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Why Illegal Downloads Suck
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cornerofmadness.
The real cost to authors when you download illegal copies of their books
As a musician who offers free my music for free online, I have always knownthat if I had actually released it for sale that piracy would be an issue that I'd need to contend with. Prior to reading this article, I did NOT know that Google could help put a curb on that even to a small degree.
As most of you know, I am also an author, and I have to say as an as yet (largely) unpublished author, this is a real eye opener. While I guess I realized that there would be some piracy for books, I didn't realize the extent, and cost. Now I know that when I do publish, I had better be on my guard too. To the point where if it were my sole means of earning an income, it would actually effect my livelihood and my ability to publish another book because of how it could skew my sales figures and show a lack of demand while it is being downloaded in scads from illegal sites.
Even more amazing was learning that some of these illegal download sites actually charge their 'customers' a fee to download books they aren't paying for. These sites do NOT pay the author of course, so in this case the pirate is not only helping thousands of people to steal books, but they are earning a PROFIT doing it while the author starves and can't publish their next book due to apparent lack of sales. That's appalling.
As of today I am proud owner of a brand new Kindle. (It's reading to me right now) I'm so excited, but with that comes a caveat. Please please please if you read ebooks, make sure that you are paying for them. If you can't afford to pay for it, ask for it at your library. I'm still searching for libraries that maybe specialize in eReader books. Both Kindle and Nook have the ability to lend out a book you own. For example, I can lend one of my books to Lindsey for two weeks, and while she has it on her Kindle, mine shows it as lent out, and I can't read it. That's fair, and very cool with me. If I lend out one of my physical copies, I can't read it while someone has it. I recently experienced this because I loaned a book to my Mom, and then wanted to show it to my friend (who is actually more likely to read it! haha). I guarantee you that I will be keeping watch on what I download to make sure that it's paying the author.
cornerofmadness.The real cost to authors when you download illegal copies of their books
As a musician who offers free my music for free online, I have always knownthat if I had actually released it for sale that piracy would be an issue that I'd need to contend with. Prior to reading this article, I did NOT know that Google could help put a curb on that even to a small degree.
As most of you know, I am also an author, and I have to say as an as yet (largely) unpublished author, this is a real eye opener. While I guess I realized that there would be some piracy for books, I didn't realize the extent, and cost. Now I know that when I do publish, I had better be on my guard too. To the point where if it were my sole means of earning an income, it would actually effect my livelihood and my ability to publish another book because of how it could skew my sales figures and show a lack of demand while it is being downloaded in scads from illegal sites.
Even more amazing was learning that some of these illegal download sites actually charge their 'customers' a fee to download books they aren't paying for. These sites do NOT pay the author of course, so in this case the pirate is not only helping thousands of people to steal books, but they are earning a PROFIT doing it while the author starves and can't publish their next book due to apparent lack of sales. That's appalling.
As of today I am proud owner of a brand new Kindle. (It's reading to me right now) I'm so excited, but with that comes a caveat. Please please please if you read ebooks, make sure that you are paying for them. If you can't afford to pay for it, ask for it at your library. I'm still searching for libraries that maybe specialize in eReader books. Both Kindle and Nook have the ability to lend out a book you own. For example, I can lend one of my books to Lindsey for two weeks, and while she has it on her Kindle, mine shows it as lent out, and I can't read it. That's fair, and very cool with me. If I lend out one of my physical copies, I can't read it while someone has it. I recently experienced this because I loaned a book to my Mom, and then wanted to show it to my friend (who is actually more likely to read it! haha). I guarantee you that I will be keeping watch on what I download to make sure that it's paying the author.