Many authors are terrified that readers will steal their work. They don’t realize their true enemy is obscurity, not piracy.
If a million people “steal” your book, you win. You now have a million people who know who you are. Some of them will want a signed paper copy. Some will want to pay to hear you speak. Some of them will talk about you to their friends who will pay for a copy.
As long as you get credit, you win when people share your book with others. Books that sell well spread from person to person like a virus. The harder you make it to share your work the more obscure you will be.
Piracy is Viral
Imagine if church small group leaders started copying chapter 5 out of your book to study at meetings. Would having everyone read chapter 5 hurt you or help you? I submit that this is amazing marketing. Because now people who had no idea who you were before are now reading what you have to say. They are way more likely to buy your book than before it was “stolen.”
I was at a writer’s conference recently where an editor at a major publishing company confided in me. She said that one of her authors had uploaded his own book to some bit torrent pirate sites. The result was that tens of thousands of people downloaded his book illegally. You know what happened next? His sales went up.
Why?
According to a recent study by Columbia University, Music Pirates actually buy 30% more music than non-pirates. But more than that. Having thousands of people talking about your book will boost sales amongst more honest readers.
How Authors Can Win from “Piracy”
- You win because your platform grows, you can book more speaking engagements at higher prices.
- They win because they can use your work to minister to others.
- Your publisher wins free marketing. Your publisher spends a lot of time and money trying to get people to talk about your book. Books sell from word of mouth. Allowing people to share your work turns them into evangelists for free! More talk = more sales.
What do you think?
Do you agree that it is smart to allow people to share and even remix your work? Does the idea scare you? How do you make it easy for people to share your work?
Isn’t this why Kindle let’s you read the first chapter of anybook for free…to get you interested in buying the whole thing? Makes sense to me!
What you say makes sense for lesser known and unpublished authors. Unfortunately, they are not the writers who will suffer most from piracy. Best-selling authors will be the ones most pirated. And they will see a sharp loss of income as well-meaning fans along with unscrupulous marketers duplicate their work without paying for it. If marquee authors lose revenues, so do publishers. And when publishers go out of business, so will the hopes of many aspiring authors to ever reach best-seller status.
An author is not like a musical entertainer who can give away her work in exchange for appearance fees. How many people will pay $100 or more to watch an author read their book?
I realize you mean well, but following your advice could ruin an industry … and the careers of many writers who aspire to making a living in it.
I honestly don’t believe best selling authors are harmed excessively by piracy, either. Who’s doing the estimates on this, and exactly what are they basing them on? The biggest fallacy is in assuming that someone who reads a pirated book WOULD have purchased the book if they didn’t have a pirated copy. The vast majority of the time, that’s simply not true–they either didn’t trust that it would be good enough to risk money on it, or they simply don’t have the money. Once they enjoy the book, they’re far more likely to spend money on that author (and even on that book) in the future. Baen Free Books has proven this concept.
Yeah right. You’re perfectly qualified to give advice to people who make their living – not a side hobby but their *living* – from writing.
That’s why when I searched Amazon I got: ‘Your search “Thomas Umstattd” did not match any products’.
I have 15 print books on Amazon, none of them self-published and, sorry mate, you don’t know what you’re talking about.
Pirating an entire book, and putting up an excerpt are two totally different things.
Working writers don’t fear obscurity. We know we have an audience. We work hard to produce a product for that audience. What we fear is not getting a paycheck for our work to pay the mortgage because copies of the book didn’t get bought, or worse, not getting another contract to write more books because the publisher didn’t see the sales come in.
You do understand that if a publisher doesn’t see sales they might not continue to publish a writer and then the very thing you get enjoyment from might cease to be produced.
And I have to ask, would you seriously be ok with a million people each taking ten cents from your next paycheck because, hey, they’ll like you better?
If it causes 1/2 million additional people to buy, then the 10 cents is certainly worth it. I really think authors who have bought into the idea that they must aggressively defend their copyright should see what Eric Flint has to say about his experiences with the Baen Library, and giving his books away.
I understand what you’re TRYING to say. Using the church analogy isn’t helping you, you know. Most churches have licensing agreements for things like song use and excerpting bible studies and what not. That means they’re not “stealing” or “pirating”.
And encouraging people to be “evangelists” by stealing a book? That *so* helps the world view of Christians. Thanks.
Then to reiterate what others say — you’re idea, while noble in thought is totally unrealistic to the reality of the publishing world. *IF* you mean excerpting – using a chapter – then there are arguments that you may have a point. If you’re talking full on “piracy” then you’re way off base.
Publishers see only one kind of “publicity” as helpful. Money. If an author SELLS BOOKS, they’re more likely to get that next contract. If someone STEALS their books and spreads ’em around for free – outside the author or publisher control – the publisher think the author isn’t selling books and dumps said author. Also, the lack of royalties? The not recovering the advance? Means the author can’t eat, pay the rent, or their internet.
At what point does “free publicity” equate into having the author live in your garage? Most of us are barely getting by as it is.
I'm a dummy about this, but tell me how I can get all those little sharing widgets you have on the bottom of your article?
We use the Sociable wordpress plugin. Other good plugins are Share This and Add to Any
Although I agree with the comments posted to your article, there is a relief in reading your thoughts. Here are my two responses: First, how much do we fail to do out of fear? I am revamping my website, trying to figure out how to format a newsletter (and is publishing one a drain or a strength?), and should I risk theft by posting my shorter works on-line? In this vein I find your comments reassuring. If I keep reacting out of fear, I will not act out of faith.
Second, I suppose the issue also rests on our motive as authors. If my work is stolen, but it helps another human being, then am I not successful? Perhaps publishing should be as much (or more) about my heart as my name. Having said that, my husband supports me in my roles as wife, mother, and author. So I don’t have the same urgency as other authors in maintaining the integrity of my name and work with the general public.
I appreciate your site and insights. May I offer your link in my upcoming articles?
Feel free to link up to any of the Author Media blog articles! We just ask that you cite your sources. 🙂
Ah, so you feel that “it is smart to allow people to share and even remix your work” is one is a published author, but you ask us all to “link” to your blog articles and to credit the source.
You don’t respect authors’ copyright, but you ask everyone to respect yours. Is that how it works?
How would you feel if someone snagged your articles and published them on KDP? Or shared them with paying subscribers on a SocialGo group?
I agree wholeheartedly with what Rowena says here. I fail to see how, as an author, I ‘win’ anything by having my work given away as opposed to having hit purchased. And I think you’re attempting to justify something that is unjustifiable. We authors write blurbs about each of our books and allow a sample to be listed on sites like Amazon.com for the very purpose of allowing readers to get a taste of our work. I’m pretty sure if I sit you down to a table and feed you a banquet, then ask you to buy a sandwich, you’re going to decline. Same thing.
Rowena, you said it all.
I would be furious if my books were pirated. It doesn’t help an author. Excerpts? OKAY. Pirating a book? Thievery.
Thomas, and CJ,
I am pretty sure even CS Lewis had to pay for food and housing. (St Paul was another matter, of course, as he depended on the kindness of early believers.)
While I applaud your noble ideals, I am sad to inform you that stealing an author’s work today instead of paying for it is not helping get that author’s name out. It is taking money out of that author’s pocket and possibly keeping writers from continuing on.
Pirate sites are not great advertising, because people who frequent them do not buy books, they ask for other to upload the rest of a favorite author’s works so they can steal them too. I’ve seen the requests when I visited to send take down notices for my works.
And since I write, not Bible stories but romance, I cannot see how stealing my work and presenting it for free on a pirate site is making the world a better place. I do try for an uplifting element in my stories, but not enough that I will apply for sainthood anytime soon.
respectfully,
Cathryn Cade
I can see your point in helping to get your name out there in the public’s face. I am a bit concerned about my entire work(s) being taken for free. After all, I for one spent over two years on my novel, and yes, I do want to share it with others but I would like to be sure that I can get paid for my talent and hard work. I have had no problem with sources like Kindle letting readers have access to the first 3 chapters for a taste, but they should have to pay to read it all. Of course, in reality hackers of all kinds have proven that nothing is safe in this new-ech world of ours now. I wouldn’t get paranoid over it, but I do feel some precautions are necessary to protect us, the source of this entertainment and its future.
So a million people read your book, all for free, and the author should be fine with that?
@Thomas, It is not “marketing” if the work cannot be sold in competition with the freebies.
Most authors are not paid for speaking engagements. They speak (if they do so) in order to sell books. Usually, authors are better at writing than they are at speaking. The model for touring musicians does not apply to authors.
C J Cherryh recently pointed out that authors’ revenues from backlist titles has dropped by 90% as a result of piracy. It does not help or benefit anyone to have their income cut by up to 90%.
Maybe you don’t realize it, but a lot of the people making the most money from piracy (or facilitating piracy) of ebooks are not book lovers.
Finally, one of the Ten Commandments is “Thou Shalt Not Steal”. If an author wishes to give away her work, she can do that. For someone else to give away something they have no right to give away is profoundly immoral, and it adds insult to injury when you tell authors that they should appreciate having their rights stripped from them without their consent.
I’ve written free stories for my publishers to give away in order that I make a bigger name for myself. I feel I’ve been generous enough in that without approving pirates making my novels available for free. It’s theft if I don’t approve of it, and I don’t.
I love you, Barbara Elsborg! NEED more stories like To Kiss a Falling Star, Strangers and An Ordinary Girl 🙂
On this topic, yeah I CAN’T agree with this article one iota. I recently published my fourth book, and book piracy is at such an all-time endemic right now that I haven’t made any decent sales on my book after slaving months after months with my manuscript then dumping so much money in marketing and editing. Hundreds of thousands of my book is being downloaded on these piracy sites, and when I check my sales rank on Amazon, it’s in the pit!
So I would like to ask the author of this article to explain how this is better for me.
Not only that, but now pirated copies are being uploaded THE SAME DAY the book is released!
AUTHORS LOSE WITH E-BOOK PIRACY.
@Thomas, there’s a big difference for an author or publisher between giving away one title for a short time as a promotion and having a thief (yes, that’s what they are) giving away all or most of an author’s titles ALL THE TIME, no matter what that THIEF’s motive may be. Having pirated copies of books out there cuts deeply into an author’s sales over a period of time while his/her own or his/her publisher’s controlled, short-term promotion can spark sales of books–that book as well as other books in the authors’ backlist.
Fortunately not everyone thinks as you do, and some readers have the moral fortitude to avoid stealing authors’ work by obtaining it from criminals rather than buying it from a legitimate seller–that or the very real fear that by stealing from pirate sites they may very well end up with a virus that will destroy their hard drives. If they didn’t, the publishing industry would be in serious trouble indeed!
Thieves are thieves and they should be punished to the fullest extent of copyright laws in the country where the book was published. Readers have no business getting caught up in the myth of entitlement–that they have some govenment-given right to have what they haven’t earned.
What do I think? Let’s see…how can I put this politely? I think you’re friggen nuts!
Your reasons why piracy makes sense don’t apply to me or to many authors.
“You win because your platform grows, you can book more speaking engagements at higher prices.
They win because they can use your work to minister to others.
Your publisher wins free marketing. Your publisher spends a lot of time and money trying to get people to talk about your book. Books sell from word of mouth. Allowing people to share your works turns them into evangelists for free! More talk = more sales.”
I don’t want speaking engagements. I’m a writer and my preferred venue is a book, thanks very much. I jut want people to buy my book if they like my story and my writing. That’s it. Pay me for my creation.
I’m self-published, so . . . I don’t really win if my work is ripped off and I don’t get paid.
The only winners are the pirates building a following for their site and the thieves who download unauthorized freebies; they are stealing my work and reading it for free.
You can coat it in sugar, but this is still stealing and it’s taking money from hard-working writers trying to sell their work.
Shouldn’t the author be the one to decide if their book is going to be given away for free? It sounds like STEALING for someone else to take someone’s copyrighted hard work and give it to others for free. That person is called a THIEF in my book.
On the other hand, would you please go to your PAYPAL and email me some money. I’d love something for free.
Exactly.
Thomas – As an author, Piracy is not okay with me. When I spend hours writing and focusing a piece of work, stressing over getting just the character behaviors, and putting my sweat and tears into writing a story, it is NOT okay when someone pirates that work. If I wanted the work to be available for free, then I would set the price accordingly. But I place a value on my time and effort and no one, including you or anyone else, should diminish the value of my work by sharing it with your thousands of friends. You say it’s good publicity – I beg to differ. If one person shares, then another person, then another person…where is the incentive for ANYONE to purchase my works? There is none. They simply wait until another person posts it on a pirate site so they can get it for free and then they post it somewhere else.
How is that a “win-win” for me. Not only do I lose, but my publisher loses. Not only do I lose out on income, but my publisher loses. If you steal something from a brick-and-mortar store, how is that any different than downloading a free copy of my book when clearly it was meant to be sold at a price.
You have your opinion, but don’t apply your skewed logic to me, or many other authors I would say. It is not okay to pirate my work. I don’t agree with it and I cannot stand by and let it happen. It is my choice as to whether I want to offer a book for free – not yours or anyone else.
Reana
I don’t drive a truck for free. I don’t write for free.
John Scalzi is ruder about it, but “Forget you. Pay me.” should be the creed of every professional writer.
How is putting a $1.29 short on a pirate site helpful? Especially when my royalties and matchign funds from the publisher, 96 cents of the total price, were being donated to charity?
All the pirates do is request everything I wrote be put out for the taking. They don’t go buy my stuff.
This is my job. I don’t get speaker fees. I do get royalty checks. and when someone takes my book instead of paying for it, they are literally taking food out of my children’s mouths.
The naysayers really haven’t thought this through.
Let’s think about ‘sharing’ in the physical world.
Is borrowing a book from my local library stealing? Because the library buys one copy but thousands of people can now read it.
So what if I have to return it to the library? I was never going to keep your novel forever anyway – I’d probably only read it once and be done with it.
What if my Aunty bought your novel, read it and passed it onto me? Am I stealing it? What if I finish it then pass it onto my sister, who afterwards passes it onto her neighbour? Is that theft? Quick, somebody call the FBI!
What if I donate your book to the thrift store? Good grief – they are going to sell it and you won’t see a penny of that money. No royalty in that sale for you! The buyer may donate the book back again and the thrift store could do it again and again. You’ve been ripped off!
Or I could sell the book on eBay – still more people reading your book and you don’t profit from it. Am I stealing food from your children’s mouths?
Or I could swap your book at a swap meet. There goes your rent for this month. I’ll pass you the tissue box. How date people swap and share?!
Oh – but if we talk about DIGITAL sharing, well that’s just plain old stinking theft, right? Because people NEVER share books in the physical world. Kill all pirates now!
Trisha,
Chalk is not cheese, and oranges are not lemons. Library procedures have no bearing on piracy whatsoever. When you “buy” a book the content is licensed, not sold to you. You may not copy, unless you wish to steal.
If you download from a pirate site you are receiving stolen property.
As to the difference between physical printed books and ebooks, the matter is simple. You buy the physical print book, BUT the content is licensed to you. You may not copy the content, that part falls under the laws of copyright, which are international under various agreements, and included in modern trade agreements.
Passing on the physical book passes it to one reader at a time. Uploading makes it available to millions.
But an ebook is virtually ALL content. It is licensed to you only. To pass it on or sell it or upload it is to copy *content*. And that is to breach the laws of copyright.
To support piracy in any way is to spit in the eye of authors; to fail to pay your way. If you do that to a writers work, will you walk in a shop, pick up a handbag you like, and walk out without paying? it is the same thing.
All the pro piracy arguments in the article and in some comments have never been researched in any scientific or meaningful way. Such poor quality research that has been done is being misrepresented, exaggerated and extrapolated in ways so incompetent as to make a statistician scream.
And it is not a good idea to make an argument in favour of stealing.
I’m amazed that you call yourself a “Christ follower” on your Facebook About Me section, but you are promoting others to steal ebooks. Did you forget the part in the Ten Commandments that states…”Thou shalt not steal”? I will say a special prayer for you tonight, Thomas, because a Godly man wouldn’t be condoning or encouraging theft. The copyright section of my book specifically states NO part of my books can be shared without my consent. To do so makes it illegal by copyright law.
Let me give you some facts. On ONE pirate site alone, I lost over $12,000 in sales due to thieves downloading my book for FREE. I have NEVER seen that much money from sales on all 7 of my books. I have NOT seen a spike in sales. In fact, I’ve seen the opposite, a dramatic decrease in sales. So you have a lot of nerve telling me piracy is not my enemy. I’m pretty sure that $12K I lost could’ve gone a loooong way in paying the electric/gas bill, feeding/clothing my children, or even making a mortgage payment.
Trisha I don’t want to “kill all pirates now”, but I would like for you to lose a huge portion of your paycheck taken away or for you have something you poured large quantities of time into stolen from you, and then have the offender say “kill me now”. This is our livelihood, our jobs, so each time you steal a book then you’re stealing from our paychecks. How would you like it if someone stole that $12K I lost in sales from your paycheck? I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t be singing the same song.
Glad to see the lively debate!
In its initial phase piracy can raise awareness of an authors works but it goes downhill quickly from there. The music industry let the cat out of the bag and now we have a generation of listeners who think that music should be free or available via subscriptions that pay pennies to the artists.
Book people need to take the necessary actions to prevent similar developments. Only the author or their publisher have the legal right to determine when a book is free.
Why copyright can hurt authors.
http://www.authormedia.com/why-copyrights-hurt-authors/
Possession, livihood, expression, recognition, credit. The comments each express something important about why we write. When I started writing blogs, I researched google authorship, because I wanted my work to be attributed to me, not scrapped. I don’t need income from my writing, because my work as a psychologist provides that, but my insights culled from many years of work in my profession have been a source of inspiration, and writing about that is important to me for many reasons. From what I have learned, estabishing authorship is important as it will always tr
JA Konrath agrees with this article:
http://jakonrath.blogspot.com.au/2014/05/time-to-reform-copyright.html