Authors Not Getting Paid: Guest Thoughts about Piracy
Piracy increases discoverability. For writers who aren't yet famous, this may be a net positive. Also, it's doubtless true that many more ebooks are downloaded than are read. Some people who download have a hoarder's mindset, and they want to have every text and every song that they might one day want to read or listen to. Every download does not represent a lost sale. What I find troubling is that there are three models for monetizing pirated content. One is a subscription service: Pay a fee to download as much content as you want. (Some such arrangements are legitimate and have licensed rights or have public-domain content. Others are pirates.) Or link hubs that generate a lot of traffic and sells advertising based on user visits. And, finally, there are eBay pirates who sometimes don't know that they are pirates. I've shut down dozens of these when I've found my work included on DVD libraries. Sellers typically post some boiler-plate language about how all...