Saturday, October 16, 2010

Piracy kills puppies

So don't do it.

But really, I just read a post from Lisa Sanchez about how book piracy boils her blood, and I can understand how she feels. Just picture this:

You slave over a story for months and months, and you pour your entire being and heart into this story. Your hopes and dreams are resting within it, through the re-writes, the edits, the edits... the edits... and then, if you manage to get a publisher, you have to go through even more re-writes, more edits--all the preparation and stress and glory and fear and etc, and etc, of the publication process, and then you put yourself out there in the world for everyone to read and love/criticize. You hope and pray that your book will sell, that all those months and months and months of work and obsessive, detail-reliant, intensive concentration and perfecting will render wonderful fruits. And then, as you hold your breath and cross every appendage and pray that people will see your book's merit and buy it and want to share it, you get a google alert stating that people are requesting stolen copies of your novel--that your livelihood on paper, whether it's intended to mean this or not, isn't worth the 4.99 for an ecopy.

This kind of stings a little, because, while we are always pleased that people want to read our work, it isn't a good feeling to think that there is theft involved. Believe me, authors spend a lot of their own personal resources and exhaustive time in sharing and promoting their work, so if you see an instance of piracy, I encourage you to speak up against it. You're helping to make it possible for us to continue writing our books, and really, that means more than you can imagine.

As always, thank you for the love and support. *KISS*
Jen

5 comments:

Elisa Dane said...

Thanks, Jen, for talking about this growing problem. The more we speak up, the more attention we draw and maybe we can make a difference. Have a good weekend!

Oh, and I totally can't wait to PURCHASE my copy of Whispers Of Light :D Woot!

Unknown said...

Well said! Writers have to eat too... :)

Anonymous said...

I so agree. It's stealing. I would never do it and I wonder why the police are so slow to do something about it. I guess we need to start complaining. If someone steals our books, chase them, get the link and complain to the cops, demand they do something about it. We need to speak up about this before it becomes too widely accepted.


Go here to see what you can do
http://www.commerce.gov/blog/2010/10/05/commerce-seeks-comment-protecting-copyrighted-works-internet

Tahlia

Anonymous said...

Another point about the above. Please comment before 5th Nov and share the link around. This is an opportunity to speak out about this to someone who might do something about it.

Missie, The Unread Reader said...

No, not puppies!

I would hate to even think of no more Will and Chris. Good job speaking out