Saturday 11 February 2012

Why Do Book Lovers Support Piracy?

I was Googling myself today (not as kinky as it sounds) and I ran across one of those nasty pirate sites, Fiction Books Bay. Now luckily, I wasn’t on it, but I was shocked at the amount of flagrant copyright violation on that site. Big name authors and smaller indie writers are being violated without consideration of their feelings or hard work. I think it is such a disgrace that people are so disrespectful of authors in this way. 

 
What really prompted this post is that I found books on this site by authors I know from online social sites.

 
Here’s a partial list of writers who have had their rights violated by Fiction Books Bay:

 
First books by the people I know.
  • Riyria Revelations Series - Michael J. Sullivan
  • Touch of Power - Maria V. Snyder
  • Oh. My. Gods. Series - Tera Lynn Childs 
Second, big name authors.
  • Jim Butcher 
  • Margaret Atwood 
  • Harry Turtledove 
  • Mercedes Lackey 
  • Patricia A. McKillip 
  • Piers Anthony 
  • Christopher Paolini
  • Sherrilyn Kenyon
  • Amanda Hocking
  • Dean Koontz
  • Guillermo Del Toro
  • Cassandra Clare
  • Julie Kagawa

The self-centered people that upload and download these pirated books never think. They never consider the actual human being, the person behind the book, the one who wrote the words they are stealing (and yes it is stealing, because they have no right to distribute the books). Authors (plus musicians and artists as well) should be allowed to earn their living in peace, without fear of being ripped off.

 
Pirates and supporters of pirates should be ashamed of themselves. You are all bottom-feeders.

 

10 comments:

Robert Holt said...

I would include, 'Used Book Stores'. The authors get nothing, for the effort they put into the writing.

A. F. Stewart said...

True Robert, and there is merit to your point about used book stores as their re-sales don't earn royalties.
I have less of a problem with used book stores because they deal with re-sale of one existing copy (which I believe is actually legal under copyright law). Pirate sites are creating new copies with every download and particpating in illegal distribution.

Joylene Nowell Butler said...

Thinking about this stuff leaves me depressed. I suppose song writers go through the same thing. It's sad.

A. F. Stewart said...

It makes me sad too, Joylene, and mad. I just bought Michael J. Sullivan's series last month from Amazon and I couldn't believe it had been pirated.

PT Dilloway said...

I think I have a blog post on ebook piracy this week too. Mostly my opinion is if people would stop doing it the problem solves itself.

I have to say that I don't see a problem with used book stores. I mean if you hate used book stores you have to hate libraries too for giving books out for free. Both allow people to read who might otherwise not be able to if they had to pay full retail for everything.

A. F. Stewart said...

I agree, no demand, the supply goes away.
And for the record, I don't hate used bookstores (or libraries for that matter). I just have to be objective as the blogger here, and see everybody's point.

Anonymous said...

It isn't only scum like fictionbooksbay.com that are to blame. Their ISP, ecatel.net in the Netherlands, ignores the criminal activity of their customer, and makes money from hosting them. The pirate site is plastered with ads, so they're making money. The ad company, friendlyduck.com, is making money from the piracy, and some of that money goes to Friendly Duck's host prolexic.com in Florida. And the companies advertising on fictionbooksbay.com profit by getting new customers. There's money in piracy, it just doesn't go to the authors.

A. F. Stewart said...

Yes, piracy is big business for the crooks and their allies, because so many turn a blind eye and continue to use the sites.

Sheila Deeth said...

It's maddening. Perhaps I should be glad I don't know the site.

A. F. Stewart said...

It is maddening, Sheila. More so because people keep supporting the sites by using them, or silently condoning them by not speaking out against them.

Subscribe Now:

Search This Blog

Powered By Blogger

Monthly Pageviews