Aye aye matey! Is book piracy a good thing or a bad thing?

Here's my pirate. For those of you who have followed the blog for awhile, you know he's also my muse.

*drools*

*stares*

*drools some more*

What...? The post...

Oh, yeah. Sorry.

Okay, so book piracy. I saw an interesting discussion on one of the many “shared file” websites out there last week, and it got me thinking. (Always dangerous, I know.) The comment thread was about “sharing” books, and as I read through, I saw it had been initiated by someone who stated he/she wanted an open discussion to try to find a “solution” where authors would be happy to have their work uploaded onto the site and not keep asking to have illegal uploads taken down.

The discussion soon deteriorated into users trashing authors who had the gall to come on to the site with an "attitude" and state that the uploads were illegal, and tantamount to stealing. The upshot was that the users would never buy those authors’ books now because they were “greedy.” I contend that the fact they are regular users of a free file-sharing site means they probably wouldn’t have bought those authors’ books anyway, but what do I know…

So, in summary, these were the primary talking points I was able to glean from the discussion:

On the authors’ side—

1)      It is illegal to upload copyrighted material without permission.

2)      There are many legal means by which to get free books or sample books before you buy them. Amazon, Barnes & Noble and many publishers often have first chapters or several chapters available to read for free. And borrowing books, either from the library or a friend, has always been legal.

3)      Most publishers will look to sales numbers when deciding whether to buy an author’s next project. Many of your favorite authors might never get another book published because of sales lost to piracy.

4)      Stealing intellectual property is no different than walking into someone’s home and stealing physical property.

On the pirates’ side—

1)      Authors are discovered by thousands of readers who never would have heard of them otherwise through piracy, so authors should be thankful. (this seems to be the most popular argument)

2)      It is the author’s fault that material they choose to put on the internet gets stolen. If they don’t want their books stolen they should stick to paper copies.

3)      Authors are greedy for expecting to get paid for every book. Some people can’t afford books.

4)      Writing isn’t a real job and authors shouldn't get paid to do it.

5)      A reader shouldn’t have to pay for a book they don’t know if they’re going to like or not.

6)      In the internet age, everything on on-line will be free. It’s just a matter of time.

7)      If an author’s sales numbers aren’t good enough for their publisher to want to buy more books [despite piracy], then they’re probably not very good writers.

8)      Piracy has always been here, and it isn’t going away. Get used to it.

I’m an author whose books show up regularly on these sites, so I’m not objective, but I’d wager if a person can afford a $500 computer and internet service by which to illegally download books, they can probably afford a book or two. My policy is to send the links I find to my editor, who sends them on to the Legal department. Legal is then supposed to contact the site and have the uploads taken down. Because, it is illegal. No one on the pirate sites disputes that. These sites provide links to software to remove the DRM from legally purchased books so they can be uploaded and read by everyone for free, which everyone knows is illegal.

And, I do believe that these sites detract from my sales, which I also believe does impact my chances of selling another book to my publisher. Does that mean I'm not a very good writer? I don't know. Maybe. But it also means I might not be able to continue writing. So this is very personal to me. All that said, is it possible there are readers who "discovered" me on file-sharing sites? Yes. Have a few of them maybe bought my books? It's possible.

The thing you need to understand about me for any of this to make sense is that I’m the kind of person who feels guilty about enjoying free library books, and that's perfectly legal. If I find something I love in the library, I’ll go buy the book. Usually two, one for me and one to give away here on the blog. I want to support the author and I know buying their book is the way I can most effectively do that. (Don’t get me wrong, we LOVE to get the nice emails too!)

So, I’m curious how y’all feel about it. Do you agree that piracy is stealing? If so, how wrong is it, really? Going 30 MPH in a 25 speed zone wrong? Or, breaking into someone’s house and taking their stuff wrong? Have you ever downloaded a pirated book? Did you have any qualms about it, or is it just part of how things are now in the internet age? Do you agree that authors benefit from having their books illegally uploaded onto file-sharing websites? Have you ever found an author this way and then gone out and bought their books?

Whew, that's a lot of questions. But I really want to know what the rest of the world thinks about this.

And, for those of you who are looking to someday be lucky enough to have your books pirated too, tomorrow I will be posting the second giveaway for a query and first chapter critique. Stop in for your chance to win!