Just another thought…I’ve seen comments online that sharing ebooks, uploading them for others to download, is “not stealing!” and OMG YER SO MEAAAAAN FOOR NOT LETTING US DOOOO IT! As well as a plethora of other ignorant and misinformed and generally moronic comments, including “what? you mean I can’t make copies of this and send it out to all my friends because I love it? How dare you, mean author! How dare you!”
Look, if you can’t figure out the difference between sharing a single copy of a book and making it so that hundreds or thousands of people can have that same book, all at the same time, without paying for it, you’re a jerk, a douche and a fucktard, and frankly, I don’t want you reading my books because anyone who claims to “love” me wouldn’t steal from me.
And I cherish the readers who understand it is wrong and douchtastic to steal books, and that if it continues there will be many authors who are unable to continue writing the books you all love.
So I want to say thank you to the readers who DO get it, who don’t steal, the ones who understand that we’re not some superhuman millionaires sitting in our mansions and tossing off a book every now and then in between pedicures and saving the world. Really. I got kids to feed, just like many of you. I have bills to pay, too. I have to be able to afford to write — which means I need to be paid for my work. No money = no staying home to write books. No money = Megan gets a job at Walmart to make ends meet = no books for you to read.
(Yes, some people might cheer that I wouldn’t be writing more books, but oh well. Even those people who don’t like *me* have authors they *do* like and the situation is the same for them, as well.)
So…I have a favor to ask of you, dear readers. Please don’t patronize those download sites, but if you DO see a place offering books for download– flag copyrighted materials being offered. Complain to the sites themselves. Report blogs. Comment to the entries with exactly why it’s wrong to offer ebooks for illegal download. In some cases you’ll genuinely be informing a person who doesn’t know — in others you’ll just be pissing off a self-righteous twit who will scream “BUT YER BEING MEAAAAAAN TO ME AND OMG IT IS SO NOT STEALING AND YOU JUST SHUT UP!” But…I ask that you do not shut up.
Don’t be nasty, don’t be mean. Don’t get into trouble by using threats.
But don’t stop pointing out that it’s wrong, and the person who’s doing it is wrong, and they should stop. And educate your friends about why it’s wrong. Report it when you see it, and make an effort to close it down. (You often can’t actually request content be removed unless you are the copyright holder, unfortunately, but RWA and Harlequin both have places to report piracy of their materials, and probably other publishers do, too.)
And thank you for your efforts.
M
December 17th, 2008 at 2:26 am · Link
Please don’t go to Wal-Mart! I wish people would realize that uploading wasn’t the same as sharing. You share with your friend and she shares right back with you.
Maybe you need to have a direct donation site right on your page: support Megan Hart by contributing to her medical insurance… use PayPal now.
If these fucktards are so computer savvy, they couldn’t have missed all the ebay auctions for Jo Leigh!
December 18th, 2008 at 5:56 am · Link
I’ve never personally come across an ebook piracy site until this evening (or morning, rather) and was wondering, is there anything that can be done besides informing authors? Is there some place to report these people for e-piracy?
December 18th, 2008 at 5:58 am · Link
Woops…just rereading the post and saw the last paragraph. Sorry, it’s been a couple of days since I read this entry. My bad.
December 30th, 2008 at 10:08 pm · Link
Does this go for audio books as well? I mean I just bought dirty from Itunes (I have the book, I read the book, I LOVE the book.) and I want to send it to my friend as a gift, but I absolutely WILL NOT do it if this means that I am stealing. I do want her to read/listen to the story because I think it’s beautiful, and to be honest I don’t want to send her my book because who knows when I’ll get it back. So that’s just what I am wondering!
December 30th, 2008 at 10:17 pm · Link
@Sara: …well, technically — if you send your friend the audio file (in .mp3 or whatever it’s in) and you still have the file left on your computer, what you’ve done is made a copy of the original file. Now there are two. So…yes, that’s illegal. It’s not nearly on the same level as uploading it to a torrent site so thousands of people can download it, but yes, if you send it to your friend and keep the original for yourself, therefore ending up with TWO where there was only one…that’s illegal. (not exactly piracy because you’re not giving away dozens, but still not allowed.)
However — if you buy something from iTunes you can usually play it on up to five devices — this might include audiobooks. (I mean, you could send it to your friend and she might not be able to play it anyway because it’s not allowed on her computer or whatever!)
And also, if you send it to your friend and delete it permanently from your iTunes library, thus ending up with only one, then it’s also okay.
But thank you for asking. It’s confusing, I know, but I do appreciate that you even thought about it! And like I said, you giving one to your friend is way different than uploading it to a site for lots of folks to download, or sending it to everyone you know. And obviously, sharing a paper book is always fine!
M
October 7th, 2010 at 5:27 am · Link
I agree completely with you as far as the US market is concerned. However, you have readers outside the US too. And I don’t mean UK or Australia. I live in a small country and it is virtually impossible for me to buy ebooks. I can buy paperback books from Amazon but with shipping to my country they cost 3-4 times more then they would if I were living in the US and having tem shipped there (not to mention that where I live the price of that book with shipping would cover my electricity bill for a month, that’s how expensive it would be for me). Your books haven’t been published here, so I can’t buy them in a book store. From what I was able to figure out so far, the reason I’m not allowed to buy ebooks is that it’s not profitable for publishers to spend money sorting out the copyrights for small countries like mine.
So, for me, and I’m sure lots of other people like me, it’s not a choice between downloading a book for free and buying it – it’s a choice between downloading a book for free or not being able to read it at all.
October 7th, 2010 at 8:29 am · Link
@Jelena: I thought long and hard about replying to this, or if I’d reply at all. And the bottom line is this: I appreciate your support of my work, but I can not and will not support illegal uploading/downloading of it. Period. If it’s wrong for everyone else, it’s wrong for you, too. Even in Serbia. You came to this blog by searching on Selfish is the Heart torrent (or something like that) and you found my opinion on piracy.
I’m truly sorry that you can’t find my books in your country, and that ebooks aren’t allowed there. That sucks. And I wish I could make that different for you somehow, because believe me, I’d love for every single person in the world to be able to buy my books, because this is how I pay for MY electric bill, something that’s getting harder to do every month, just like it is for you and many many other people.
The fact is — piracy is illegal and it’s wrong, and it takes away my income, making it difficult and/or impossible for me to continue writing (if the books don’t sell well enough, they don’t publish more of them.)
I’m not going to debate this with you. I’m sure you won’t stop getting the books however you can, and I’m sure that as long as people are willing to download them, the people who upload them will keep doing it. But I can’t give you a free pass and say it’s okay, because it’s not.
Piracy hurts authors. And it hurts readers, too, even if it’s not quite as obvious.
October 8th, 2010 at 12:48 pm · Link
Well that’s… sad, really.
Wouldn’t it be great if (instead of regurgitating your previous post) you’d thought: Wow! I have readers in Serbia?! Cool! I wonder where else in the world I have readers? But wait, did she say she can’t buy my books because of some copy right issues?! Is that true (I wonder which geographic restrictions I have in my contracts)? Maybe I should check if my books are available to all my readers, regardless of where they live. Oh, wait a minute, why don’t I add a page on my website where anyone can buy my ebooks, regardless of nationality? Wouldn’t that be great? Hm, it probably wouldn’t go down well with my publishers, there are bound to be some tricky legal issues… But I think it’s definitely worth a try, I’d much rather spend time on getting my books to more readers then lashing out indiscriminately and without seriously looking into the issue.
October 8th, 2010 at 1:00 pm · Link
@Jelena:
Unfortunately, I don’t have the option to publish my books anywhere I choose — otherwise, like I said, I’m make sure they were available everywhere, all over the world. I’m thrilled to have readers in Serbia and Bangladesh and Australia and Germany and France and in all the other countries where people are interested in reading my books. My contracts don’t have geographic restrictions in them — but the rights to publish my work are purchased by the publishers, and it’s THEIR choice/right to publish the work in whatever format/country/location. I don’t have the power to make them put the books in ebook format, or make them available anywhere other than where the publisher chooses. Unfortunately, it’s only up to me to DECLINE offers to publish my books. I have no option to force anyone to publish them anywhere.
The legal issue isn’t tricky. It’s clearcut. When I sell the rights to publish my work, I give the publishers the right to publish the books when/how/where they see fit. That’s the way it works. I don’t control it, I don’t necessarily like it, but if I want to be paid for my work, that’s how it goes.
And that’s the bottom line. I want to be paid for my work. I deserve to be paid for my job just like you deserve to be paid for yours.
I already said I’m not going to debate this issue with you. I appreciate that you like my books. I do not appreciate that you can’t buy them legally, and I wish I could make that different, not only so that I can be paid for my work but that YOU have an easier time getting it. That’s the truth.
But as for making my books available to everyone? It’s not up to me. I don’t even have the right to offer my e-books for free to anyone if I wanted to, not beyond the limited number of copies I’m allowed to use for promotion.
You don’t have to like my opinion, and you can certainly choose not to read my books, or you can choose to download them illegally. You could write to the publisher and request the books be made in your area, who knows, with enough support the pub might consider it. I wish they would, frankly.
But wouldn’t it be great, instead of ignoring the part of my reply where I said I was sorry that you couldn’t find my books in your country, you took a minute to understand what I’m saying? When you download illegally, you acquire something I’ve created and you’re not paying for it. Not me, not my publisher. You’re getting it for free, and I’m getting nothing — and if that happens enough times, my publisher can’t afford to pay me to write more.
I won’t apologize for wanting to be paid for my work.
October 8th, 2010 at 1:28 pm · Link
So, essentially Megan, you’re supposed to not be mad that this woman is stealing from you, because, well, because she doesn’t want to pay for something you created. Moreover, she has the gall to come here and be RUDE to you that you’re not cheerleading her theft of your work.
What is so sad is that people are raised without any ability to take responsibility for their bad actions. She’s blaming you for her theft of your work and it’s so typical of the selfish mindset people like her have. I can guarantee she’s not opening her house up to anyone who needs what she has and doesn’t want to pay for it. I can guarantee she believes she is due to be compensated for her work. So what makes you different? Oh that’s right, because she thinks she’s entitled to steal because she’s special somehow.
I don’t count people who steal from me and then have the gall to come to my house and make excuses for it my “readers” I call them thieves.