Have you been pirated yet?

This dicussion was started on She Writes, a group that I'm proud to be a part of. The issue of piracy has troubled me for a long time. Well, ever since I've been published. So, I thought I would share my response to the dicussion here. Feel free to add your own thoughts or answer the same questions I have below.


To sum it up briefly, it hurts. I believe I could be making a living solely from my writing at this moment if my books weren't ripped off so much. I know that everyone who steals a copy wouldn't necessarily purchase one, but some of them would and that would still account for thousands of dollars lost. I've had this discussion many times and it's getting more and more difficult. Especially, when I have to continue seeking out day jobs that I hate. Not to mention work in general is hard to find where I'm located. My financial situation is pretty grim at the moment. To say that I am upset at my work being ripped off, doesn't even come close.


1.) Are you an e-published author, or are all of your books print books?

Most of my books are available in both print and ebook formats.


2.) If a book buyer puts his or her paid-for copy of your e-book on one of the big pirate "sharing" sites, do you believe that is "theft"?

Yes, I do. If they send it to a couple of friends through email, great. I'm glad they liked it enough to share it with their friends. Putting it up where hundreds of people can download it for free is NOT the same thing. It's stealing, period.


3.) If a book buyer scans your print book into pdf files, and shares these on a "sharing" site, do you consider that theft?

Absolutely. I believe most people, if they're honest would feel the same.


4.) Do you consider these "sharing" sites to be good for your book sales on future books?

Not at all. Once in a while there is a rare person who will like your work so much that they purchase some of your backlist. But those people are rare. I beileve that occasionally offering something from free is great for sales. Ocassionally, like free reads or free copies. If you are trying to make a living, you just can't afford for ALL of your books to be free.

5.) Do you agree with the pirates that because we authors are all millionaires, we should not mind giving away a "few" books to those less fortunate?

This makes me see red. I'm such a "millionaire" that I'm filing for bankruptcy. Thank you very much.

I don't mean to be such a killjoy, but that's how I really feel about piracy. If I was a millionaire, trust me, it'd be a different story. But, I'm not. I'm not even "well off." I need the money to live. Okay, that's all I can say and remain polite.

Since pirates like to share so much

Spread this around. I’ve filed for bankruptcy. Based on the number of times my books were downloaded (and this is just what I know about) I lost roughly $10,000 last year. If each of those downloads had been an actual sale (I know that others will argue the point, I’m saying IF) then I would not have lost my car and would most likely not be having to file bankruptcy now to keep from losing my home.

If you like what I do, don’t steal from me. If I’m homeless, I can’t write. Even if you don’t give a damn about me on a personal level, take into account that I need a place to live in order to write.

I know there are a lot of people out there right now thinking they wouldn’t share this information if it were them. I want pirates to know this. I’m going on the idea that deep down people don’t want to hurt each other. Besides, screaming does no good and I don’t know where they live.

For every person, like me, who speaks up … think how many others keep silent.

Rant about Piracy

I found this article http://bittenbybooks.com/?p=3151 while looking for steps to take to get my works off of an illegal site. It explains in detail why it is illegal to share ebook files.

Some of you (who have dealt with this before) have probably already heard of them (the ones who are ripping me off). But I'm not listing the site. I'll be damned if I give the little bastards any free advertisement!

I just found that they are ripping off every single book in my series. Not only that, but it lists how many times the books have been downloaded. As it stands now, I've lost over $400 dollars.
That counts, trust me. I have lost two different day jobs because of budget cuts/bad economy. And some little snot is going to rip me off?!!

I am also not married to someone rich. So I need the money. Hell, that's a car payment they've cheated me out of!

It is because of crap like this that I question my sanity sometimes. Do these punks even realize how little writers get paid? Not that they would probably care. Most authors, even if they are well known, make less than $10,000 a year. That's below poverty level! And let me tell you I am in that lot. In my first full year of being published I was WELL below $10,000.

Making a name for yourself takes time and you guessed it, MONEY. Something these little pricks are screwing me out of at an alarming rate.

No, this may not be the most professional blog post, but it is honest. This is how I feel and I'm not going to apologize for that. I am FURIOUS that these people are stealing from me. And yes, I have taken steps to make them remove the content. My polite and professional emails have been responded to with a "it will be removed in 24 hours." Bullshit. It's still there days later.

BELOW THIS POINT IS DIRECTED TO ANYONE WHO IS RIPPING OFF MYSELF OR OTHER HARD WORKING AUTHORS.

Just in case someone who uploads books for free reads this and doesn't read the link I have given above, let me spell something out for you. Giving away an ebook is ILLEGAL.

It's not like purchasing a paperback. A paper copy is yours. It is a physical product you can pay for and hold in your hand. You can do with it what you like. With the exception of making copies and distributing them to others.

NEWSFLASH ASSHOLE!!!! If you send an ebook to someone else, you are making copies. It's the same as if you Xeroxed a print book and sent it to all of your friends. The author nor the publisher profits from that and most writers are like me, they need the money.

Every time you see a copyright notice (which is in the front of all print and ebooks) that means that the people listed there are the owners of that content. Unless you have their permission to distribute the book, you are breaking the law if you do so.

How would you feel if someone stole your purse and handed out all the contents to strangers? Or if someone stole your iPod and then sold it on ebay? It sucks, I know.

I'm not looking to scare anyone or to get involved in a lawsuit. I just want people to respect the right of myself and other authors to be able to profit from their hard work. No one would want to work for a month (or months) and then have their paycheck snatched out of their hand when they had bills to pay, now would they?

Some day these people will get what they deserve.