Internet book piracy will drive authors to stop writing

Nah. People still prefer reading paper books instead of on a computer screen. Plus those who get their work pirated (JK Rowling, for example), are not going to see much difference in their sales in the grand scheme. I mean a bootlegged copy of The Deathly Hallow was released before the book was, but she still sold 8 million copies on the first week. People like me are not going to sweat either because chances are no one has heard of my work and no one is going to spend time digitizing and pirating it.

It's the same fear-based argument that the music and movie industries want us to believe -- digital media and the Internet are going to spell the death for musicians and filmmakers. Not true. In fact, the music industry is thriving with new talents who otherwise won't be heard outside of the Internet. If people like your work, they will buy. If they don't, it doesn't matter a whole lot if they can find a bootlegged copy on the Internet.

The time to (maybe) worry about this will be when Apple or some other company comes up with a to-die-for e-book reader that people actually love and crave. The Kindle isn't quite it, I don't think.

And IMHO, even then, the old-fashioned book is going to remain a very dominant format, and those are tough to pirate.

It doesn't matter anyway. You can't stop piracy or internet crimes. I don't know why the government even tries.

You can't stop people from murdering others or from going 55 in a 25 mph zone either. Doesn't mean you shouldn't try to enforce the law.

The 'Search Inside' function is a great tool for amazon.com and is comparable to flipping through the first few pages in a bound book at the bookstore, so I don't see any problem there.

I can see where full piracy could really bite into a books' sales, though.

maestrowork said:

You can't stop people from murdering others or from going 55 in a 25 mph zone either. Doesn't mean you shouldn't try to enforce the law.

Click to expand...

But you don't see millions of people do that everyday. But Internet piracy is impossible to stop. Internet crimes are impossible to track down. And the congress wants to pass internet voting, if they can't stop identity theft and internet predators and all that. Why would they bother?

Perks said:

The 'Search Inside' function is a great tool for amazon.com and is comparable to flipping through the first few pages in a bound book at the bookstore.

Click to expand...

Precisely the reason I do 'search inside' for the shortest books possible.

Millions of people do speed every day. The more are caught the fewer people die. The more internet pirates are harrassed and impeded the better it will be for authors as far as I am concerned--especially ebook authors.

But it must be said the doom and gloom is an conservative opinion. There is some enforcement of piracy laws and only the fileshare groups are a real bulk abuse of copyright problem.

BULL - SHIT

Illegal downloading did nothing to the music industry, it is like stealing a dollar from a millionaire. It will do less to the book industry because nobody is interested in reading books off screens. They're just a bunch of fear mongers.

maestrowork said:

I mean a bootlegged copy of The Deathly Hallow was released before the book was, but she still sold 8 million copies on the first week.

Click to expand...

Actually, it was 15 million on the firs day. One of those was mine

Ervin said:

BULL - SHIT

Illegal downloading did nothing to the music industry, it mas like stealing a dollar from a millionaire. I will do less to the book industry because nobody is interested in reading books off screens. They're just a bunch of fear mongers.

Actually, it was 15 million on the firs day.

Click to expand...

Oh, really? Do you know what e-books authors do for the first few months after their books are released? They scan all the auction sites, waiting for their book that cost the original buyer 7 bucks--but is being resold en masse for 5 bucks a copy. I've done this. I've gone through it. I have, to date, reported over 30 such scumbags to the powers that be at Ebay--not only for me but for my fellow authors at my epublishing houses. We all do that for each other.

The mentality that such activity is bullshit or fearmongering is ridiculous. Why should JK Rowling have her intellectual property STOLEN (for stealing it is) and released illegally the day before her book comes out? That's a horrible thing for any vulture to do to a writer who's worked her butt off on the conclusion of the world's most popular and most-read series! But it's the small authors like myself, the ones who manage to scrape a mortgage payment or two out of their royalties that really feel the effect. If I want a friend to read my book, then I'll email to them myself.

Ebook, or print book, piracy is a personal matter to many of us just wending our way through the industry. It's called piracy because it's illegal. I SUE people who do this to MY work. Period.

If you can't recognize the basic principle of intellectual property, then maybe you're in the wrong business. *shrug* Not trying to be offensive here, but I write for money. Other people who write for free and pats on the back confine their work to a close circle of friends. And when I break into print, which will not be long, I'll still look for those books.

Don't even joke about IP theft being fearmongering. It's a real problem, causing severe financial woes to struggling authors all over the world. If you can't muster up a bit of basic empathy for them (which includes me) then the least you could do is recognize that to them (and the Feds) E-piracy is a violation of the law. Internationally, I might add.

And no, I do not download music or movies either. *shrug* Why should epiracy be illegal for writers and not for songwriters, composers, screenwriters, and directors?

Ludicrous. And on that note, have a nice day.

Ervin said:

Illegal downloading did nothing to the music industry, it is like stealing a dollar from a millionaire.

Click to expand...

But what about indie artists, who rely on each and every sale?

I love the search inside feature, use it all the time. Then I buy the book, because there's no way I could read a novel onscreen. My eyes would explode. I think search inside's no different that being able to flip though a book in a bookstore before you buy it.


They must be kidding about writers not writing though. They think we have a choice?

I'd be interested to know if the extra publicity would increase an authors 'real' sales if they were to make a 'song and dance' about their book being downloaded for free. Seems to me it would help.

JJ

Ervin said:

BULL - SHIT

Illegal downloading did nothing to the music industry, it is like stealing a dollar from a millionaire.

Click to expand...

So stealing's okay then?

Every stolen product affects someone, somewhere. Someone lost money on a CD sale because a fan downloaded a mp3. Rowling lost money on the 15 million that were hijacked. It's just plain wrong and I wish more of these crimes were prosecuted.

Weird. I have no qualms about downloading music, but I would never think about downloading a book.

My reasoning makes no sense, though, near as I can figure. I just don't think of going to Youtube and punching the name of a song in as stealing.

eta

The same goes for video games and TV shows. I'll buy a box set or a DVDROM before it'll even occur to me that these things might exist in some free downloading network.

The only part of this that caught my eye was Google's intention to make available free electronic copies of every book. But libraries have been letting us read for free for a long time and although plenty of people get all their reading material from the library it doesn't seem to hurt book sales.
Electronic copies will likely evolve into easy reads as the electronic readers improve and that will appeal to a certain segment of readers. But IMO a book you can hold in your hand, put on your bookshelf and take with you into the bathtub will remain the primary format.
Linnea

And, as someone pointed out to me, when your book falls off the bedside table, you pick it up and keep reading it. When your Kindle does the same thing...

I've recently started reading books onscreen, because I belong to an e-crit group for novels. I can do it, but it would be a *lot* easier to read a printed version. I don't because (a) it's a pain printing out a whole novel and (b) it's easier to do line-edits electronically.

Cory Doctorow's take on electronic piracy is that an author's main enemy isn't piracy, it's obscurity. He has his publishers agree to allow his work to be available, for free, on the Net as well as in print form.

Since I haven't had a book published yet, I'm on the sidelines watching.

Book piracy on the internet will ultimately drive authors to stop writing unless radical methods are devised to compensate them for lost sales.

Click to expand...

Piracy issues aside, this is just absurd. I've been writing fiction for 10 years now and I think I've made a total of about $200. So it's not like I've been making money hand over fist so far! And if you told me I'd never get a cent out of it, I'd still keep writing.

Perks said:

The 'Search Inside' function is a great tool for amazon.com and is comparable to flipping through the first few pages in a bound book at the bookstore, so I don't see any problem there.

Click to expand...

Exactly. I've used it in just such a fashion before deciding to buy a book.

Although I think internet book piracy is a problem (any piracy is, really), I think the idea that authors will stop writing is ridiculous. Maybe writing will not be as profitable, and maybe some writers will quit over the financial situation, but there will be tons of writers ready to take their place.

Ervin said:

BULL - SHIT

Illegal downloading did nothing to the music industry, it is like stealing a dollar from a millionaire. It will do less to the book industry because nobody is interested in reading books off screens. They're just a bunch of fear mongers.

Actually, it was 15 million on the firs day. One of those was mine

Click to expand...

Stealing a dollar from a millionaire is still stealing. I hate to break that to you, boy. You can justify anything you want with your own brand of moral code. But don't say it's bull when you're the one who's bullshitting.

If you think illegal downloading didn't effect the music industry look at how many copies gets you on the charts these days compared to five or ten years ago. In the UK you can now get only the charts with just 30,000 sales. The whole industry lost a lot of volume and that translates into less money in artists pockets.

Bartholomew said:

Weird. I have no qualms about downloading music, but I would never think about downloading a book.

My reasoning makes no sense, though, near as I can figure. I just don't think of going to Youtube and punching the name of a song in as stealing.

eta

The same goes for video games and TV shows. I'll buy a box set or a DVDROM before it'll even occur to me that these things might exist in some free downloading network.

Click to expand...

Geez. I've never thought of viewing anything on youtube as illegally downloading.

Is it? Cuz if it is, I'm removing my link below ASAP.

They just did an article on the declining album sales in USA Today. If you don't believe illegal downloading is hurting the industry, think again, and soon, nobody would want to put out anything (or they'll just putting out the same crap without any real production costs) because there's no incentives anymore. If people are free to download anything they want without paying for it, then why would anyone want to produce and sell anything -- anyone can just put their stuff on YouTube or MySpace. Talk about quality control.

The Internet and the explosion of venues like YouTube and MySpace can be really good for newbies and indies, but eventually, there needs to be financial incentives. How would you feel if people are stealing your hard work? If you're an artist, would you open the door to your gallery and say, "Go ahead, take anything you want. I don't really need the money"?