Writerly Ways

[cornerofmadness]

Since I have two editing assignments staring at me, I'm keeping this fairly short again.

And I am going to send you to Terrible Minds because he says it better than I can (and has more experience with this topic). Piracy.

That is the downside to the ebook revolution, people feel free to steal what they want. Certainly we've all been tempted. Most of youtube is pirated music. I've downloaded a fan track or two and looked at manga online but only if a) I AM buying it and couldn't wait for the English translation (looking at you Fullmetal Alchemist or b) it wasn't ever going to BE translated.

I've never felt good about it. I certainly didn't feel it was right. More importantly I didn't feel entitled to it because I wanted it and couldn't afford it.

TerribleMinds covers that topic pretty well but it bugs me. The idea that because I can't afford it, I should be able to pirate it. Hell, I would love to eat crab and scallops every week but I can't afford it. Does that give me the right to shoplift that out of the Kroger's freezer section? Of course not. I want to go back to Wales. Shall I steal the plane ticket off the current Welsh Fellow so I can go again? Ridiculous, right?

And yet downloading a book for free off a pirate site is really the same thing. TerribleMinds talks about lost revenue (and quotes some of his detractors as they seem to think this is a victimless crime). It is not. It's as if people think that books cost so much because of the paper and ink that went into them and whine about the cost of ebooks. You're not paying for the paper. You're paying for the author's time and effort. This is their living.

Someone on my author's list found a site that claimed her book had been downloaded 9000 times, illegally being it was a pirate site. Is that accurate? Who knows but let's pretend that it is. The ebook retails for 6.99. That is nearly 63,000 dollars stolen from the author/publisher. She'd have earned about 40-50% back from the publisher. How would you like it if someone took 30K out of your bank?

Piracy really isn't okay. It kills indie publishers. It's put manga and anime companies out of business. It hurts musicians and film makers.

If you really need it for cheap/free, there are libraries for much of these things and they do ebooks too. It's something to think about. I won't rob Kroger's of their crab legs and maybe all of us can stop hurting the creative people.

Yearly Count -

Splinters of Silver and Cold Iron - editing, reworking chapter 1, halfway finished.

Soldiers - Edited up to ch 13.

Comments

[ozma914.livejournal.com]

We'll said.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

thank you

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

Excellent points!

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

I think what bugs me the most is that idea they're entitled to read what they want and even more so, the idea that the money lost isn't 'real.'

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

Yeah.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

thanks for the support.

[ital-gal.livejournal.com]

well said

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

thank you

[0-mother-0.livejournal.com]

they really need to crack down on the share/piracy sites. it's hard to stop people from taking advantage of something that is readily available and free - but the share/piracy sites are somehow profiting from the traffic. maybe the moguls, like amazon and google, can band together and bring them down.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

They do try. My publisher will go after them but you practically need someone doing this as their job because it's so very prevalent.

It's funny because I did go to youtube last night and someone had up the whole album of an artist i like and half the comments were about him stealing it because s/he posted in the upload comments this was to help promo the album. I will say in my case it worked. I would b uy it. I'm stuck with stolen stuff on youtube because my internet can't handle the legal versions of pandora or spotify.

[beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com]

It is not. It's as if people think that books cost so much because of the paper and ink that went into them and whine about the cost of ebooks. You're not paying for the paper. You're paying for the author's time and effort. This is their living.

*nods* I like John Scalzi's take on it (http://whatever.scalzi.com/2014/02/13/publishing-notes-21314/) when a fan asked if they couldn't just pirate his stuff and then maybe possibly send him some cash. (Because that donation always seems to be nominal, at best - however much some people swear that they want to pay the writers, the actual amount they're prepared to pay always seems to be "Less than what you're asking, and zero as long as you're asking anything at all!")

It bugs me no end that we keep saying that literature, music, arts, cinema is so very important to us... and then refuse to part with actual cash for it. We think nothing of paying a fortune for a fancy cup of coffee, but $10 for a great book? THAT'S HIGHWAY ROBBERY!

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

Yes that is very good. Thanks for sharing it. Nominal is an excellent word for it. That's also why I no longer sell my jewelry. I once had some one offer me a dime for something (it was 10 dollars) and got offended when I wouldn't accept that.

And you are so right. About the only time I'd agree a book is highway robber is text books but that's a different animal all together. I am very willing to pay for my arts and I save up to be able to do that, rather than expect it for free or steal it.