I'm still slammed, but I had to dash off a quick blog to address the rash of illegal file sharing of my books that's been taking place in the past few weeks.
I've received 10 google alerts in the past week. 8 were for people sharing my books illegally on rapid share sites. And all those sites have had hundreds (or sometimes even thousands) of downloads.
People ask why my series wasn't continued. Honestly, the sales weren't as good as the first book, and I believe illegal file sharing plays its part in that.
It also plays a part in making me seriously rethink taking the time to self-publish an ebook finishing the Megan Berry series. I know it will end up being illegally shared. I KNOW it. And I don't know that I can afford that. Financially, it would hurt me. Emotionally, it would continue to destroy what little faith I have that people aren't complete ass hats who suck butt and care nothing for anyone but themselves. (I really want to believe in humanity, but humanity keeps doing it's damnedest to prove it is anything but kind.)
I haven't made a call for sure about axing the ebook, and I really do want to finish the series for all the great readers who've written me email, but I will say this: I'm bummed. Deeply bummed. And to all you people illegally sharing and downloading my books I say this: You Suck. You deeply suck and I hope your computer is infected with a nasty virus and a plague of locusts descends upon your house.
All you illegal downloaders have a crappy rest of your weekend,
Stacey
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15 comments:
Oh Stacey. That's so sad. I really hope you do continue with the series. I'm a huge fan.
People who download illegally don't understand the impact they're having. Hopefully, now they've read this, they'll understand and stop.
They do suck. But please write the ebook. I just found your series and devoured it (my poor little 2 year old didn't have much of a mom for the last day and a half). I would love to feel closure on the story. My husband is a writer too so I do get it though. People suck.
I hate that there is always those few people that ruin it for everyone. I don't understand the way some people think, if you like an author or an artist you should support them, not hinder their success. It's frustrating for all of us. It sucks that you have to make a decision like this at all.
As a frequent internet pirate who steals all kinds of media (although I didn't steal your book), I have to defend those who share material.
When it's good, we buy it anyway. That's not a judgement on your books. I read your blog and have for several years now. I haven't read your books because I would like to purchase them when I do.
Don't fear piracy, it's free marketing. It's far more difficult to find pirated books than anything else (not because of security, books just are not as popular as movies, music, television, and pornography, sadly). Suffice to say, if a book isn't about art conspiracies or sparkly vampires, it's not going to be easy to find. That your books have been pirated, and someone is downloading them, means that they went to a fair amount of trouble to obtain a copy of the book.
Those are the kind of fans who will come back with money when they have it and, more importantly, have very nice things to say about the book when people ask them if they've read anything good lately.
I'm sorry that you didn't consent to the internet stealing your book, but, as an author there is no such thing as too many people reading your work.
Thanks Chanelle. I don't think my blog readership is big enough to stop the madness, but I did feel compelled to say something (though others have said it better and with more eloquence.)
Hey Wendy! I will try. I promise. Right now the thought of adding something else to my schedule makes me want to cry (a lot), but I am going to do my best to work that final novella in as promised. I hate to break my promises, even if I have good reason. Like pirating or extreme exhaustion.
Hey Erin. It does suck, and it sucks that people don't realize how much we little people (as opposed to super big time best sellers) depend on their support.
And Mahoney...I take issue with almost everything you said (respectfully of course). I don't think piracy is okay, no matter what you're pirating. You can use the exposure argument all you'd like, but the fact of the matter is that I am a small bread bakery right now. I make bread. If people steal it, or get used to stealing bread in general--instead of paying for it--I don't make the money I need to continue buying ingredients to make more bread. Soon, I will have to close down my bakery, no matter how much the paying customers enjoy the product. I just won't have the funds to continue and when those people who stole from me finally get around to saving enough cash to buy that bread they enjoyed--which I'm not sure really happens, as in my experience thieves get used to taking without paying and tend to continue in the practice--it will no longer be available. Because I will be out bagging groceries at the local Shop n Save (if they'll take me, my spatial relation skills are good, but I hear it's a hard job market) in order to provide for my children. The end. We shall have to agree to disagree--strongly--on this issue.
S
I just have to say that they really do stink! It's people like us who buy your books and other things the legal way who suffer. It happens all too often and its saddens me. I really love your YA books and I want to tell those people who wish to take what is not theirs to think again. If you really want something then take the time to pay for it! This is something that has annoyed me to no end Stacey.
Don't be discouraged, there's a lot more people who think enough of you and your work to pay for what you have done. (And it's not like it’s a $17 hard back either!! Geez pirates)
Hey Angela,
Thank you! And I totally hear you on the hardback. That's why I"m working my butt off to make my first hardback release DANG good. I want to make sure my readers are getting their money's worth ;).
Hugs,
S
Mahoney-
It's an interesting theory, this idea that piracy leads to more sales than you'd have with no piracy. I don't believe it in the slightest, but I have an open mind. Can you prove it with numbers? Show me a business case with a positive net present value for piracy and I'm sold.
-Jay
I agree and not only SUCKS for authors for people like me who spend hundred of dollars in books it's not cool at all.
I don't know you or your work. I curiously clicked into this thread based on a facebook post.
It is clear to me that you see piracy as a cancer, overpowering and eventually killing the good people out there who are honest. But they are not. They are merely barnacles attaching themselves to a larger vessel. The more famous a work becomes, the more interest it drums up, both from those willing to pay as well as those unwilling.
As a child I would record music from the radio, or go to a library and photocopy poems from books. I had my ways of enjoying the things that I loved, any way I could afford it. But, as an adult, I love the feeling of leather bound pages in my hand. I love the feeling of turning a leaf of paper and the anticipation of the upcoming words, and equally loathe the disappointment of learning that those words are hackneyed and stale.
As for your stories... tell them, or don't. The choice is yours. If you think that the time that you spent writing is not worth the remuneration, then do something else. If the story is restively yearning to be told, then putting pen to paper is its own compensation.
Go Jay. With your numbers. It's your birthday. Come get down to brass tacks on my blog any time!
AMEN Michelle. Hugs to you for your support of books in general. Good on you.
And turranos...when you said "putting pen to paper should be its own reward." Um. Yeah. I think I'll start telling my doctor that saving my health is his own reward. I'm sure the bill collectors will quit sniffing around then. Sorry, but that's ridiculous. People who work hard and create a quality product that people enjoy and/or need should be compensated for their work with money. It's the way our society works, the way we support our families. I'm not asking to be a millionaire. I'm asking to continue making minimum wage or maybe better when my books start to gain a larger paying audience. That's it. I really dislike this belief that being an artist (of any breed) automatically means you shouldn't expect to get paid. Everyone who works hard should expect to get paid. The end.
Glad to see some talking going on around here!
Stacey
Way to go stacy. Its just people feaking finding a way to justify what's wrong. Then they don't have to feel guilty about it. All I can say is gerr!
Afroman "Because I Got High" is a song you would never have heard without file sharing. Whatever merits, or lack thereof, the song has for the artistic community as a whole, it has made Joseph Foreman a lot of bread.
OK GO, Family Guy, Justin Bieber, South Park. Schmoyo (the autotune the news guys) I could cherry pick examples of people made wealthy and famous by internet file sharing all day, but then so could someone arguing the counterpoint. There are plenty of examples of both, so to say that all piracy is bad and all piracy is done with rosy hearted intentions is intellectually disingenuous.
The point being that file sharing provides a distribution network independent of a profit motive. The public decides how far and wide to spread your art depending on how much they like it or only to markets where it's sales research figures projected heavy volume.
I understand how difficult it is to write AND make a living from it. But no one suggested any such thing. Even TS Eliot spent part of his as a school teacher.
While I wholly agree with Ms Jay's "stealing bread is wrong" analogy, it's not exactly apt, because at the end of the day a baker can eat his unsold, and unstolen, bread. Because intellectual property provides no sustenance or shelter, it's only worth as much as a person is willing to pay for it. What troubles artists about piracy is not their loss of income, because an artist creates regardless of patronage, but the idea that their artistry was stolen because someone out there appraised its value as relatively worthless.
In closing, I'll leave you with two examples of positive file sharing to profit generating experiments. MC Paul Barman and Tim Fite, both bands, released their most recent albums for free. Users who downloaded the album were then directed to pay as much as they like for it with a suggested donation of five/ten dollars. I bought both albums. The other is closer to home, there is a really terrible book called "God Wants You Dead" but, in the opening, the author's say, here's what we did, download it for free and you can pay us what you like if you like it. I didn't like it, but I made the donation anyway because the book did it's job... it helped me pass the time in the bathroom.
Either way, I hope that your future attempts to sell your writing meet with success. And thank you for the many delightful blog posts.
Afroman "Because I Got High" is a song you would never have heard without file sharing. Whatever merits, or lack thereof, the song has for the artistic community as a whole, it has made Joseph Foreman a lot of bread.
OK GO, Family Guy, Justin Bieber, South Park. Schmoyo (the autotune the news guys) I could cherry pick examples of people made wealthy and famous by internet file sharing all day, but then so could someone arguing the counterpoint. There are plenty of examples of both, so to say that all piracy is bad and all piracy is done with rosy hearted intentions is intellectually disingenuous.
The point being that file sharing provides a distribution network independent of a profit motive. The public decides how far and wide to spread your art depending on how much they like it or only to markets where it's sales research figures projected heavy volume.
I understand how difficult it is to write AND make a living from it. But no one suggested any such thing. Even TS Eliot spent part of his as a school teacher.
While I wholly agree with Ms Jay's "stealing bread is wrong" analogy, it's not exactly apt, because at the end of the day a baker can eat his unsold, and unstolen, bread. Because intellectual property provides no sustenance or shelter, it's only worth as much as a person is willing to pay for it. What troubles artists about piracy is not their loss of income, because an artist creates regardless of patronage, but the idea that their artistry was stolen because someone out there appraised its value as relatively worthless.
In closing, I'll leave you with two examples of positive file sharing to profit generating experiments. MC Paul Barman and Tim Fite, both bands, released their most recent albums for free. Users who downloaded the album were then directed to pay as much as they like for it with a suggested donation of five/ten dollars. I bought both albums. The other is closer to home, there is a really terrible book called "God Wants You Dead" but, in the opening, the author's say, here's what we did, download it for free and you can pay us what you like if you like it. I didn't like it, but I made the donation anyway because the book did it's job... it helped me pass the time in the bathroom.
Either way, I hope that your future attempts to sell your writing meet with success. And thank you for the many delightful blog posts.
I was home recovering from surgery to remove a cancerous tumor. Your books entertained me. I was able to get them from a library. I just recommended that my library buy them. I will be very disappointed if there are no more to this series. I love them and I am really looking forward to another.
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