Re: What kinds of Books are pirated and made into EBooks?

--- In [email protected], "Bill C" <bczygan@...> wrote:
> I ask this question because I wonder what the real effect is on the marketplace from pirating.

Moderate, I expect.

> Who pirates?

Thieves.

> What do they pirate?

Romance, romantica, SF/F, and mysteries, mostly.

> What do they do with the pirated material?

Some actually read what they steal. Others are just compulsive 'collectors' who make big piles of petty thefts and brag 'mine is bigger than yours' to fellow thieves.

> What are the actual changes in the number of books bought as the result of the piracy.

Pirates don't turn in monthly reports, so nobody really knows.
Anyone who says he knows is deluded or trying to delude others for some reason.

> I'd be interested in some statistics from surveys on some of these questions.

Prob'ly have to run your own surveys, then.

> Even anecdotal evidence would be interesting.

Google 'ebook piracy' sometime.

> Let me give you some personal experience.

Here we go. Buckle up, y'all.

> I obtain free EBooks whenever I can. I don't know if I'm like most EBook collectors, but this is what I do. I collect them. I collect them in any subject that interests me. They are about half and half, technical and fiction (Novels). They are probably half and half legal and not. I'm not concerned if they are legal or not.

Redundant. We knew that when you said they were half and half.

> The technical ones I keep for reference and rarely read or even refer to them. The novels I collect mostly just to have, but have read a few.

Like I said, 'collector'. Of stolen goods. A thief.


> I am among the very few people who don't mind reading on a laptop or even on my cell phone.

Um... that's something else you might want to run as a survey.
A pretty big bunch of people are reading on such things.

> With one or two exceptions, I would not have bought any of the technical books as either print books or EBooks. The novels I would have bought as thrift shop books, if available. I would not have purchased any of the novels for bookstore prices either in soft or hardback. Neither would I have purchased them as EBooks unless in maybe the 50 cent range with no DRM and with great presentation in the way of fonts, layout and visual, audio and even video added content.

You're kinda cheap, huh? No surprise there.

> The one irritation I have is that more material is not available in EBook form.

You pore lil' thang! Such deprivation!
(Blot faux sympathy off carefully. It tends to take the skin with it when you wipe.)

> Typically, the things available are the popular items. Harry Potter and big fat Wiley reference books. Anything esoteric isn't available.

Hm. What's your idea of 'esoteric'?

> I'm not interested in copying and distributing books or selling them.

Of course not. Not you. Never.

> I do, however, count on others doing so. The only exceptions to this are owners and operators and service manuals for airplanes and other recreational craft that I do copy and share for free.

Well, only sorta 'never', right?

> So what does this mean for publishers? Using me as an example, I would suppose the following:
> If your work is not mass market, it won't be copied, and I won't be able or willing to collect it.
> If your work is mass market, it will be copied and I'll collect it, but I wouldn't have bought it anyway.
> I'm not in the market for any of your new printed book or EBook sales at present prices, so you're not losing any sales to me.

None of the above comes as any sort of shock. I'd bet most of those reading this had already figured all of that out way back there.

> How many people are like me?

Read the police reports regarding petty thieves and shoplifters.
You can probably extrapolate some sort of number while making some wonderful new friends along the way. (But don't let any of them into your house. A thief is a thief, after all. The temptation might be too much for them.)

> Of all the copied files, how many people would have bought a legal copy?

Among honest people who amass collections of illegal copies, you mean? Heh.

Answer: None. Thieves don't buy what they can steal.

> How many get a copy and also buy one in print or EBook form?

Same answer as above.

> Comments?

Yup. You've confessed to being a selective opportunistic thief, Bill.
Why should anyone ever trust you not to steal from them, as well?
Ed




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