Heads up to Harlequin authors. An anonymous source forwarded me a link (which I am so not going to republish because why should they get traffic?) to a site illegally offering free eBook copies of Harlequin novels. The site has multiple listings of a month’s worth of books in one file, and fields requests for books by title.
If you’d like to email me, I can send you the link so you can look for your book there. If an author finds that her book is being offered illegally, she needs to report the individual title to Harlequin.
The original email came from an author’s loop and the author of the original message suggests a rather sharp and brilliant method for tracking potential piracy: create a Google:Alert for the title of your book, and for your name or pseudonym. Google will email you daily, or as frequently as you wish, any search results that match your alert terms. Unfortunately, I do not know who wrote the original email that I received, but whoever you are – that’s a damn smart idea for any author published in eBook format, so mad props to you.
And good luck to any Harlequin author who finds her pirated eBook offered illegally.
UPDATE: RWA National just sent out a members-only alert about the issue.
Props to the Bitches for getting the word out on this and giving authors a way to fight it!
Well, I guess that just proves that piracy exists for just about everything.
My personal opinion is that if someone has downloaded something, they probably wouldn’t have shelled out the money for it had their illegal download not been available… I can see where it’s alarming, but I don’t think it does as much harm as people think.
Then again, I’ve never made anything that someone could pirate… Heh.
I’ve found several of mine via Google Alerts—I recommend that as well.
You know, as hurtful and frustrating this must be for the authors, there is a silver lining to this sometimes. Authors may not like this, and the music industry certainly hasn’t, but sometimes pirated stuff on the web is actually boosting sales. Apparently that’s what happened when they started playing hit singles on the radio after all. There have been times when I’ve gotten music from friends for free and liked it more than I expected to and ended up buying some for myself outright. Granted, I don’t have the sales statistics to correctly guarantee that this is what everybody does, but I know I’ve done it before, and friends of mine have too.
I got the Google Alert suggestion via the AbsoluteWrite.com newsletter yesterday. Glad to see that it actually works!
..and cheapass readers everywhere are itching to figure out a way to ask for the url without seeming too cheapassy….
Cheapass disclaimer:NOT ME!!! I don’t care for e books, its too hard to lay on the sofa with my desktop and bowl of m&ms to read.
On the upside this reminded me that I wanted to download some ebooks, so someone made some legal money today.
You know, as hurtful and frustrating this must be for the authors, there is a silver lining to this sometimes. Authors may not like this, and the music industry certainly hasn’t, but sometimes pirated stuff on the web is actually boosting sales.
Taken from a post made 2 hours ago on a file sharing site:
I have many many and more many like these. Lit and Adobe. Ellora, Loose Id, Samhain etc….Foolish me have been buying these for 3 years not knowing about sites like this.
Earlier this week I emailed an author whose book released from NY in print on Tuesday. It had been on the file sharing site since the beginning of February. A whole month before anyone in the general public had a chance to buy it. That pretty much sucks.
This week, I’ve seen several of the February 5th NY releases show up on file sharing sites.
Frustrating stuff. This is actually the topic of the RTB post I didn’t write when it was my turn last week. It’s just too overwhelming for me.
I love google alert. It’s useful to find pirated copies of your books AND also to find reviews of your books.
I found three reviews for “Hellbaby” that I didn’t even know about!
Minx
Angela – You’ve brought up an interesting point. I’d really like to know how the new books are getting out before public release dates. Someone at the publishing house? The printers? The shippers? Reviewers who received advance copies for marketing purposes? I seem to remember there was quite a row over early release of the last Rowling book. How frustrating that must be for the authors! And piracy in all its forms is a bad thing, IMHO.
Well, I hope that at least the publicity around it ends up bringing more attention and more readers to the people affected!
I hate the pirate sites. While I’m thankful I’m obviously too small to be pirated, it’s still theft from every person in the industry who has worked on any given title as their legal job. I also use the Alerts, and have for well over a year.
There will always be people who want stuff for free, and don’t care who they hurt, the money they take out of some author’s hand, or the editor, or the agent… It’s an endless line of peole who benefit from a single author’s work. Big names may not care over all when they make high five to six digit incomes, but when you’re earning a tank of gas in a year, yeah, pirating sucks.
The analogy is an example… I’m stuffy and in need of serious sinus killers. *sigh*
Please be VERY careful on these sites if you decide to visit them. Like most sites run by criminals, they are full of very nasty viruses. You can still check them through Google or another search engine, but if you decide to log on, please make sure you’re safe.
Hi Ladies,
I’m the community manager at eHarlequin.com and I just wanted to say thanks, it’s nice to know you have our backs. Our legal team is aware of the situation, but unfortunately these takedowns can take up to six weeks to finalize. What’s really disheartening is the volume of downloads, in some cases in excess of 250 for some titles!!!
Jayne
Funny that people will read the bootleg copies that devotedly. Aside from the fact that it is a stolen copy of something that I generally want the real version of, the grammar and spelling is usually atrocious on bootlegs. I saw a bootleg ebook once that had the author’s name misspelled multiple times.
and rebyj- pda’s work quite well with m and m’s…the only thing is it creates a bit more eyestrain (to me), and i worry about something happening to my computer and losing all of those precious books i purchased. But then, if I weren’t so lazy, I could probably make cd copies of the e-books I purchased.
And all of those cheapskates are missing out on the absolutely free and legal e-books to download- just off the top of my head, project gutenberg and baen books has a bunch for free. And then for those people who don’t live on a rock in the middle of nowhere (like me- I deal with this by packing ten paperbacks per school term in my suitcase, not bootlegging), there’s this thing called the library.
my word: without67- ur darn right…god i miss borders down here…
Um those singles are just that . . .one or two songs out of about 10 or 12. And when they’re playing on the radio, you can’t listen at will, you’re at the mercy of the DJ. So yeah, you hear a song on the radio and go “I want more of that” and run out and buy the CD. Not really comparable to getting the whole CD for free.
What would be comparable would be a single chapter.
And aren’t excerpts—up in authors’ websites, or through amazon preview, etc—exactly that? For free?
Free promotional material is designed to whet the appetite and “boost sales”—while piracy IS stealing, period.
Not that I have any strong opinions on the matter or anything.
Just go to the local library and you can read the real thing for free!
Although this file-sharing forum started out using the Mills & Boon name, the “sharing” extends to all kinds of romance and publishers. Some of my books on there have never been published as eBooks so I guess they’ve been scanned.
What’s really getting under my skin is the effusive praise for sharing thousands of titles (you are all so generous, thank you, thank you!) and the requests for new and unreleased books. As soon as someone acquires one, up it goes.
Oh, and they’ve made plans already for saving all the files for when this site is shutdown. They’ll just relaunch somewhere else, under another name, and on it goes. Arrgghh.
I don’t think Nina is wrong. My views on a particular aspect of piracy are pretty much expressed by John Scalzi in “The Stupidity of Worrying About Piracyâ€. I’ve quoted these paragraphs before in the past, but here they are again:
A few other things that I want to express that aren’t covered in Scalzi’s piece:
1. I can understand somebody feeling deeply violated when they realize they’ve lost control of work for which they’ve chosen to retain all the rights.
2. I deeply disapprove of people making money off of pirated copies. I think there’s a substantive difference between people selling pirated DVDs and books, and people swapping music collections on-line. As Tim O’Reilly put it:
He has even more interesting and provocative things to say about piracy, distribution and file sharing in the full article. (Check out the comments on page 2 of the article—lots of really, really good stuff there, and some spirited disagreements with O’Reilly’s position.)
Also, because I didn’t make it clear in my previous comment: I think the artist has an absolute right to control what’s being done to her work and how it’s distributed, and that those of you who are choosing to track down your books and wish to kick the people providing the electronic copies in their electronic nuts should definitely go for it.
~Big names may not care~
Oh, yes, we do.
When someone steals from me, I care. My agent cares because it’s stealing from her. My publisher cares for the same reason.
What I don’t care about is the idea that those who pirate or access pirated books wouldn’t buy it anyway so it doesn’t effect sales. Even if I agreed that was true, so what? Somebody’s still stealing from me.
Can’t pay as an excuse or a reason? Bullshit.
Being poor or strapped for cash doesn’t mean you’re entitled to my work for free any more than you’re entitled to those pretty earrings in the department store unless you pay for them first.
Libraries serve a fine purpose. Use them.
On the “too small to be pirated” issue—small press author I may be, but going by the torrent feeds, there are people out there who like my stuff enough to pirate it. Which is why I get peeved by O’Reilly’s attitude of “you authors who are pirated should be *grateful* you’re being pirated”. I understand the point he’s making, but he’s got a rather unrealistic view of how far down the pecking order you have to be before you don’t get pirated.
Scalzi’s a lot more realistic. There are those who can’t afford to pay, and there are those who can afford to pay but choose not to. I think he’s far too soft on the latter, and yes, the former may well turn into paying customers when they can afford to do so.
All I can offer is proof…
Back in the early days of Audiogalaxy it was an elaborate music pirate site.
Probably one of the best ever created.
When I had complete access to all that music my cd collection grew by at least 1/3. We are talking hundreds of CDs and BIG MONEY for the music industry and the unknown artists I discovered was made off my purchases.
They closed Audiogalaxy down and I really just don’t buy unknown artists anymore.
So people worrying about this really need to think the whole thing through. It is not the same as shoplifting and it is proven it actually benefits new artists. In fact some very intelligent artists have put things on torrent just to get noticed.
~It is not the same as shoplifting~
Here’s why I think it is.
This is my work. I’ve created it, and it’s my livelihood. To make this living, I sell the work—though an agent who gets a commission on the sale—to a publisher. The publisher sells the book to bookstores and other venues. I get a portion of those sales, the publisher gets a portion, and the bookstore gets a portion. This is how we all make our living.
If someone comes into the bookstore, and can’t afford to pay, doesn’t want to pay, or thinks: I wonder if I’d like this book, I want to try it and see—and walks out with the book without paying, it’s shoplifting. This person took a product and didn’t pay for it.
A book in e-form is still the work, still my livelihood, and goes through the same process of sale and publication, just not on paper. Someone takes that book, that product, and doesn’t pay for it stole from me.
Want a free sample? Want to see if my work might be to your taste? Go to my website. I’m happy for you to sample a chapter. I’m equally happy for you to go to the library and borrow the book to check it out. I’m delighted if you go to the used bookstore and find one someone else bought then turned in, and only have to pay a buck for it.
If a new writer, an established writer, whatever, opts to offer their work on a piracy site in hopes to gain new readers, get exposure, that’s their right. It may work, and congratulations if so.
But if I don’t opt to do so, nobody has the right to do it for me. If they do, they’re stealing.
Well Nora, that might also be the same argument that could be used to shut down libraries.
You are not taking human behavior into account and being overly simplistic in the same way the Music Industry is.
Metallica back in 2000 got itself involved in all this mess about piracy over Napster at the time and basically came out looking like greedy assholes. In 2007, Metallica was named #17 on Blender magazine’s list of “biggest wusses in rock” for their public relations fiasco.
All I can say is after Audiogalaxy was shut down I just stopped really trying to hunt down new music.
So I am not arguing about your legal rights to litigate as you wish, I am saying this is absolutely the case of Penny-Wise, Pound-Foolish and that looking like assholes will turn people off to an artist as well as an industry just like I was turned off.
I took my money and did not spend it on music. Like many others did.
~Well Nora, that might also be the same argument that could be used to shut down libraries.~
How? Libraries buy the books. Libraries are legal.
I don’t know about the music industry, or what Metallica did or didn’t do—but I can’t blame them if they came out against the piracy.
How is it looking like an asshole to want to be paid for my work, and to object to an illegal activity? Why are we considered greedy to expect readers to pay for our work?
You should Nora, I’d go and read up on it before stepping into this mess thinking the whole thing is just so simple.
The argument you make seems legit just like it did to Metallica and the RIAA etc etc etc.
But… When have people ever been reasonable? You have heard the Music Industry is in trouble right?
John Scalzi makes some really good consumer behavior/street smart points so I won’t go over it again.
The fact is for me one pirated copy of a song might was making several sales on albums. That’s how it worked for me back in the day.
I don’t think people have changed that much.
I’m confused. Plagiarism is ohmigodbad! and ethically wrong but stealing an entire body of work instead of paying for it is…just the breaks and something authors and publishers should just accept as one of those things?
But… When have people ever been reasonable?
Truer words have never been spoken.
~You should Nora, I’d go and read up on it before stepping into this mess thinking the whole thing is just so simple.~
Teddy, I don’t think you’re understanding me. To me it is simple. Piracy is illegal.
I work, and work hard to produce a book—a lot of other people work hard to publish and distribute that book. We all deserve to be paid.
If some think this makes me greedy or short-sighted, then that’s what they’ll have to think.
I have been lurking in these forums for a while. I would like to add something to this discussion: I don’t think I saw anyone mention the fact that in the mind of many readers who purchase digital copies of a book, they strongly believe that it is their right to do with their digital copy as they please. This means a number of them do visit those sites and “swap” NOT pirate, books with other readers that also purchase digital copies. As Teddy said, it is not as simple as “they are stealing from me”.
Additionally, in the case of music, it was Napster who put the whole issue of music swapping on the headlines, and ended up with the mother of all lawsuits, but music swapping had been happening online for a long time before they came into the picture. The only thing Napster did was create a simple and viable peer-to-peer file sharing program. Before that, people were using FTP, instant messenger software, emails, etc. to do so. The MP3 compressed file format made it super easy, even in slow connections, to music swap. I used to belong to the Napster community back in 1998, but when the lawsuits exploded, I stopped. I now pay for a subscription music service. I use Rhapsody to Go.
I don’t know if there would be a solution to book swapping, though. As I said, many readers who paid for their digital copies of books strongly feel that the book is theirs to do as they please, and if they want to swap it is their option. They don’t consider it that different from what some readers do when they sell their second hand books in eBay or half.com.
Personally, I do purchase all my books. And if I don’t have the money at one given time, I just make a list and get it when the budget allows. However, I have a decent paying job, I don’t know where would I stand if I were deprived of reading material for not having the financial means to get it or didn’t have a library available.
I don’t know if there would be a solution to book swapping, though. As I said, many readers who paid for their digital copies of books strongly feel that the book is theirs to do as they please, and if they want to swap it is their option. They don’t consider it that different from what some readers do when they sell their second hand books in eBay or half.com.
I had a long conversation with Jane of Dear Author about this earlier in the week, ironically enough. I’m actually fine with the issue of swapping with one or two people, I brought up the same question you raised, about people feeling they “own” the book and should do with it what they like. I an sympathize with that because like Jane says, buying and owning an ebook can be a little draconian—can’t return it, sell it or swap it. I own thousands of ebooks, trust me, I feel that pain.
But how do you control who you’re swapping it to? How do you know the person you swap with isn’t going to swap to someone who’s going to post it on a file sharing site?
Unfortunately, sharing digital files can’t be compared to paper copies, because of the speed at which they can be shared. You don’t have to have read it first to share it, you can buy it and send it to 100 of your friends, or in the case of file sharing, thousands of complete strangers. To do the same with a paper copy, would take months, probably years.
I know some people think I’m exaggerating this, but there was a book of ours shared on a site. I found it after it had only been posted for TWO HOURS. In that two hours, almost 100 copies had been downloaded. The book had only been available for sale for a very short time and that 100 copies equaled 10% of the sales to date. It also equaled almost $250 out of the author’s pocket. Can any of you say you’d be okay with someone walking up to you on the street and stealing the money you had earmarked for your car bill, your insurance, heat, electric or groceries for the month?
It’s really not a victimless crime, unfortunately.
What ever happened to the idea that if you can’t afford something, you did without?
But these people can afford a computer with sufficient memory and the electricity to run it and all that, so I don’t buy the poverty excuse.
I don’t think you’re understanding me.
Oh I do, but this is very much like arguing for teaching only abstinence in school because teenage sex is wrong and immoral.
You are not going to stop that behavior anymore than you or anyone else can stop file sharing.
I am more impressed by people who are smart enough to leverage even bad consumer behavior in a mutually beneficial rational way and make them into opportunities for sales, public education, and eventually profit.
I don’t have the actual statistics handy, but libraries purchase a significant percentage of all books sold. And they don’t purchase just one book. They purchase multiple copies of a title, and they replace popular things when they wear out.
So, if people want to go to the library and get stuff for free? For people that have No money, there is a perfectly good system in place for them to get all the free reading they want. Writers get paid. Everybody’s happy.
And personally, I’m not spending time agonzing over UBS’s and garage sales, because somebody bought those books at least once, and they are only going to sell the one copy they bought.
There are also authors giving books and ebooks away for free. So it’s not like we are seeking, as an industry, to totally deny access. We just want control over what goes out.
But the pirate site I visited yesterday, looking for my stuff (which was not there, thank God), had Paypal donation buttons next to the download lists. These people aren’t sharing with the poor out of the goodness of their hearts. They are trying to make a fast buck off someone else’s work. And they are able to make mulitple sales off a thing they only bought once.
It may not seem like a big deal, or a lot of money. But most writers don’t make that much. We’re not trying to be assholes about this. But doing some quick math:
I make something like 40 cents on a paperback. If someone steals 250 copies, that’s 100 dollars. So, kind of like taking a week’s worth of groceries out of the mouths of my kids.
Will we survive? Yeah. The freezer’s full. But we’re not talking about loose change.
The whole ‘wusses and assholes’ arguement is based on the idea that the big guys are making money, and screwing the poor. But the poor can get their reading free and legal. And a lot of writers who are getting ripped off have writing incomes near or below poverty level.
And the bottom line is, stealing is still stealing.
The whole ‘wusses and assholes’ arguement is based on the idea that the big guys are making money, and screwing the poor.
This was an observation based on several articles I have read on the whole deal not actually an argument.
The magazine poll of it’s readers and the actions that Metallica took are all facts as are what the public’s reaction was to them.
~Oh I do, but this is very much like arguing for teaching only abstinence in school because teenage sex is wrong and immoral.!
No, it’s not. Sex, even for teenagers, isn’t against the law. Morals and ethics aside, piracy is illegal.
Angela illustrated a very good reason why.
Can’t afford the book? Don’t buy the book. You are not allowed to take it just because you want it.
Okay, Teddy, just for fun, let’s pretend and make this more personal for you, because I’m trying to understand your position.
Let’s say you’re writing a book ;), and that book is contracted by us for publication. And it’s published on February 10th (tomorrow). Every week, I do a search of a few file sharing sites I know of and kill the links to our books that I see. On Tuesday, after the book has only been available for purchase for a couple days, I find your book on one or more of those file sharing sites (since once it hits one it usually hits the other). People have only been able to buy your book for two days, but you’re telling me you’d want me to ignore any links to the free downloads of your book and let the good people who hang at those sites have it, because otherwise you’d look like an asshole for objecting to file sharing? Is that right?
When fans love your work they tend to want to share their enthusiasm and in doing so usually share their books or their albums.
When you start labeling fans “thieves” you lose them.
Ms. Roberts, one of the pirated sites I’ve seen has been diligently sharing your work, and the work of other authors, with more than 2,000 people in its community ring.
Scalzi’s remarks have a particular logic to them, but when I’ve read commentary on this piracy site like “Oh, thank you so much! Now that I can get these for free, I can spend my money on other cool stuff,” it makes me less inclined to believe this is the starving poor too destitute to buy a book or spend the gas to drive to the library and check the title out for free.