I should be working but here I am chatting with you people instead. Somethings bugging me.
I was in a chat yesterday about ebook piracy. I actually didn't do a lot of chatting as I really was, and still am, trying to do a re-write of an older story for publishing. Anyway, I found the chat educational. There are a huge number of authors and publishing houses affected by this growing, illegal industry. I read a couple of weeks ago that 3 billion dollars in revenue have been lost because of it. 3 BILLION dollars. That's outrageous!
Yet, nothing is really done to stop it. Governments ignore the problem. Or perhaps they simply don't know what to do. I know authors who spend hours every day searching for their books on pirate sites. I will admit I used to spend a great deal of time worrying about it and doing searches myself. Every time I saw one of mine offered up for nothing, I cringed and felt violated. How could someone offer my blood, sweat and tears to anyone who wanted it, for free. Okay, I admit, there wasn't a lot of blood involved, but there were often sweat and tears. And many, many hours of work.
I've heard pirates say they don't see how they're hurting us authors. After all, we're all rich and living in big fancy mansions, right? We make millions!
They couldn't be more wrong. As some of you know, my husband lost his job in February of last year. Because of the economic downturn, he's been unable to find a steady job since then. He's had part time here and there, but not nearly enough to pay our mortgage. Oh yeah, we've got a killer mortgage on a small bungalow style home. Without his pay check, we've had to use our retirement savings to keep the mortgage payment up. My royalties are nowhere near enough to pay them.
We're not rich, by any stretch of imagination. None of the authors I know make enough to live on. Many have day jobs and write when they can. Some have two jobs, sneaking time out when they can. And still others have small children, so writing time is snatched when the kiddies are in bed.
And, some have had to stop writing because they simply can't make enough money to live on and write too. Pirates don't seem to get that. We have bills, just like anyone else. We don't make much, we write because we love it. If we didn't, we'd be out making a hell of a lot more at a better paying job.
So, what bothered me about the chat yesterday? There were so few readers who chimed in. This is a topic that touches us all. Writers because we're losing any profit we should be making. Readers are, or will be losing writers who can no longer afford to keep having their books stolen.
I'd really love to hear from anyone who visits today. Any thoughts on how this theft can be stopped? What are your thoughts on the topic? Are you fed up with hearing about it?
Hugs
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2 comments:
Sorry I miss this yesterday...
I feel your pain hon and I hope things pick up for you and hubby in the very near future - when you have to touch that nest egg that's when you have to start worrying....
Anyhow...
Piracy - I will say it, I hate it and I agree not enough is being done by the powers that be to tackle this - especially ISP...
Over in the UK - I know there is a software in place - where ISP can find out who is doing what and when... but guess what, as part of the human rights act, that is invasion of privacy...
So untill they can find a way around that - Big brother can only watch and do nothing....
Why more people dont get involved...
Because - I think more people are not concerned with common courtesy and I know it's simplistic...
But for me piracy boils down to that - if I appreciate you for the time, effort and blood sweat and tears that you have shed to write this - I would in return show due courtesy by going through the proper channel and giving you credit for your work....
Another thing - is that and this is just my opinion... If the entire publishing sector had recognised digital formatt in it's infancy as a viable form of getting the boosk to the reader, rather than being all snarky about it and comparing apples and pears - both print and digital format professional and techies could have put a stop to this or at the least have a working solution to the problem....
But if one side push and the other pull - you will get no where...
Because some where along the line this became a mattter of who has the bigger dick and me as the reader am left behind....
Because there is no two ways about it - with every hyped up marketing plan out there or nifty little website - the art of ease of use is gone and everything need to be in a model or geared towards a format and still I am left behind.... trying to get the right card to work on the right website, making sure my product work withthe format - trying to decipher customer service and the biggie navigating some of these sites just to get to the book...
That's my two cents worth...
Off me soap box now.....
E.H>
Interesting piece, Jude. I'm not sure how it's going to be stopped, but somehow it has to be. The problem is that it's so very easy to copy and paste a huge amount of text into a web page, upload it and bingo - your work is there for anyone to read or download.
The music industry is still battling to try to get a hold on the problem, though I have less sympathy with them, after all how many times, and in how many media forms, do they want me to buy Ella Fitzgeralds songbook albums?
Writing is something different, something that's unique and of it's time. Followers of a writer can tell roughly when the book was written simply by the style of writing - well sometimes we can.
Maybe some kind of watermark could be used that would block anyone from copying the work, I'm not techie by any stretch of the imagination. More likely the real sanction is for the pirate sites to be blocked or fined enough for them to learn the lesson. I'm pretty sure there are brains out there that can solve the problem, but is there the will?
Perhaps the thought of the loss of tax on $3 billion may bring a little more interest from governments, after all, pretty well all the western countries need every penny they can get at the moment!
Anyway, more power to your elbow Jude, you just keep on truckin' and us readers - the genuine ones - will keep on buying.
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