I’ve heard from a couple sources that book pirating from file sharing sites is on the rise. I confess to being totally ignorant as to how this works. Naturally, authors being victimized in this way are upset, and rightfully so. They’ve worked hard to write their books and they deserve to be paid for their work, just like anybody else who goes to work everyday and expects to be paid for it.
My books are not yet published, but if/when they do, I’d like to get paid properly. How do I prevent myself from being a victim? How do these pirating sites get their hands on your work? I've heard that once a book is in e-book form (kindle, ipad, etc) it can be copied and downloaded onto these file sharing sites. This sounds too easy to me....
If any of you have insights on this, please let all of us who don’t yet get it, know about it.
BUT PLEASE DO NOT NAME THE FILE SHARING SITES. WE DON’T WANT TO GIVE THEM FREE PUBLICITY.
Ouch! I hadn't heard this. It does sound scary. I'll be back to see what other commenters had to say. Great post, Elle.
ReplyDeleteHere's an interesting quote from an NYT article about eBooks and theft posted last year:
ReplyDelete"Others view digital piracy as a way for new readers to discover writers. Cory Doctorow, a novelist whose young adult novel “Little Brother” spent seven weeks on the New York Times children’s chapter books best-seller list last year, offers free electronic versions of his books on the same day they are published in hardcover. He believes free versions, even unauthorized ones, entice new readers.
“I really feel like my problem isn’t piracy,” Mr. Doctorow said. “It’s obscurity.”
I recently looked up a title I was thinking of purchasing to see what the Canadian chain Chapters/Indigo pricing structure was on digital titles. For Lev Grossman's The Magicians you're looking at this:
Online Price: $15.20
irewards Member Price: $14.44
eBook price: $16.49
In that scenario, we might be able to see how some individuals would feel that the chain and publishers are ripping off the customer. Some customers might then take the stance that if the industry doesn't care about them, then why should they care about supporting the industry?
I think that an author has a responsibility to be educated in how the markets and mindsets are shifting, and to put pressure on their publisher to produce a product that's ultimately fair for everyone from the writer to the reader, and all those in between.
I have no real idea how this works, but I'm not surprised given what went on in the music industry. I think it's going to take a long time for the industry to come up with guidelines and protections for authors and online books.
ReplyDeletesuch an interesting discussion... I agree and disagree w/ the points made by Mark. In any case, he gives us something to think about. I'm going to check back and see if anyone else has more to offer. I'm sorry I don't know much about it, though I have thought about it as a possibility.
ReplyDeleteThere are some interesting comments on my Live Journal site, if you want to check that out.
ReplyDeletehttp://ellestrauss.livejournal.com
I don't think we've heard the last of this subject, though.
Sounds scary indeed! I'm sure the rise in the popularity of the eBook is really not helping the situation.
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by my blog! :)