Sunday, January 13, 2013

E-Piracy

The word is just enough to make an author go postal on some poor sap.  In essence it's nothing more than stealing. Whether it's downloading your favorite songs without paying, or 'borrowing' an e-copy of your favorite author's book from a friend, it's still theft.   But wait you say...libraries allow you to donate books but e-books have a whole different set of rules.  For one in the electronic age, it's easy to copy a book. I'd like to see you do that with a paperback. Sure you could take it to a copier and photocopy every page but that's not really practical is it?  With e-books however, it takes less than two clicks and you can send everyone on your email list a copy of the book. This seriously hurts the author.  

Imagine what Lori Foster, or even Danielle Steele would loose if one person out of every ten sent an ebook copy  to everyone on their email lists.  Ouch is all I can say.  While I don't sell anywhere near what these talented ladies do, it's frustrating for me when I do find illegal copies of my books on file sharing sites.  Because I know that when I do, that at least a dozen or more people have accessed the file and have possibly passed it on to their friends. The loss of income hurts.  Imagine how you'd feel if you went to work and was told that you worked forty hours but we're only going to pay you for 32 of it.  You'd be pissed right?  Accuse your boss of being a lying cheating....well you get my point. So do me a favor. Remember when you're tempted to download an illegal copy of an author's book that you're taking money out of their pocket.

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