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

>
> No, you misunderstand. These are serious questions. I am interested in what
> real effects there are in Ebook piracy. I read this list, and there is a lot
> of discussion of it. In fact, it permeates the list. A year or so ago, there
> was much more talk of protection, but that sees to have tapered of a bit.
> But nowhere does there seem to be real information. I used myself as an
> example to spark some discussion. We could talk of my morals, but what I am
> really interested in, and the reason I opened myself up in such a vulnerable
> fashion for, is to find out if there really is a serious measurable
> consequence to authors and publishers. What are your thoughts?
>


My thoughts... Yes, there are measurable consequences. Not in dollars per
book pirated, because it doesn't work that way, but consequences. They
include the following...

Lost contracts. When a book doesn't sell (and if it's being pirated all over
creation, those copies aren't selling, no matter that one pirate in a
thousand will report they bought a book after pirating that book), the
publisher chooses not to continue buying from that author, and no further
contracts are extended. If it's a NY author, the author may further not be
able to get another publisher, because they can check past sales. One NY
Times bestseller I know (no joke) has her publisher asking her to make her
next few "books" in a popular series into novellas in anthologies, because
she's being pirated so much the sales are down on the novel-length works in
the series, compared to the first book. I'm on a list with more than a
thousand of her avid readers, and we're furious!

In indie, you've got a little more breathing room, but many perks authors
get are based on reaching the publisher's bestseller list, resell site
bestseller list, winning awards, etc. You've cut their exposure to the quick
by pirating the book, because decreasing sales takes away the perks they get
from the publisher that help the books sell to still other readers that
aren't pirating. I sometimes see this one personally. It burns me up when I
miss the bestseller of the month, and I find thousands of pirated copies in
that month. 5% of what I find pirated would push me back into the running
for bestseller again. It's enough to make some authors wish they would never
be noticed by a pirate.

Authors giving up publishing. It does happen, and it often happens because
authors are so frustrated and tired of fighting pirates, losing contracts,
and seeing the money bleed away, they simply give up and write for
themselves. Who can blame them? When you're hoping to get the kids a happy
meal, and there are hundreds or thousands of copies being passed free...
It's disheartening.

Worse is seeing pirates heisting books you donated to charity. Give it a
rest, people! If I donate a story or book to premature babies, fire or flood
victims, autistic children, cancer victims... What sort of malfunction is in
someone's head that they think they need a free read more than someone else
needs a cure or treatment or necessities after a disaster? That's crap
thinking.

Publishers going out of businesses. I know a lot of pirates have the gross
misconception that all publishers are NY conglomerates and run by greedy
boards and stockholders, but the truth is that there are 6 NY conglomerate
publishers (4 of which are foreign owned, if you want a real laugh), and in
the US alone, there are more than 70,000 small, medium, and self-publishers
out there. Those are single proprietorship, partnership, and maybe LLC.
There are no greedy stockholders or boards involved. If piracy hurts NY, it
is capable of (and has done so) killing a small indie press. The owners of
these companies do it for love. They have to, because they stand to lose
money for the first 3-7 years, and they aren't getting rich after that.

For that matter, neither are the authors. The fallacy of the author with a
couple of yachts is just that. Whether we're talking NY or indie, the
blockbuster author (like Nora Roberts, Stephen King, Rowlings, or Dan Brown)
is less than one in 10,000 authors in NY. No one in indie is making that
money. Even NY Times bestsellers are reporting that they often take home
less than $35,000 in a couple years total on a bestseller. Why? Because the
bestsellers are not based on sales. They are based on ORDERS. You can make
that list without selling a single book, because they order, don't sell, and
return/strip. And while authors make a decent percentage in indie/e, NY
authors' cut of the pie is miniscule, and if they have agents, they lose
even more of that slice.

Brenna
-- 
http://www.brennalyons.com    http://www.facebook.com/brenna.lyons
2-time EPIC's e-Book Award WINNER! "Powers or no, the Kielan are their own
worst enemies, caught up in systematic, stagnated tradition, lost to the
hypocrisy of classism, and defenseless despite their psi powers. Time
Currents is a tale that I won’t soon forget." Patrice F. for Joyfully
Reviewed


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------------
Post a message:   ebook-community [[at]] *
Unsubscribe:      ebook-community-unsubscribe [[at]] *
Switch to digest: ebook-community-digest [[at]] *
Switch to normal: ebook-community-normal [[at]] *
Put mail on hold: ebook-community-nomail [[at]] *
Administrator:    ebook-community-owner [[at]] *

(* == yahoogroups.com)
-------------------------------------------------------Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ebook-community/

<*> Your email settings:
    Individual Email | Traditional

<*> To change settings online go to:
    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ebook-community/join
    (Yahoo! ID required)

<*> To change settings via email:
    [email protected] 
    ebook-community-fullfeatured-hHKSG33TihhbjbujkaE4pw@public.gmane.org

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
    ebook-community-unsubscribe-hHKSG33TihhbjbujkaE4pw@public.gmane.org

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
    http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/