An Open Letter to those who d/l pirated ebooks

[lagilman]

People who have publicly thanked the person who uploaded my story collection - which means they're in possession of stolen property, willfully and knowingly:

scottanderson13
sherany9512

That's of the 14 (so far) who have downloaded a pirated copy from the torrent feed -- just one feed. I know there are more.

I kept the price of this collection under $5 intentionally. I didn't think anyone should have to pay more than that. From the comments on all the e-book formats, it seemed like a more-than-fair price.

3.99 x 14 = $55.86. In less than a week. Straight out of my pocket. Not a publishers' -- mine.

I don't expect any of these people to send me the $3.99 they owe me. That, after all, would require them to acknowledge that someone actually put work the stories they're so enjoying [both the writing and the production thereof]. If you know them, tho, you might suggest that they take a fiver and send it to their local food bank. That way, they can still feel the thrill of getting something for free, but actually do something good to even out their karma.

Pirates will upload. That's how they get their thrills. We make a decision to download... or not.

[I'm not going to suggest the person who uploaded it do anything, because clearly they don't give a fuck about anything other than doing something they're not supposed to. And if you don't outgrow that by the time you're ten, you're never going to actually get a clue.]


If you are interested in buying a copy legally, it's available via Smashwords. If you can't manage it, or like hardcopy, some of the stories are available in anthologies you can find via your local library, no additional cost to you.

Comments

[dancinghorse.livejournal.com]

There's another side of it, too, that you didn't mention.

This behavior makes it highly likely that there will be no more work from this author to download, free or otherwise--either because the author so objects to the theft that she declines to repeat the experiment, or because she has lost so much money that she can no longer afford to write fiction--she's having to find other ways of making a living, and those leave no time for "hobbies."

[lagilman]

oh, I've gone on about that before... and I've gotten the "well, someone else will come along" response.