PIRATE SITES
By GA Hauser
Pirate sites have long been the bane of any writer's existence, but the number of illegal downloads cropping up has become epic. And not EPIC in a good electronic publication way. Though ebooks are the wave of the future, the theft of them and the lack of prosecution and jurisdiction has made the battle uphill. Authors rely on the goodness of humans to buy, not steal their novels. And at 1.00-5.00 a book, come on, people? Really? Can't buy a book for a buck?
Sad but true. And though the problem is widespread, it's the same morons who upload the novels once they have been taken down, through a long process of notices and hoops. Why do these people do it? Getting their jollies? Power tripping? or just the rush of a freebie to share? I have no clue. But being an ex-cop, I have never understood the sense of stealing what does not belong to you. Perhaps it's just a value of a normal person, and the abnormal ones don't get it.
But I ask any reader of ebooks to respect your beloved authors and discourage, name and shame, and do not support the illegal sites. In fact, help get rid of them. Join groups to delete their nasty existence from our planet.
Please help my battle against ebook piracy and join my Facebook fan page for taking down pirate sites.
Available now from The GA Hauser Collection:
Heart of Steele ($1.00 of each ebook from ARe will be donated to the American Heart Association)
Available at All Romance ebooks and Amazon
http://www.myspace.com/gahauserauthor
http://www.authorgahauser.com/
http://gahausersblog.blogspot.com/
www.facebook.com/people/Ga-Hauser/1486624188
GA,
ReplyDeleteWelcome to the Grip.
I think this is a timely post and a good reminder to everyone reading that piracy is only attractive when it's Johnny Depp. Under all other circumstances, especially where writing is concerned, it's a crime!
I've joined the FaceBook group already and I hope all the others reading this will support your efforts to track down these criminals.
Sincerely,
Ash
Greetings, GA,
ReplyDeleteWelcome to the Grip, as Ashley has already said.
It's difficult for me to understand what motivates pirates. I try to put a human face on the damage that they do. When I find an illegal post of one of my ebooks, I register at the site and leave a comment, reminding them that they're stealing from a poor, hard-working author--me.
Thanks for highlighting this issue.
All the best,
Lisabet
The sense of entitlement is mind blowing. What these people are saying in essence is that artist should be their slaves, creating entertainment for their amusement. And here's news for the pirates - publishers aren't evil corporations that are getting rich off writers. Pirating isn't noble. It's just stealing money out of my wallet under a fancy name.
ReplyDeleteIt always amazes me when these pirates think they aren't hurting anyone. That we make so much, that a few hundred+ downloads of our book are nothing to us.
ReplyDeleteUm, I am not a big name author. Even five downloads can hurt.
It's always nice to see people anticipating a coming soon title, but to see that on a piracy site someone is eagerly waiting until someone else posts a copy isn't such a good feeling.
And I have worked out deals with people who want my title but can't afford it. I've done swaps with other authors, I've done deals with readers, etc.
I also have nothing against used paperbacks, it happens, but in that case one someone gives/sells the copy, they no longer have it and only that one other person does. With e-piracy, something I can never seem to get them to understand, is that they are not deleating off their copy, and it isn't being deleated off everyone elses harddrive when a new copy is downloaded.
Print sharing is a whole different ball game from e-sharing.
I'd like to take something of theirs that they worked hard on and let them know how it feels, but I am just not that person. Maybe that quilt they spent months making for the grandkid, or how about that necklace her husband saved up months ot be able to buy her. But I am not that person.
Grrrrrrr!
Great post btw. : ) Something I think we are all passionate about.