'Elitist': angry book pirates hit back after author campaign sinks website

Toby Frost

Toby Frost

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This is quite an interesting story about the taking-down of a website devoted to piracy. Note the very trendy use of "elitist" to mean "something I don't like".

'Elitist': angry book pirates hit back after author campaign sinks website

Two things spring to mind. First, and obviously, piracy is stealing, and stealing is wrong.

Second, I think there is a widespread, if largely unspoken, belief that if you enjoy creating something, you don't have the right to expect to be paid for it. This is rubbish, of course. Loads of people who enjoy their work very much expect to be paid a lot for it. I see no reason why authors should be any different.
 
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For me, the most interesting part is at the bottom:

“Perhaps the only way forward is something like Spotify for books ... while OceanofPDF has gone for now, piracy is never going away.”

Things like Spotify and Youtube are crap for creators - but they're less crap than getting nothing. The question is whether some piracy and other people paying full price is a better deal than less piracy but most people paying a far lower price - because, as mentioned, piracy isn't going away.

I mean, we have Prime Unlimited... but that's not going to scratch anyone's itch in terms of getting the best books whenever they want regardless.
 
I tried it once on OceanofPDF.
It turned out to be a really crap unpublished copy that hadn't had the final edits.
It came with the added bonus of 2 virus malware thingies.
Lesson learned, stuff deleted and back to looking for cheap deals on Amazon!
 
Toby, it's bizarre. As if authors either survive on no money or only write for fun whilst holding down a 'proper job' as well.
 
thaddeus6th said:
Toby, it's bizarre. As if authors either survive on no money or only write for fun whilst holding down a 'proper job' as well.
Click to expand...

If its bizarre, the whole human race has gone bizarre.

Jo Zebedee said:
The best combat I heard for this was a year or so ago, where the author pre released a copy onto pirated sites, which held the first couple of chapters and then a link to the main book. That copy flooded the sites.
Click to expand...

Was that Maggie Stiefvater? If that's even how she spells her name?

In any case, I thought that one was very clever. Full marks.
 
I enjoyed my job in the nuclear industry for thirty two years. I expected to get paid for it and I did. I don't see why a writer should be treated any differently. Most people who are thieves don't like it when they are called exactly what they are because most thieves are also hypocrites, and would be the first to whine if somebody stole from them.
 
One of the comments that got to me was the "What if I've lost my copy of the book?" So following that logic if I buy a smart phone and then lose it it's fine to go out a steal a replacement?

Sadly I think this problem is only going to get worse. Taking this site down is like putting a wildfire out using a thimble to carry the water. When I'm googling for information on a book there are always links to torrent downloads and other such that appear on the search page. Any novel that is even vaguely popular will have multiple pirate copies floating around the web.

I'm really not sure what the solution is.
 
Vertigo, I agree with your sentiment. The problem will always be there, but the way to try and diminish it as much as possible is for readers to realise most authors make peanuts, and if they can't even make that then the very authors they enjoy reading (for free...) won't be writing much more. Hunting down pirates won't work, it's got to be a logical/cultural appeal to reason. And that won't work for everyone, but it'll have some positive impact.
 
If someone can get it for free (by legal means or not), and thinks they can get away with it (which they often can), then there will be MANY who will take that route, often justifying it with "just this one time."

It will not change. In fact, this will get worse before it gets better.

That said, you might think to yourself 'well, I'll just publish on paper, forget digital media.' Okay, however in this day and age and especially with the youth almost totally converting to paperless... in fact if they can't view it on a screen, many don't want it, then you'll be cutting your own throat as to sales, and naturally marketing in this era.

So, say you choose that route... I can tell you for a fact that even paper books are routinely tore apart and scanned into a digital format. No matter how obscure or lacking in demand. Now I suppose you could 'invent' a reflective paper or ink that distorts a bounced image, but, I can assure you in no time someone will come up with digital filters to counter that (if they don't already exist).

In my opinion, a writers best bet is to write, and push publishing houses or sites to implement and develop better encryption, distribution and counter-sharing techniques.

It is shameful, but will only get worse imo.

K2
 
I seem to remember (we may have discussed it here) that an author decided to stop writing altogether four or five years ago because her work was being pirated so much. She received a torrent of abuse for ‘denying her (pirating) readers the enjoyment of her work’.

Words fail me.
 
@Jo Zebedee I'd never heard of "Blasty" before, that sounds at least like a partial solution. Can you comment further?
 
Mosaix, unfortunately, the internet not only allows good people to find one another, it can also lead to conclaves of imbeciles too.
 
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