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pbrayGoogle alerts can be a good thing. It lets me track a press release in the wild, or find out about new reviews of my books.
It can also be a bad thing, when it alerts me of yet another ebook piracy site. I'm not going to give them credibility by posting a link, but here's how they describe themself:
You love books, yet have a low budget and not sure which books to purchase. Why not try reading one or two books of different authors to see if they suit your interest. At my blog, I provide you downloadable full-text ebooks...the cost to you is free
Gee. Thanks. It's one thing to lend a friend a copy of a paperback ("Try this author, I think you'll really like her.") But thinking that you're somehow doing a service by posting ebooks for free on the internet? You've just taken that one sale and turned it into one hundred, one thousand, ten thousand or more free downloads. But that's okay. Everyone knows authors are rich and we don't need the money.
After all, it's not like I have any expenses to cover. I get to try laptops free all the time. Electricity, internet, mortage, groceries, they're all free too. My doctor is happy to give away free hours of his time so patients can try him out, the same goes for the people who change the oil in my car, and the guy who mows my lawn.
Maybe the people doing this don't understand, or they just don't care. Maybe they're blinded by news stories about the advances that luminaries receive and have no concept that the average genre novelist makes less than minimum wage, and that's without any benefits.
Yes I remember what it's like to be poor and not to be able to afford the books you want. I remember days when I would literally skip meals in order to save up the cash to buy a new book, and making do with the limited selection at the library. But back then it never occurred to me to start stealing books to feed my habit, and it wouldn't occur to me now.
And, of course, for every e-piracy site that gets shut down, two more spring up in its place.
Grr. Argh. It's Monday and I see stupid people.
It can also be a bad thing, when it alerts me of yet another ebook piracy site. I'm not going to give them credibility by posting a link, but here's how they describe themself:
You love books, yet have a low budget and not sure which books to purchase. Why not try reading one or two books of different authors to see if they suit your interest. At my blog, I provide you downloadable full-text ebooks...the cost to you is free
Gee. Thanks. It's one thing to lend a friend a copy of a paperback ("Try this author, I think you'll really like her.") But thinking that you're somehow doing a service by posting ebooks for free on the internet? You've just taken that one sale and turned it into one hundred, one thousand, ten thousand or more free downloads. But that's okay. Everyone knows authors are rich and we don't need the money.
After all, it's not like I have any expenses to cover. I get to try laptops free all the time. Electricity, internet, mortage, groceries, they're all free too. My doctor is happy to give away free hours of his time so patients can try him out, the same goes for the people who change the oil in my car, and the guy who mows my lawn.
Maybe the people doing this don't understand, or they just don't care. Maybe they're blinded by news stories about the advances that luminaries receive and have no concept that the average genre novelist makes less than minimum wage, and that's without any benefits.
Yes I remember what it's like to be poor and not to be able to afford the books you want. I remember days when I would literally skip meals in order to save up the cash to buy a new book, and making do with the limited selection at the library. But back then it never occurred to me to start stealing books to feed my habit, and it wouldn't occur to me now.
And, of course, for every e-piracy site that gets shut down, two more spring up in its place.
Grr. Argh. It's Monday and I see stupid people.
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Date: 2009-06-24 02:47 pm (UTC)You're totally right, playing whack-a-mole with pirate sites is an aggravating time eater, but I've got it down to a few minutes on Thursday mornings, now. (Knock wood.)
I'm sure it's the end of democracy when writers try to defend their copyright. Chillingeffects must be a very popular site for thieves to rant about how they're doing a everyone a favor.
Let them rant.
This has nothing to do with freedom of speech and everything to do with some thief taking stuff that doesn't belong to them.
I'd like to see them try explaining to a cop how going into a store, boosting and sneaking out with an item, then giving it away to the first person they meet in the parking lot is not theft.
Everyone is perfectly welcome to go to a library and check my words out for free. Librarians are notoriously pro-freedom of speech, that's why they have copies of the US Constitution in books right next to copies of Mein Kampf.
Maybe I got paid only once for that library book with my name on it, but somewhere a bean counter recorded the sale. The librarian notes how many times that book goes out and orders more copies of the next one.
Twits who steal a writers' words to pass on may scream about freedom of speech all they like, but let someone burgle their house and give away all their property--especially their computers--in the name of freedom of speech and see how THEY enjoy it.
One thing I've found is that MOST FANS ARE WONDERFULLY HONEST. They want to do the right thing and will buy books or borrow them.
Others just don't yet know that "free" downloads can screw up a writer's ability to land new contracts because of it being an invisible "sale." But once they're told they also do the right thing.
There are, thankfully, a relatively few hard line pirates who continue on "in the name of free speech." Some are just wired that way. Some will put up anything on a share site so they can download other stuff or they're lazy wankers who earn a few pennies on downloads rather than getting a real job.
Let them wail and complain, we're still in the right on this one. It is OUR choice whether or not to give our words away for free, not theirs. If they want to do it so much, let them write their own danged books and give their hard work away.
You and I have to earn a living! ;)