
As a writer and as an early internet adopter, I have mixed feelings about piracy but at the end of the day the damage done to our society by copyright abuse clearly outweighs the lost revenue from piracy.
I mean, is it a good thing when medical school students can’t afford textbooks?
at 2:59 pm on January 27, 2010
It’s very confusing for authors (really any creative types).
On one hand, we’re told we have the right, by law, to undertake protection of our works.
But any attempt to do so results in our getting ripped to shreds, even by the same people who will say they want to see their favorite authors fairly compensated for their work.
Let’s face reality: there ARE bad apples out there. There are people willing to take someone else’s work, sell it for their own profit or, under the banner of this or that reason, make it available to others for free.
If you don’t make an attempt to protect your creations from those bad apples, you can end up getting the short end of the stick if you pursue them legally.
Use any form of DRM in an attempt to protect your work from those bad apples, and then everyone will rush to tell you that you’re a dick and accusing them of being criminals.
So a lot of us DON’T use any form of DRM, which leaves us wide open for our work to end up in the hands of those bad apples.
Readers get what they want: DRM free ebooks that some will pay for, and some won’t because they’ll be downloading them off those file sharing networks.
If you create something, by law, you’re entitled to control its distribution and to attempt to earn something for it.
All types of people agree that that is true. Yet it seems putting that into practice has become terribly wrong for any creative type to attempt.
And when did it become the norm for people to expect to get something the instant they decide they want it?
When I want something, if I don’t have the money, I save for it and buy it when I do. If I can’t manage to save for it, then I do without it.
Doesn’t matter what it is, or how bad I want it.
I’ve literally waited years to get a software upgrade, for example. I’m positive I could’ve downloaded it in less than ten minutes from some file sharing network for free 24 hours after it was released, but I didn’t.
I waited, saved and managed to catch it on sale at the right time, and bought it then because I had the money to. And that’s an over $100 example, not a $5 or $20 (e)book.
I’m not mentioning that to go all ‘morally superior’ on anyone.
It’s just the way I was raised: You want something, you work for it and earn it.
at 3:48 pm on January 27, 2010
[…] lest we get too cocky about freebies, try these confessions of a book pirate on for size. Piracy: it’s not just for e-books anymore. Maybe this guy’s never heard of […]
at 5:20 pm on January 27, 2010
Yes and no. Yes, you have limited rights. No you’re not (and never have been) entitled to absolute control.
Even before copyright expires, people are legally entitled to make unauthorized and uncompensated use of your work in a limited range of circumstances collectively known as ‘fair use’ applications. Control is also limited by what’s known as the First-sale Doctrine. And of course, copyrights expire. That’s not true of tangible property deeds.
The point is that much of the anger expressed on this board is not based in fact, but in ignorance. That’s not to say that very real wrongs aren’t taking place – only that rectifying those violations will demand a far better grasp of the actual violation.
In the process, those on the creative side will have to conclude that tangible and intellectual property are fundamentally different things. To continue confusing them, and using examples drawn from one sphere to condemn conduct in another, only makes the person leveling the charges seem ridiculous.
Others have equated copyright infringement with theft. For the record, there are massive differences between stealing a book from their homes, and downloading a copy online. For one, their privacy remains intact, as does their sense of security in their person and possessions. For another, they still have the book. And finally, there’s no recognized harm done by simply reading the work. After all, I could legally borrow the same book from a friend or the library, and we’d end up in the exact same situation. I’ve read their work, they didn’t get paid, they have no claim to get paid, and that’s the end of it.
However, there’s no legally sanctioned channel for me to break into a house and simply take things – under any circumstances. And even if I returned the book, the sense of physical security would remain compromised. My freedom to borrow the book from a public library does not grant permission to take it from any private collection. The book, in fact, is irrelevant. When it comes to physical possessions, it’s people’s physical privacy that’s at stake.
Accordingly, there’s an entirely independent layer of harm involved when someone violates tangible property rights. That extra layer is the difference between a felony crime and a civil dispute. For someone to ignore that distinction (which is really a matter of disregarding the law) at the same time they’re claiming protection under the law only makes them look ridiculous.
“Fine”, you say, “but isn’t violating the terms of a state-sanctioned monopoly morally wrong?”
Probably, but not certainly. And when it is, it’s its own special class of wrong. For the same reason I can’t refer to assault as murder, I can’t refer to copyright violations as theft – no matter how upsetting I may find the matter.
“But I’ve been deprived of income!” Ok, but not everything that deprives you of income is – therefore – theft. Just consider my choice to borrow a book from a friend or the library, or to buy it second hand and avoid triggering a royalty payment. All these choices give me unrestricted access to your work and deprive you of income, yet none of them make me a criminal. Again, deprivation alone does not equal stealing.
“Ah-ha!” you say, “but if it’s unauthorized deprivation, then it’s theft!”
Um, no. It’s a copyright violation. Which is a matter of civil dispute. Which, by definition, isn’t criminal. You can call it theft if you like. You can also say that it burns you up, and is therefore arson. You can say it hits you where it hurts, making it assault. You can even say it kills your motivation, and is therefore murder. But you’re a writer, for god’s sake. You understand that specific words have specific meaning. You understand that doing any of this before a court of law only makes you look like a moron, or worse – illiterate.
Commercial piracy may rise to the level of criminal, as can the creation of systems to facilitate unauthorized duplication and access. But that’s very different from what The Real Caterpillar’ is doing. Unless a court would pursue him on actual criminal counts, it’s best not to call him a thief – unless you want to defend yourself against a suit for slander.
“Well maybe it isn’t stealing per se, but it’s still wrong”.
Not necessarily. It’s worth remembering that the Constitutional allowance for the grant of copyright is not based on any principle of natural law or human right. Rather, it is a conditional clause based on the assumption that the costs of the monopoly it imposes (always a bad thing) are – in this very limited case – acceptable, since the benefits derived for creators and society alike vastly outweigh the price.
However, no evidence for this assumption is provided, beyond the intuitive assumption that this must be the case. But this same intuitive view is the one that anchored the concept of a terracentric universe throughout Antiquity, and into the Renaissance.
In other words, if a modern day Galileo were to demonstrate that this basic assumption is wrong, and that the costs of the monopoly don’t outweigh the benefits, and – indeed – discourage the ‘useful arts and sciences’, then the entire edifice of copyright law would come under suspicion. In fact, this is already happening.
Though we’re unlikely to discover that the assumption about the monopoly’s value is entirely wrong, there’s more than enough evidence to show that it’s far from right. Why? Because when it was developed, it was naturally limited to a very small set of circumstances, and a very limited set of behaviors. But following society’s irreversible adoption of the internet, copyright law suddenly pertained to virtually every transaction we make. Looking only at the economic, social, health, and cultural benefits of the internet – all of which could be wiped out by a strict interpretation of copyright law – it’s safe to say that the costs do not justify the grant of now astonishingly intrusive and far-reaching monopoly power that copyright provides.
Consequently, copyright law – and the underlying concepts of intellectual property that inform this law – must be rewritten for the internet age. That’s non-debatable, non-negotiable, and non-avoidable. It also hasn’t happened.
As a result, we’re living in an interregnum. The old order has ceased to have any real effect except to keep the new order from emerging. Those of us struggling to get by are caught in a world where rules are temporary at best, of limited effect, and unlikely to sustain old enterprises or new.
It’s a bad situation – that I don’t deny. And I don’t think it’s a sustainable one either. But we’re not going to resolve it through asinine assertions to unlimited rights over our creations, absolute rights to arbitrary royalty streams, furious and misplaced accusations of moral turpitude among those most likley to offer support, and total disregard for the technical, economic, and political realities that have come to define our world.
Instead, we need to recognize that the world changes – suddenly, at times – and that we need to change with it. We also need to recognize copyright law for what it is – a legal monopoly with its authority firmly limited by the costs it imposes, and further limited the Constitutional demand that the benefit of paying these costs accrue to creative individuals and free society alike.
Fail any of these tests, and the law itself ends up as legitimate as one saying black people must ride in the back of the bus, and can’t sit on the same park benches as white people.
But that’s our seat, the white lady told Rosa Parks…
at 5:26 pm on January 27, 2010
I have a particular dislike of DRM – if I purchase a legal version of something why should I be prevented from subsequently selling it on as second hand should I wish to?
In addition once I have purchased one format of a book why should I have to pay again to purchase another? I have already paid for the intellectual content.
With music why is it that I can buy a CD and rip it to my hard drive for my own use – but cannot do the same in reverse from a legally downloaded MP3 file to CD.
I contend that I have purchased the right to read or listen to the work in question and fail to see why I should have restrictions placed on my further use of the work in question – I can sell a book or a CD (or as I often do donate them to my local hospital) why should I not be able to do the same with downloaded product?
at 5:53 pm on January 27, 2010
The bottom line is, writers will begin to drop out when their royalties don’t make writing worthwhile. It could be your favorite author, Mr. or Mrs. Pirater. When you visit their website to learn that no more is coming because there’s no point, you may wish you had forked over that five bucks.
at 6:35 pm on January 27, 2010
[…] a fascinating article on confessions of a book pirate: TM: Do you have a sense of where these books are coming from and who is putting them […]
at 6:39 pm on January 27, 2010
Ebook downloading is less like music downloading…many people who read books aren’t tech-savvy. And those who are likely don’t bother with sites like bittorrent. Books are still being bought. Ever visit a Barnes and Noble? It ain’t deserted. So calm down…yeesh. You can really tell who the authors are in this commentary. I find it funny that anyone would actually get riled up about any of this. Some of you small time authors who don’t have any popular works (and therefore are taking offense indirectly) don’t have anything to worry about…nobody wants to read your junk anyways. lol. Sorry to be harsh but, well, you wanted reality….you got it. I think I’ll go download some books and visit the bookstore also. But then, I could also go visit the local state-affiliated book pirates (aka libraries).
at 6:46 pm on January 27, 2010
an author: “The bottom line is, writers will begin to drop out when their royalties don’t make writing worthwhile.”
You’re right.
Nick:
Why do you think you should have access to something in all its different formats for a single price? If you purchase a DVD in the US, and then move to Australia, do you expect it to be replaced with the required format there for free?
Alex:
Ultimate control has never been possible, and I’m sure everyone realizes that. =)
I’ve said more than once that books and ebooks are apples and oranges; two similar but different critters.
Yes, new copyright law/guidelines concerning what’s a creator’s right and a consumer’s right is concerning digital goods has to be written.
But who is going to write? And who will be consulted in the preparation of writing it?
Will I or other independent authors be consulted? Will any small presses be consulted? Doubtful. It’ll be the big publishers and consumer advocacy groups.
Won’t matter anyway. Any new copyright law will end up being flouted and debated as just as unfair as the current one and this whole mess over digital rights will continue on.
Piracy will continue. Authors will continue earning pittances, if indeed, they have any venues left to actually try to earn through.
I hope I’m around long enough to seen how it ultimately all shakes out. =)
at 6:55 pm on January 27, 2010
bwahaha: “Some of you small time authors who don’t have any popular works (and therefore are taking offense indirectly) don’t have anything to worry about…nobody wants to read your junk anyways.”
Nice name. =)
I’m a small time author, but I’m not taking offense. I’m just really fascinated by the whole matter.
I stated above that piracy hasn’t directly affected me, that I don’t depend on my writing to pay my bills or feed my kids. I’ve also stated that I wouldn’t consider pirated copies of my ebooks as lost sales or income.
But I do read both sides of the issue, meaning readers’ and authors’ opinions about it all, and as a writer, I would like to earn my pennies per sale without worrying that the ability to do so is going to be snatched completely away.
I think there’s valid points on both. Today I just happen to be more verbal about the authors’ side, since the article gave the side of the ‘book pirate’. =)
My opinion about ebooks changes with each new twist and turn. A year ago, I was one of the authors who would scream about being robbed if I’d found one of my titles on a file sharing network.
Today? Naw, not really. I’m learning as I go. I think that’s a pretty good approach to the matter. =)
at 6:55 pm on January 27, 2010
I’m a bit puzzled here at the attitudes of some of the authors in the comments. I understand your livelihood is at stake here but while I assume you’re all very lovely people and wonderful writers, but from some of the comments here I’d be loath to pick up one of your books for fear of angering you by lending it to a friend!
Everyone argues that piracy is killing the music industry when studies have shown that it has very little negative effect. Many people who download an mp3 do so because it is incredibly convenient–or because they want to give the album or song a listen-through before they commit $15 for the whole thing. It’s not as if albums aren’t stuffed full of filler with the odd hit, and sometimes the only good song is the song they’ve got on single… Which is discouraging. Things like the iTunes store and Youtube are making it easier to discover the product before you buy it–I’ve picked up my fair share of physical copies or real official digital downloads after finding something super catchy online, even just to stream it on YouTube or hear it in another video. Especially independent artists, who put up really fun videos or sample content and generally show a great, friendly, “I’m the kind of person you want to hand over ridiculous gobs of money to!” vibe.
Have many of you actually downloaded a pirated ebook? I’ve known people who have–one person in particular downloaded an ebook from a lesser-known author to test the waters, because they were uncertain whether they’d like his writing style enough to commit to the whole book (at $14 a pop, too). They flipped through a few chapters, found the concept even more interesting than the summary described, but the OCR was terrible. It had barely been proofed, weird symbols ahoy, words jumbled, sentences missing, and entire parts were rendered unreadable. It was a poor quality product, because someone had carelessly produced it to get it up there. It was overall somewhat readable, but just barely. So you know what this associate of mine did? He perused the book long enough to know he had a good feel of the author’s writing, and wanted to commit to it. So he did. He bought the whole series, legitimately. (An interesting thing about this? He told me later that the person who scanned and OCR’d the book had followed the cover page with one that essentially stated, “PLEASE SUPPORT THE AUTHOR, they’re AWESOME. Go out, buy the real books, tell your friends how great this series is, and here’s the author’s Paypal address, shoot them some donation love if you appreciate their work, even if it’s just $5!”)
There are a number of people out there making a living wage by adapting to the new ecosystem wherein they don’t glare suspiciously at file sharing, but embrace it. Corey Doctorow seems to be one of the most relevant to the written world–his stories are free, his books are as well, but you can still buy them (and many do!). He has fans that promote his work and support his ability to continue writing, and he has other things on his plate, too. He seems to be making a good run of it, and somehow all of his work is still freely available for download. Heck, I’d shoot the guy a couple bucks just for being decent about it and embracing the new paradigm.
For music, Jonathan Coulton is your guy. He once said something along the lines of “I feed the machine music, it spits out money, I don’t worry too much about the internals.” He has a lot of fans who love his work, who will see him perform, who follow what he does. He has a lot of his stuff available online for free and people seem to be happy to give him money, because he’s the kind of likeable, friendly-seeming guy from all he does on the internet, and he doesn’t get his panties in a bunch about people who share music. He makes it very easy to get his material for free, makes it very, very easy to buy it, and encourages people to spread the word. He’s the kind of artist you want to tell your friends about. Have you seen the number of fan movies for some of his songs? Hoo boy.
There are other authors, few and far between, who make a full living–perhaps not the most comfortable one–writing serial stories online for donations. People give to those to see the story continue, they give because they like what they see, and heck, maybe they give because they think the author is a decent person and know their money is going straight to that person, and not to eighteen different sets of grabby hands along the way.
Webcomic authors, too–they put their content up online for free, and make money through merch and ads and their fans donating. Somehow these people are doing a fair job of living off their work, but it’s not for everyone.
There’s even been a few filmmakers who distributed their work through traditional “pirate” channels or out for free and asked for donations–and they’ve made a killing. Joss Whedon is an atypical example of that–his Dr. Horrible’s Singalong Blog has made back more than it cost him to produce, and it was originally up on the internet for free, and is very easy to get! But most fans or people who suggest it will go out and buy the DVD, or the soundtrack, or make merchandise (Whedon doesn’t merch out his own franchises) and promote his work to their friends, because they love it, and it’s so easy to find and show to them–and then those new people buy it, and spread the love even further. They buy it on iTunes, they show it to their friends on YouTube or Hulu… They’re Whedon’s biggest asset, and his attitude on file sharing is essentially “eh, it’s unavoidable”, and somehow he’s making money off it.
The theme of the above? People who are out to do this because they’re passionate about it, because they love what they do, and it shows. They want to share their work with the world–and getting paid for it is a side effect. These are people I want to support. I want to give these people my money, to help them.
The thing is, and I think Alex was talking about it earlier, there’s a lot of “new” system going on here, where file sharing is a big part of the ecosystem of content distribution, whether businesses like it or not. Anyone who downloads an ebook of a real book instead of buying it is probably one of two categories of people:
— Someone who was never, ever going to buy it in the first place, so you never would’ve got a cent from them anyway. A lot of these people don’t do anything with your book but read it and delete it, so you’re not losing money off other sales, either!
— Someone who is likely to already own the book (and thus don’t want to fork over another $15 for a digital copy to preserve their physical copy from harm), or who intends to own the book if they get a taste of it, and you’d gain a sale from that–or a donation, if you left that option open… Who knows?
People don’t want to be told what they can or cannot do with downloaded material, including books. If the DRM on the book is inconvenient, they’ll go and get the book elsewhere, even if they don’t pay for it that way–even if they were fully willing to spend the money! If the buying process is a pain in the butt (too.. much… clicking…) or the final product is sub-par, they’ll probably go get it elsewhere! When you run up against these products, you get the feeling that money comes first and foremost–and that you’re just a cog in the machine. You’re not a fan, you’re a dollar sign. No, you can’t do this, because it doesn’t give us more money. You can’t do that, because dog forbid our bottom line will suffer. It gets discouraging–even if you want to share with your friends, or tell them how awesome something is, or encourage them to read a couple of chapters, and all DRM wants to do is stand in your way… It’s frustrating, especially when if you would’ve had the physical copy, you can do so much more with it, especially when it comes to promoting authors or musicians you love!
Now this makes me sound like a pro-pirate or someone who doesn’t support the idea of a writer getting appropriate compensation for their work… I’m not. For all the comments in this thread you’d think the odd download was killing people–perhaps it’s time to adapt? Perhaps it’s time to re-evaluate why you’re writing in the first place, if someone downloading a badly-OCR’d, hardly-proofed copy of your book is rankling so?
at 7:07 pm on January 27, 2010
>>If you purchase a DVD in the US, and then move to Australia, do you expect it to be replaced with the required format there for free?
While I am not the person to which this comment was directed, assuming you purchased the DVD in the US, and moved to Australia, you would also tow along your DVD player, which would be region-encoded appropriately, so you’d probably just need a generic adapter for weird plug compatibility issues and your DVD would play just dandy–or you could rip it onto your computer and stream it to your TV through there, or re-burn it to a new disc that might play to your new DVD player. You have options.
If you buy a physical book and then want to read it on another device, you are stuck–even if they offered an ebook for a couple of dollars on top of the physical book price (either bundled during sale with a code, or afterwards you can get the ebook for a small cost), more people would probably be happier with it. As it stands, if you want the physical copy and an ebook, you need to buy the text twice at full cost, which is irritating.
Although, frankly, don’t get me started on regions on DVDs… Goodness. If I could get a DVD that I could guarantee 100% would work on any player I put it in, regardless of whether I was in England, or the States, or in South America, I would be happy. (However, for all intensive purposes, South America seems to have an intriguing abundance of “region free” DVD players that will play just about anything, and offer their DVDs in a number of different regions, too.)
at 7:47 pm on January 27, 2010
[…] subjects, including book piracy, a crime that affects many people I know. In Monday’s The Millions column, C. Max Magee tracked down a confessed book pirate and probed the why and hows of […]
at 9:26 pm on January 27, 2010
>>He bought the whole series, legitimately. (An interesting thing about this? He told me later that the person who scanned and OCR’d the book had followed the cover page with one that essentially stated, “PLEASE SUPPORT THE AUTHOR, they’re AWESOME. Go out, buy the real books, tell your friends how great this series is, and here’s the author’s Paypal address, shoot them some donation love if you appreciate their work, even if it’s just $5!”)
This is a frequent refrain in NFO (description) files contained in pirated software. I myself see it all the time. I’ve never gone out and bought a piece of software after obtaining a perfectly workable pirated copy. I just stick with the pirated copy.
at 10:07 pm on January 27, 2010
But very few of Mark Helprin’s books actually _are_ available to pirates!
… or so I’ve heard from my pirate friends.
at 10:29 pm on January 27, 2010
Fish:
Thank you. I imagine that would get pretty expensive to ship a whole houseload of electronics and furniture from one country to another (I’d personally sell all the big stuff and buy new once I got there!). =)
I think I have seen talk of bundling ebooks with print (a coupon code like you mentioned). Haven’t seen anything saying someone’s actually done it yet. Don’t think I’d count on the traditional publishers doing it on a regular basis.
You know, since they think ebooks should be priced just a few dollars cheaper than hard backs. =)
But maybe that will happen.
You know, if it’s a matter of switching reading devices, choose to buy your ebooks from a site that offers more than one format (such as Smashwords). Then you can download the one you need, whenever you need to, after one purchase.
Eddie: “I’ve never gone out and bought a piece of software after obtaining a perfectly workable pirated copy. I just stick with the pirated copy.”
If you can get it for free, why pay? That’s the argument I’ve used before in discussions about book piracy, LOL.
I’m sure there are a *few* people who might download from a file sharing network, then later go drop a few bucks to the author/creator, or even become a fan and start collecting their books.
I’m just as sure the majority ignore such exhortations to do so when it comes to pirated items.
at 10:43 pm on January 27, 2010
A quote: “The theme of the above? People who are out to do this because they’re passionate about it, because they love what they do, and it shows. They want to share their work with the world–and getting paid for it is a side effect. These are people I want to support. I want to give these people my money, to help them.”
I’ve heard the “you should write because you love to write, so it shouldn’t bother you when people steal your intellectual property” argument a few times over the past few months, and to be honest, I don’t entirely understand it. Because the thing is, I don’t think very many of the novelists I know are in this for the money. We DO write because we love to write; very few of us can live on our writing alone, so most of us struggle to balance writing with our jobs and our families and our marriages; our commitment to our work often drives us to the edges of society (we work as temps, we live in poverty, etc.) — and the idea that people feel entitled to take our intellectual property without paying us, simply because we love what we do, is somewhat baffling to me.
To understand how strange this argument sounds to many writers, try applying it to a different field:
“I practice law because I love to practice law, and if someone wants to pay me for it, that’s nice, but it’s just a side effect.”
“I’m an insurance broker because I believe in insurance, so if I don’t get paid for my work, well, that’s okay.”
“I really love being an administrative assistant, so if I don’t mind it when I don’t get paid.”
I love to write, but I’d like to be paid for my work, just the same as anyone else. It just seems fair to me. Writers aren’t trying to wring every possible cent out of the reading public; we’re just trying to pay the rent and keep the lights on here.
at 11:04 pm on January 27, 2010
“While I am not the person to which this comment was directed, assuming you purchased the DVD in the US, and moved to Australia, you would also tow along your DVD player”
I have moved from the US to Australia and know a dozen or so people who have done likewise.
Not a single one shipped their DVD player from the US. All of them have, however, brought along DVDs.
at 12:13 am on January 28, 2010
Justus: That’s what I was thinking. =)
Alex: You mentioned the First Sale Doctrine.
Here’s a quote on it:
“The first-sale doctrine is a limitation on copyright that was recognized by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1908 (see Bobbs-Merrill Co. v. Straus) and subsequently codified in the Copyright Act of 1976, 17 U.S.C. § 109.
The doctrine allows the purchaser to transfer (i.e., sell or give away) a particular lawfully made copy of the copyrighted work without permission once it has been obtained.
This means that the copyright holder’s rights to control the change of ownership of a particular copy end once that copy is sold, as long as no additional copies are made.”
Let me point out that last line: “As long as no additional copies are made.”
Please explain how you can share/loan digital goods of any sort without making a copy of them.
You can’t, and there’s the whole crux of the matter, along with the fact that ebooks ARE NOT books.
They are similar to books, in that they are meant to be read, but they are not physical books.
They are digital, in formats that is practically impossible to loan or share without making copies of them.
If you do make copies of them, then you are breaking the law. You’re either infringing copyright by copying a work in its entirety and distributing it for free (assuming the work is still under copyright, and that’s really the sort of works we’re speaking of, right?).
Or, you’re illegally distributing the work by copying it in its entirety and charging for those copies (like what goes on at eBay, Etsy and other sites on a regular basis).
The First Sale Doctrine cannot be liberally applied to ebooks because of that. You can’t give away/transfer your legally purchased rights to an ebook, because the only way you can is to make a copy of it to give to someone else.
*Unless*, as was brought up by a lady whom I’ve been discussing book piracy with for a couple of months now, you purchase ebooks, download them directly onto a flash drive, and then sell the flash drive without ever removing the ebooks from it or making copies of them prior to doing so to keep for yourself.
Then, yeah, the First Sale Doctrine would cover that. You’d no longer have the ebook files in your physical possession. Would have transferred them and your legally purchased rights to them to whomever bought the flash drive.
Seriously, who is going to go through keeping a steady supply of flash drives to download their ebook purchases onto so they can then resale them once they’ve read them, assuming they decide they’re not going to keep them?
Especially if they’re using an ereader and the convenience of something like Amazon’s Whispernet to download their purchases directly to their Kindle?
Copyright and First Sales Doctrine, much simplified, read that authors can seek legal recourse if unauthorized full copies of their works are made.
Authors of course therefore feel entitled to receive payment for ALL full copies of their ebooks, or print books, that are copied in their entirety and distributed without the author’s permission.
That is why they yell about being robbed of earnings when they discover their work(s) have been scanned or uploaded to file sharing networks.
Readers expect to be able to do what they like with a physical copy of a book once they’ve purchased it. And they of course should. They bought it, it’s theirs.
But it’s been a part of that same law that gives them the right to do that, that they cannot make copies of it.
Technology’s a wonderful thing. Except, you know, when it causes two groups that are dependent on each other to become enemies.
at 4:32 am on January 28, 2010
A disclaimer,
I am a writer, mostly short genre fiction, and make about two and a half percent of my total income from writing. We ( I write with my wife) have managed to keep this up for the past four years, and we only submit to markets that pay pro rates for our genre.
Aside from that I collect fiction and attend conventions. In Science Fiction, the “Golden Globe” equivalent award, is the “Hugo”, and they (there are several award categories) are selected by the membership of the world convention at the “end” of that publishing year.
The last time I went to “Worldcon” I truly tried to make an informed selection for the awards, there were 37,000 qualifying works. The market is not just obscure, it is absolutely opaque. There is a market for almost any thing, but the problem is letting that market know you exist.
The best example of letting the market know you exist, is Mr. Eric Flint, in a series of articles He has clearly described the fair use view of publishing. the articles are available here at, http://www.baens-universe.com/authors/Eric_Flint and in particular in this one titled “Spillage” http://www.baens-universe.com/articles/salvos8
In a like manner if any one wants some of my stuff I will just give it to them. Friends and fans who support you are worth more than the royalties of a pirate copy, they represent future sales from them and their friends.
Regards,
Gunns
(weird I know, it is really short for Gunnarsson )
at 5:58 am on January 28, 2010
I am a published author of around 50 ebooks – all romance novels. Each and every one of them has been pirated. What has it done to me? Diminished my back catalogue which I have worked 16-18 hour days 7 days a week to develop over the last three years.
It’s 2.41am here and I just came off edits from my new book.
Somebody alerted me about this blog and it makes me want to scream.
I work like a friggin’ dog here and many months I see big fat ZEROS next to my most popular books thanks to torrents that bundle my series books together like they are free gifts to the whole world.
Thanks to morons like this blogger (who, by the way, in penning this detailed and informative piece, just gave thieving types all the useful tools with which to rob me) I am yet again having to explain that just because I write for a living doesn’t mean I choose to be poor.
As for the cost of my books? From $1.50 to $5.00.
I don’t consider that highway robbery but I need my measley 40% of sales to pay my bills just like everybody else. Let’s not discuss the minimal payments I get from Amazon and ARE and fictionwise…then I will jump off the ledge.
If I want a haircut or any other type of service, I expect to pay. I don’t expect the hairdresser to give me a free trim first to see how I like his work. What kind of crap is the “oh I need to see if I like it” nonsense?
That is called JUSTIFICATION.
I tell you what else piracy does. It means people tampering with my work and trying to break it down into other formats that cause those weird symbols in the text you often read.
Anyone who has ever seen a pirated movie or a borrowed screener will tell you they have glitches. It’s distracting and – a reminder that it is wrong. I saw a borrowed screener of a movie the other night at a friend’s house. I appreciated not paying $15 to see the movie (Avatar), but it jumped, got stuck…and it had German subtitles instead of English for when the Na’vi spoke. That was pretty funny. No idea where he got the movie…but anyway…
I see people whining on message boards about the same glitches in pirated books. Missing pages, blank pages etc.
Pay the buck and a half an author needs and actually read the book. I’ve been to pirate sites to file takedown notices and have seen the message boards. Why should I feel good that they’re taking my books and uploading them for thousands of people who admit they don’t read them but love collecting ebooks?
It’s like telling somebody whose home has been burgled that they should feel good that thieves admired their good taste enough to steal their stuff.
It is the exact same thing.
at 6:38 am on January 28, 2010
[…] Confessions of an Online Book Pirate – C. Max Magee, The Millions […]
at 7:04 am on January 28, 2010
Hank: “Indeed, and there is demand for books, as far as I can tell. The fact that there are people illegally copying and distributing them proves there is demand. What it also means is that those people who are pirating books don’t care at all about the labor that went into the creation of those pieces. Tell me — how many great works of literature do you think were made for free?”
Demand is not the issue. There is no scarcity. Right or wrong text, music, and movies can all be copied easily and for free. Everyone can see this and those who still pay do so because they want to be nice, or it’s easier to just buy a copy. For many downloading is easier, or at least worth the hassle.
Again, economics does not work on the principle “I put labor into this so pay me”. Economics works on supply and demand. If people want your product, enough to pay and cant get the same thing elsewhere cheaper, they will buy from you. If they can get the same thing elsewhere for free, they will. The key concept is Marginal Cost. As the Marginal Cost (the cost to produce one more of an item) approaches zero, purchase price will also approach zero. It may take a good deal of time effort and money to make the first copy of a movie, but the marginal cost is basically $0. No value judgments here, just economics. Pretty basic economics at that.
Oh and a lot of “great works of literature” were either made for free, or without any sort of copyright protection. Often those creators were able to use the success of their creations and parlay that into financing success, but not always. Being an artist, author, musician, or similar does not preclude you from the realities of economics or the need to be a good businessman.
Rant and rave all you want, your monopoly on your work is over. You can stop producing and sulk, or you can accept reality and find a way to make it work for you. It won’t be easy, but it can be done.
at 7:33 am on January 28, 2010
Authors are like musicians. Some are rock-stars and get paid tons of money for their work because they are popular and people like their work. Some are concert pianists; very good at what they do, spent years in school/practice, are less popular as a whole than the rock-star but are paid to show us their exceptional talent. Some, however, are piano bar pianists who get paid from their tip jar, are the least popular and have another job for their primary income. The piano bar pianist doesn’t expect to get paid per song as much as the rock-star. He has not the popularity nor the fan-base to expect that kind of money.
Maybe all of you authors should start realizing that you might not be the rock-star just because some people like your work. You might not be the concert pianist either, even though you consider yourself talented or spent years in school. You might just be the lowly piano bar guy. People like your work for a drink or two, but they don’t rave about it to their friends. People aren’t willing to buy it either. Your work might not be worth what you think it is worth.
Today, as ever, every artist has to beat the odds. Their popularity and skill must outweigh the piracy and royalty percentages stacked against them. If they don’t, either keep struggling at it and hope to make the big time or find a new profession. Just because you fashion yourself and author/artist does not entitle you to a good income or any income at all.
at 8:31 am on January 28, 2010
Lic: “Right or wrong text, music, and movies can all be copied easily and for free. *Everyone can see this and those who still pay do so because they want to be nice, or it’s easier to just buy a copy.* For many downloading is easier, or at least worth the hassle.”
Uh, no. People pay because that’s how it works.
You go to a store, pick up a book, or groceries, or whatever…and you pay, because if you don’t, you’re a thief/shoplifter, they call the police on you and you go to jail.
Thinking it’s fine to take without paying isn’t ‘okay’ just because it’s easier or ‘less hassle’ for someone.
I can assure you, that ebook downloaded wasn’t at all hassle-free for the author to write.
I think a few of you need to step back on this ‘you authors seem to think you’re the most awesome people’ line of thinking.
Regardless of the product, we are producing something.
Produce something, place a value on it and put it out for people to have the choice to buy or to move one…you expect to get paid if someone decides your item is just what they wanted or needed.
Doesn’t matter if you’re an author, a farmer, an inventor, or what have you.
When you look at it like that, instead of through ‘trying to justify everything’ glasses, it’s pretty obvious why some of the authors above have come to say “You’re stealing from me by downloading my books instead of purchasing lawfully made copies.”
at 8:46 am on January 28, 2010
The world has changed, people fundamentally have not.
If its obtainable for free, people will get it for free and damn the moral cost. Factor it in as one of the many costs of the digital revolution and move on.
The end.
at 8:51 am on January 28, 2010
Could somebody please fix how this conversation is threaded so that the last two-thirds of the page of comments are no longer unreadable because the columns are so narrow? Thanks.
at 9:10 am on January 28, 2010
One thing publishers should be aware of is that there are a lot of people who are not enamored of the book as a physical object. Every time I’ve moved I’ve had to cull my library down to the books I didn’t want to live without. Books are heavy, take up a lot of space, collect dust, and, eventually, fall to pieces. I’d be much happier if I’d been able to buy them as electronic files I could keep or discard easily. Personally, I’ve spent the past few years scanning my essential library, proofing the files, and giving away the books. I know this is illegal, but since I keep them for my personal use and don’t upload them to websites, I doubt anyone will come after me. I will not be able to take a couple of rooms full of books to my retirement home, but I want to have my favorites with me.
at 9:17 am on January 28, 2010
Nutshell summation:
It is against the law to copy someone else’s creation in its entirety and then distribute those copies without the permission of the creator/copyright holder if the work in question is still under copyright.
Just because the advent of the world wide web has made sharing so simple and hassle-free, that doesn’t negate the above.
The world may have changed, but as of yet, the laws governing the above have not.
If book piracy weren’t wrong, no one would talking about it.
Trying to justify doing something illegal by any reason whatsoever doesn’t make it right.
Until the law is changed to allow people to copy someone else’s work in its entirety and do what they wish with it without requiring any permission from the creator – if that ever happens – then it remains wrong to do it.
I’ve enjoyed the discussion. =)
at 9:30 am on January 28, 2010
Scath: ‘Trying to justify doing something illegal by any reason whatsoever doesn’t make it right.’
This obviously isn’t true. As an example: in Apartheid-era South Africa, the government could issue ‘banning orders’ against members of political organisations which they had outlawed (including the Communist Party and the ANC, the liberation party which is now in power in South Africa). ‘Banning’ involved various restrictions on a person including the fact that they were restricted to a certain city (chosen by the government), to leave that city you had to seek written permission from the government (which they could and would deny on a whim). The chosen city might be where you worked (lots of black South Africans from rural areas moved to cities to work), so without written permission you couldn’t go and visit your family in the country! Many people would break their banning orders and if caught faced going to prison. It seems clear to me that that law is unjust, and someone who breaks their banning order, while they are performing a criminal act, is not breaking any moral law, as they should be allowed to go where they please.
The point being that just because a law exists, it doesn’t make the law right, and doesn’t mean it is wrong to break that law. If someone doesn’t believe that breaking a law is wrong then they have the right to break that law (and obviously the authorities have the right to prosecute them for that action).
Just because it is illegal to copy and distribute books under our legal system, doesn’t necessarily make it wrong. The two are distinct.
at 10:48 am on January 28, 2010
[…] Millions has an interview with a book pirate. He buys a lot of books, uploads a lot of books, and downloads a lot of books. He knows its wrong […]
at 11:05 am on January 28, 2010
For those of you who keep going on about authors “crying sour grapes” about piracy, I still think you’re missing the point.
Like many authors, I don’t have a problem with free copies. I don’t have a problem with the sale of a used paperback book at a used bookstore, or a remaindered book at a regular bookstore, or library books. What I have a problem with is people making copies of my e-book and giving it away WITHOUT MY PERMISSION. If you go into any library or Kinkos, they have signs telling you that photocopying copyrighted material is illegal, and not permissible. Hmm… wonder why THAT is??
In the spirit of Eric Flint (who I happen to think is halfway to a great idea), I don’t have a problem with “test drives” – But if you really aren’t sure about whether you want to read a book or not, have you ever tried using the web to, instead of download a pirated, illegal copy, maybe try finding the author’s website? Most of us have them, these days. And most of us post an e-mail address there to contact. And most of us (at least in the e-book industry) are often willing to part with either a partial or full FREE copy of a book for someone interested in finding out if they like our work or not. The difference is, this is coming FROM THE AUTHOR, and is therefore totally legal and above-board.
I’m all for “Fair Use”… But the key word here is “Fair”… You’re saying that it should be only “fair” for you to download a book for free, just because you want to. But fair works both ways. How is it fair to the author if you’re giving away free copies of something YOU didn’t create? A good author will typically try to get you a copy of a book… Most of us run contests and other ways for you to get a book at extreme discounts or for free. I’ve personally given away hundreds of copies of my books over the years – paid the publisher for them out of my own pocket to give away to readers. I love doing book signings at used book stores, where people can bring me a “well-loved” copy of a backlist book (or even a newer release) to sign. To me, that’s fair. It was purchased by someone, originally, who read it and loved it, and when they couldn’t house it anymore, they passed it on to someone else to read and love. It’s not the giving away of a book that I oppose… It’s someone making copies of my book that they’re neither paying for nor asking permission of either me or the publisher to make that I have a problem with.
at 11:22 am on January 28, 2010
I’ll make you a deal: You, Mr. Author/Publisher, go back to Congress and get some of these ridiculous laws revoked that extend copyrights to ridiculous lengths like 100+ years after the authors death, and I’ll start feeling bad for all the “lost” revenue from book piracy.
Disney, and friends have done far more to damage your (reasonable) ability to make money than any number of book pirates ever can.
at 11:26 am on January 28, 2010
Hercule: You enticed me back into the discussion. =)
In my personal opinion, comparing book piracy to apartheid is over the top.
Obviously a law, or a set of laws, that restricts a person’s movements based solely on the color of skin or political affiliation is morally wrong and should be abolished.
A law, or set of laws, put into place to give protection to the creator of something and offer the opportunity for that creator to see some financial gain from his/her creation isn’t morally wrong.
It’s commonsense.
If people create, and consistently, *completely* have their creations removed from their control, losing the opportunity to gain something from having created them, the urge to create will begin to dull and may possibly die completely out.
The amazing contributions via music, literature, technology that we so enjoy on a daily basis could end.
And we, as a society, would stagnate.
Obviously, that’s a very dark view of the future, and unlikely to occur with humans having the behaviors they do. If such did happen, it wouldn’t for a very long time.
at 11:46 am on January 28, 2010
PopeJamal:
Authors don’t have the money to get Congress to do that. Only Big Business does. =)
Personally, I’d be thrilled to know that all of my writing was added to public domain upon my death or shortly thereafter. That would be pretty awesome of a feat for someone who writes what’s basically ‘light’ entertainment. =)
I love my kids; I’m sure I’ll love my grandkids, but they need to earn their own money, not be pushing 40, 50, 60 year old ‘fluff’ fiction of mine to try to earn it.
They want to earn from writing, they need to write their own stories (my 11 year old daughter already does!).
Esther:
Readers are going to miss authors’ points because we keep missing their points.
First Sale Doctrine has allowed them to do what they wish with physical books, except for copying/distributing copies.
Now here is this new form of book, and typically the only way to do what they are used to doing with physical books (loaning, sharing, reselling) is by copying it.
They resent the limitation and the implication that wanting to continue the same behaviors (spreading the love of reading by sharing/loaning/passing books on) will now labels them as ‘thieves’.
I’m only applying that to readers. It obviously doesn’t apply to all book pirates. Some just do it because they can, or because they think everything should be free, or don’t like a particular author, or whatever.
When it comes to backlist/rare books, book piracy actually makes sense. If there’s only two copies of a book, yet 200 people would love to be able to read it, sharing it, even by scanning and uploading to a file sharing network, makes that possible.
Of course, those rare books’ copyright owners are probably deceased, so that’s sort of outside of the matter.
But I do agree about the sampling. Most distribution sites have even up to the first 50% of an ebook available for free reading.
Authors offer freebies, do giveaways, etc. etc. etc.
You don’t even have to hunt down the author’s site to find those. You can sample at Amazon, etc.
I did hear the complaint when I mentioned that most authors offer free ebooks/shorts that readers don’t want those.
Why? Because we tend to be a little less concerned with polishing them, so they aren’t the same quality as the works we produce for sale.
at 12:09 pm on January 28, 2010
Scath: ‘In my personal opinion, comparing book piracy to apartheid is over the top.’
I wasn’t comparing apartheid and book piracy, I was just giving an example to try and demonstrate that ‘illegal’ is not the same as ‘wrong’.
I am aware that apartheid and book piracy are very different things.
Is it ‘right’ for someone to disregard the laws surrounding copyright? That depends on the person’s opinion of whether the law is just. If they don’t believe in the law then they’re not wrong to break it.
at 12:42 pm on January 28, 2010
Scath: “Uh, no. People pay because that’s how it works. You go to a store, pick up a book, or groceries, or whatever…and you pay, because if you don’t, you’re a thief/shoplifter, they call the police on you and you go to jail.”
“Thinking it’s fine to take without paying isn’t ‘okay’ just because it’s easier or ‘less hassle’ for someone.”
Again ignoring the point. I never said it was OK, I never said this is the way it should be. This is the way it IS. Like it or not.
And again, nothing was taken, only copied. Calling it theft is incorrect. I am not talking morals, simply definitions, copyright infringement is not the same thing as theft. You lose credibility when you claim it is. RIAA tried that, no one believed them.
“I can assure you, that ebook downloaded wasn’t at all hassle-free for the author to write.”
Sorry, but that doesn’t factor into the equation. Demand and Supply. If supply is infinite, and with any computer file it is, price approaches $0.
Consider however bottled water. Water is essentially free from any tap, but people will gladly pay for it in a bottle. What is really being sold is the bottle, and in some cases the service of filtering the water. It’s convenient or safer, so people pay. I’ve got an Internet tap that gives out free ebooks, what bottle are you offering? The printed book was a good bottle, but is being replaced.
Economics. Not right or wrong, not legality or morality. Those are separate issues.
at 12:51 pm on January 28, 2010
Hercule:
And it was a great example. =)
I guess the point I’m trying to make up there is that not believing in a law still doesn’t make it right to break it, *depending* on your reasons for not believing in that particular law.
If you don’t believe in copyright because you think all creative people don’t deserve any protection concerning their creations, or shouldn’t be allowed to see any gain from those creations, well, that may be your right to believe, but that still doesn’t mean you’re not wrong to break it.
And by ‘you’, I don’t mean you in particular. =)
If you don’t believe in copyright law because you think all forms of expression should be freely shared so that everyone can enjoy the beauty together and peace will finally fall over the planet in a warm, fuzzy blanket, then in that case, I couldn’t quite bring myself to say you were in the wrong.
Technically, yes; but you’d get a pass from me because your heart was in the right place. =)
If you don’t believe in a law because it’s a morally repugnant one aimed at stripping away a person’s basic human rights to live, move freely about, earn a living, be safe from persecution, well…
I’d be right there with you breaking that kind of law.
I think that’s something to consider there: persecution.
The book piracy situation isn’t *just* about money (which I still say pirated books aren’t lost income, because I’m betting 99.9% of those who download them just flat have no intention of buying when they can get them without having to pay). You’re not losing what you weren’t going to get in the first place.
Authors are feeling persecuted because they want to protect their creations, are told that they have certain rights and obligations to, and yet are attacked when they attempt to do so.
We (humans) are told that we have the right to pursue earning a living in any legal manner we wish.
Readers are feeling persecuted because they want to continue familiar behaviors that they’ve enjoyed prior to the emergence of ebooks, and like I said up there, because of the different format, they are labeled thieves because the only simple way of doing that is to make a full copy and distribute it.
Meanwhile, book pirates don’t feel persecuted at all, but just go on about their merry way.
at 12:54 pm on January 28, 2010
The pirate is a programmer. What if everyone started stealing his software? Why pay for what you can get for free, right? He works for a name-less, face-less huge corporation, right?
at 1:10 pm on January 28, 2010
Lic: I didn’t say that you, in particular, said that it was okay to do. =)
There are a lot of people who can’t separate the idea of phsyical/digital goods.
They’re goods. They’re products. You sell them, you buy them.
So that example I gave above about shoplifting is how some people view something like piracy.
They don’t think ‘you copied it’.
They think ‘you took it’ or ‘you stole it’.
While I’m aware of the distinction (my understanding further clarified by you, thanks), your average person who doesn’t really spend any time looking into the legal wording of laws in these types of situations is going to go with the simplest explanation/example.
It’s not a matter of trying to build or undermine anyone’s credibility that may be taking part in a discussion.
The new author, or even the well-established author who hasn’t had to worry about copyright problems for years, is going to do exactly as some of the authors in these comments have done.
They’re going to yell ‘Thief!’
Correct or incorrect, yelling it certainly brings a lot of attention to bear on the situation, doesn’t it?
Adds drama. Stirs people up. Gets it spread all over the internet. Builds an ‘us vs. them’ sideshow.
Completely muddies the situation so that newcomers to it receive confusing information.
at 1:13 pm on January 28, 2010
So who is hurt if you substitute pirated books for used books? Clearly both the author and publisher are not benefiting from the sale of used books. Neither are they hurt for books that are old and out of print, with no intention of doing reprints.
My sense is that Google’s book scanning is going to meet most people’s needs. Free to read excerpts and costs a few bucks to buy a complete copy. Buying a POD would be even nicer for a lot of us, and I suspect this pirate too.
at 1:21 pm on January 28, 2010
Alex: Good question.
Answer? No one can really give you an honest one.
Authors/publishers are going to say that they are, because a digital file can be copied into infinity and has no set ‘shelf life’.
Print books can be damaged, destroyed, wear out, fall apart eventually. Maybe not for years, decades or even centuries, but they can.
Ebooks can’t; so there you get the authors/publishers saying they’ll be the ones hurt.
at 1:38 pm on January 28, 2010
Here’s an interesting question. How many people saying ‘we should get paid for our work’ actually mean ‘we should earn royalties from our work’?
If there’s no difference in your mind, then we may be close to the heart of the debate. After all, nearly everyone who works gets paid, but very few get royalties. For the vast majority, there’s no additional money due to them each and every-time one of their work products gets put in use. Do I have to send GE a penny every time I run my dishwasher? Do I have to send a monthly sofa fee to the company that designed my furniture. Do I get paid above and beyond my salary and maybe a bonus at Christmas?
Of course not. And that’s the rub. Most people see royalties as the exception, not the rule. And if you want to claim that “I should get paid for my work, just like everybody else” then understand – you’re appealing to the rule, not the exception. “Oh, you say, but I also want the exception”. Right, and now you sound like your demanding to have your cake and eat it.
Consider your demand from the perspective of the audience. If you start by asking “should a successful novelist get paid for his work?” most people say “yes, of course”. If you ask “is it right for him to not simply get paid, but to command royalties?” most people would agree that’s what the law allows, but that there are probably other ways of paying him as well, even if those aren’t clear right now. If you say that enforcing the current law will – suddenly – open them to a broad range of intrusive and dangerous privacy invasions, will they still say royalties are justified? Probably not. Instead, they will say it’s time to figure out a better and more socially-acceptable way to get this done.
What if the novelist (or his publisher) refuses, and says that royalty payments are the only kind they’ll accept, and that, moreover, they don’t give a damn about the social costs of enforcing their rights in this new situation, that they are not going to change and anyone who defies them is a criminal.
This is where most sane people say “Okay, forget it – you guys are just a bunch of jerks (to put it mildly), and we’re not interested in having this conversation any more. We’re all dealing with serious change, and we don’t have the time or patience for your exceptionalism.”
What if publishers respond by pressuring lawmakers to demand that the internet be transformed into a giant surveillance network that gives private companies the right to police every transaction that people make, and punish them severely for refusing to accept their now ridiculous assertion that no other payment aside from royalties is acceptable?
You’re likley to start a civil war, that’s what. You may even win. But if you do, it will probably be the end of democracy, and with it, the end of your artistic freedom.
If you feel you have a god-given right to extract royalties, and are willing to subvert the freedom of all your fellow citizens to enforce that right, then you deserve to be squeezed out. With any luck, you’re already feeling the pinch.
However, if you’re willing to concede that what truly matters is simply making a respectable living wage, and not how that wage is paid, then you’re on the side of the angels, and are likley to find a far stronger measure of support from audiences who are basically decent, and are busy asking themselves the same thing – but shutting down very swiftly in the face of legal terrorism as practiced by major IP lobbies (and yes, fining an unemployed mother two million dollars for downloading a two dozen songs, and saying you’re doing so ‘to send a message’ is, in nearly everyone’s eyes, pure terrorism).
So take a deep breath, and step back, and decide what you really want.
Not sure how to do that? Take this test: If someone said “I’ll pay you $100,000 if you spend a year writing a book, and give you another $50,000 when you’re done”, would that be acceptable?
Would you mind if, with some clever marketing and savvy promotion, this buyer got others to pay him a million dollars for the story? Would you be satisfied with what you had, or would you demand more?
More importantly, would you demand more while offering nothing else in return? Or would you say you want a portion of that windfall, but are happy to provide another work in exchange (written, obviously, at a rate higher than $100k / year)?
If you say ‘no, I’m entitled to a piece of that first million’ then you are part of the problem. Because even though you say that you simply want to get paid for your work, in reality, you want more – much more. Really, you want to continue extracting wealth from those who pay you to do the work long after the work itself is complete. In other words, you want a royalty. And you won’t be satisfied until you get one. And you probably don’t give a damn about how much damage you do to the cultural environment as you set about extracting it.
That’s bad. It’s also typical of monopolists. Which is why monopolies are generally illegal. Remember that. You’ve been given a very special exception to an otherwise iron-clad rule, and you’ve been given that exception on the explicit condition that you don’t abuse it to the detriment of society.
If you abuse that power, then it can – and will – be taken away. Yes, the culture may suffer in the process. But for the same reason we endure fevers to defeat viruses, we will tolerate the setback, knowing that culture – like life itself – will grow back.
Let’s face it; the law was never what prevented individuals from copying and circulating works. Physical barriers were far higher. Those same barriers kept monopolistic instincts from coming into direct or prolonged contact with the public, limiting the law’s operation to a small and easily regulated set of publishers. For a while, our normal intolerance of monopolies could be suspended, and the culture could develop in peace.
But now that the physical barrier has cracked, and individuals are having to contend directly with what was always on the other side, the special exception that allowed for this monopoly is no longer so special. The lion is out of the cage and is now mauling humans in the street (which is exactly what we expect from lions).
Needless to say, this isn’t going to end well for the lion. If you’re counting on the lion for a paycheck, you better get it soon.
If you want to write, then write. If you can establish (or join) a financially satisfactory exchange, even better. If you want to extract monopoly rent from everyone who reads your work, do that too. Just know that people are going to be increasingly intolerant of this demand. If it’s monopoly power or nothing, fine. Quit. You won’t be missed.
Personally, my interests is in developing frameworks that will thrill audiences and attract the best talent I can afford – and to do this with only the most limited reliance on copyright protection. Specifically, to guard against the encroachments of other, already established monopolists (fire against fire, and all that). Entrepreneurs who use their freedom to copy to open new markets should be encouraged by me, not taxed. And audiences will never be asked to pay more than what they’ve willing to give freely. If I offer something that can be easily duplicated, stored, and circulated, then I shouldn’t expect much, if anything. That’s just reality. Instead, I should try to increase this circulation in a way that allow me to set a suitable price at some other place in the ecosystem – one that’s mutually acceptable to buyer and seller alike.
None of this exists. Not yet, anyway. But when it does, I can’t see having too many jobs for Royalists.
at 2:04 pm on January 28, 2010
I write ebooks. I read ebooks. They’re my first choice for format. Whenever I stumble across a thread about piracy, I see a lot of misinformation as to things like cost/DRM/motivation for piracy, etc. Allow me to chime in with:
1) ebooks are cheaper to produce and distribute than print: you have to factor in not just the cost of print/paper/binding–there is shipping, warehousing, staff to handle and ship those books, and the *enormous* cost of returns. The only justification from publishers that I will personally accept as to why an ebook is not priced 20-50% less than the cheapest physical copy is *that the author earns a higher royalty on them*. And even if the author is paid a significantly higher percentage on those ebooks, they can still cost less than print. Profit margins on print are minuscule. On ebooks, they only increase with every copy legally sold.
My (DRM-free) ebooks (available for repeated download in multiple formats for for one price) are priced at less than half what the print versions cost, and earn me twice as much per copy in dollars and cents. So any claim that downloading an illegal copy is only taking pennies out of my pocket is patently untrue. Any assertion that people only pirate because the books are priced too high is patently untrue. Any assertion that people only pirate because they hate DRM is patently untrue. Any assertion that format restrictions are why people pirate is patently untrue. My books are pirated. Sometimes more often than they are legally purchased.
2) Bwahaha!’s assertion that I am not a rock-star is immaterial. I am, apparently, loved like a rock star by some readers. You know the ones–“OMG, I read Kirsten Saell’s first, and I can’t wait to read the rest of them! Does anyone have them? Please email me offlist!” Followed by a cloyingly enthusiastic, “Thank you thank you, I love her stuff!” All the more irksome considering I write a specific niche that is much sought after by a small number of readers who are underserved by writers and publishers. I’m already not going to be made rich writing this stuff, and having readers who constantly bemoan that “no one publishes what I want to read!! :(” consuming my books without paying for them…well, that’s like going to the polls, marking your ballot, then ripping it up and throwing it in the trash. You want more material produced that you like? Be a demographic worth courting. That means remunerating authors and publishers who put out content you want to read!
3) the author donation button is not going to solve anything. Yes, it might put dollars in my pocket, but it won’t put another contract in my hands. There’s a lot of work that goes into an ebook after it’s written, work that I don’t have the skill or inclination to do myself. Editing, cover art, formatting, distribution, promotion, these are services my publisher provides–at a cost to them. If they don’t get a return on their investment, they will no longer be inclined to invest in my work. Why would they?
5) not every author thinks emailing a copy of a book you loved to a friend is a sin on par with anally violating nuns while sacrificing newborn babies. I’ve emailed a book I loved to a friend. I’ve had a friend do the same for me. I’ve recommended that readers leery of the cost of an ereader find likeminded readers to share an account to spread the cost of their books between them. But there’s a huge difference between sharing an ebook between friends and family, and making it available for free to several thousand of your closest buddies. Not every download may result in a sale lost, but some of them do. And when illegal downloads result in squees of how much a given reader loves my work and can’t wait for the next one to go up, I just shake my head and wonder at the logic behind it.
4) the “New World of Free Free Free”‘s real name is “Crapland”. Ever been to literotica looking for something worth reading? Ever read slush for a publisher? Ever spent any time reading self-published books? 95% of the crap people write is just that–crap. A small percentage of it is salvageable crap, but it’s still crap. Publishers are gatekeepers. When I buy a published book, yes, there may be a 50% chance that *I’ll* think it’s crap, but at least I know before I invest my time and money into it, that it’s been vetted by two or more sets of eyes that don’t belong to the author’s mother or bff. *Someone* out there, someone with money to lose, looked at it and said, “I don’t think this is crap.”
When the new world order begins, that 50% will turn into 95%. Except that now authors who used to write well enough to earn money will have to go back to stocking shelves at the grocery store, and will either write less or not at all. So now, of the books “published”, 99% of them will be, well, crap. Yay for the new world order!
I’m not in this business to get rich (if I was, I’d be writing something completely different), but I’m not in it out of a sense of charity, either. If my work is worth something to readers, they should pay for it. $4.50 for a novel that has them drooling in anticipation of the next one shouldn’t be too much to ask, right? If it is, well, they’re just going to have to wait that much longer for it. Or not get it at all when my publisher declines to offer a contract on my next submission because I’ve already lost them enough money…
at 2:08 pm on January 28, 2010
On the issues of “reality”:
Why is it that the author must deal with the reality that suits you best? The truth is, there are two realities involved here:
The first “reality” is:
If people can pirate they will and the author just needs to accept it. That’s a reality that has no adverse effects on the you/the reader/a pirate.
But how about this “reality”:
Many e-books are crap and they cost a lot and they have DRM and they come out later. Well, that’s a reality that affects you, so of course something must be done to overturn it! *snort*
Anyone who pirates has no excuse to complain about the second reality.
If you didn’t pirate, then DRM wouldn’t be a problem, publishers would be able to get the benefits of e-books and so would readers, e-book releases would come out earlier because the financial risk would be less, and e-books would be edited better because that would encourage people to buy them, which is what the publisher wants.
“Oh, but other people would still pirate, and that’s how it is, so I might as well do it myself.” Have some responsibility for your own actions. You aren’t pirating because the conditions for legal purchase are so terrible. You’re pirating because you saw someone else do it and it’s not fair if they get more value for less money than you did.
It’s a simple issue: The person who created the work said “don’t” and you decided “do” anyway, and that puts you in the wrong. It’s got nothing to do with the law, or the actions of big corporations.
at 2:21 pm on January 28, 2010
Alex:
You, my friend, are awesome. =)
I want to get paid for my work.
In fact, I’ve been paid for an image that part of the requirement of receiving payment was that I place it in the public domain. I was totally okay with doing that.
I’ve tried to word the copyright section of my ebooks in a way that allows legal purchasers to then share it with friends and family if they want to.
Unfortunately, not all distribution outlets are okay with authors doing that sort of thing so I had to remove that to continue distributing them.
A year ago, no, I wouldn’t have been okay with someone buying an ebook, then giving their mom or best friend a copy.
I’d have screamed bloody murder, LOL.
But I’ve talked to some intelligent people and tried to learn more since then, so something like that -sharing- doesn’t bother me.
Even so, I *would* send a take down notice if my ebooks showed up on a file sharing network.
Not because I think it’s causing a loss of sales/damaging my income, but because I have the obligation to protect my copyright, not just the granted right to.
If you don’t take action to protect it, you can lose it.
What if someone snatches a copy of an author’s work off a file sharing network, then simply makes a few changes to character names, and publishes the book as their own?
That has happened (the act, not that the plaguerizer got the original from a file sharing network).
I *would* take action against someone making copies and selling them on eBay.
If you want to make money from my ebooks, well, there’s affiliate programs. Can’t guarantee you will make money, but you might. =)
But you buy a copy, hey, yeah, I’m good with you giving a copy to your mom, your best friend, or your co-worker buddy.
Maybe they’ll come visit my site, drop a few comments.
After all, I don’t consider money the only form of payment. =)
at 3:46 pm on January 28, 2010
You’re a thief, Bucky. Most writers don’t make a living at what they write, especially those who are published by small, ROYALTY-ONLY presses.
Every book that’s downloaded is a theft of anywhere from 25 cents to $1 from the person who wrote that book.
Most of us would make more money if we worked at a McDonald’s.
This is my wish for you: May you lose $3 for every $1 you steal from us. Call it a curse or a blessing… you need to learn to respect the work of others.
at 3:47 pm on January 28, 2010
I’m coming at this as a writer and reader of e-books. I made about $2500 writing last year. If I had been paid for every pirated copy, it would be closer to $3500 (yes, I kept tabs). I know, impossible pipe-dream.
1) Cost of ebooks. My publishers’ (yes, plural) e-books tend to cost between $1.29 and $8. And every damn one of them gets pirated. People WILL steal a $1.29 short story, where the author has donated all royalties to charity, and the publisher is matching them (for about $1/copy going to the charity) I don’t know who you’re buying or where you’re getting it, but the prices you’re citing seem outlandish.
2) Paid vs. Royalties. I work for flat fee because a lot of anthologies pay a flat fee. This is fine. If one of our publishers came up and said “We want the next Brooks & Sparrow novel. We’ll pay you $10,000 now and another $5000 on delivery, but no royalties,” Naomi and I would JUMP on it. As it stands, royalties ARE how we get paid for our work. The reader buys a book. The bookstore/distributor site gets a cut. The publisher gets a cut, our editor gets a cut and we get a cut. When the book goes out of print in 3-5 years and we get the rights back, we can do as we please from there.
3) I have no problem with you letting your friend or your mom or your husband read a copy of my book. (although when I loaded my mom’s new e-reader, she only got my stuff, Project Gutenburg and things that had been offered free by publishers) But don’t slap my newest out there for 500 of your closest acquaintences. When we’ve only sold 350 copies, this just makes us wonder if it’s worth writing any more. 850 copies. We got paid for 350 of them. How is this not discouraging?
at 5:35 pm on January 28, 2010
[…] Millions, an online magazine, has a great story entitled “Confessions of a Book Pirate.” In it, C. Max Magee interviews an anonymous […]
at 6:56 pm on January 28, 2010
I think a lot of people here are having trouble understanding the concept of division of labor/specialization. That’s how civilization works.
I do one thing and someone else does another and then we trade the products of that labor. But if you steal my labor, I have to find labor that provides enough in trade to support me, labor that you cannot steal, and that means less of the type of labor that gives you the books you want to read.
You can tell me to self-publish, get another job, etc, but what you’re doing is unbalancing the division of labor in favor of yourself, and that imbalance cannot survive for very long.
Information has _gained_ value since we entered the information economy. Information has no physical material to place value in, so the value is in the rights to that information. It’s not about whether you can copy the medium free or not; that’s what you’re buying when you buy a book. You’re paying for a (limited) right to that information, and when you give a copy away on a file-sharing site, you are giving away a right that does not belong to you.
That is the “theft” going on here, and if you want to trying to play with semantics to make yourself feel better, that just shows how pathetic you are.