Avast, me hearties, there be book pirates abroad!
Seriously though, ebook piracy is an issue, especially as more and more of publishing content goes electronic (because let’s face it: scanning in all the pages of a novel is so not worth avoiding even $25 for a hardcover in most pirate’s minds). There are book pirates sailing the interwebs and pilfering plunder left and right. Some believe this is not a serious problem, while others probably place book piracy as a crime that earns the pirate a hanging.
The “Publicity” View
While I was at WorldCon, I listened while Eric Flint articulated the lackadaisical viewpoint. To him, pirates and people who got his books from them represented a population of people who may not have read his books otherwise. He did not feel that the piracy represented lost sales or really chipped into his income much, so he didn’t see much of a reason to track down anyone who threw up a pirated version of one of his books. The vibe I got was that he sees pirating as a sort of free publicity, and that the dissemination of his stories got his name out and fed other sales. This is a completely valid viewpoint and probably describes many people’s e-pirate experiences.
The “Killing Profitability” View
Another individual I spoke to at WorldCon had a very different perspective. He had put out a book that was widely anticipated, critically acclaimed, and a heck of a lot of fun for him to put together. He was freaking proud of this book. Someone asked if there was going to be a sequel or follow-up to it and sadly, he had to say no. Along with being the most anticipated book he had, it was also the most pirated book he’d ever put out (and he works at a publishing company, so I’m not just talking about his books). He said that if every individual who uploaded the book (we’re not talking downloads, here–these are just people uploading the pirated file) had paid for it legally, he’d be able to put out a sequel in a heartbeat. However, the book didn’t earn enough for there to be a sequel in today’s publishing climate. This is also a completely valid viewpoint, and while I don’t have the testimonials to back it up, it probably describes many people’s e-pirating experiences.
My View
Given these two viewpoints, what do I think?
Piracy is not okay.
Now, maybe there isn’t a ton you can do about it, seeing as litigation is (most of the time) more trouble than it’s worth and making sure people can share your book as easily as a physical copy is very important to a lot of authors, so DRM isn’t super popular (that and it just presents a challenge many pirates enjoy). I agree that free book-sharing has been around for a while in the form of lending between friends and from libraries, and I’m keen on finding an equivalent for ebooks.
But that’s just it: the free sharing of content used to be lending. If you decided the book (or whatever) was something you wanted forever you paid for it or took it off an uninterested party’s hands. Electronic duplicates are limitless, and people are keeping them permanently. If you like something enough to want your own copy, you should pay to make it your own. The story belongs to the author, and to everyone else who worked to make it what it is, and owning a piece of that should come at a price unless the creator(s) decide differently.
Readers should reward the people who created the thing they want, those who shaped it, and those who brought it to readers’ attention. If you want it, those people obviously did a good job. With a story you’ll have forever, that job is probably worth more than the cost of a latte or a soda. If it isn’t, you probably have very little business in keeping it longer than a latte or soda would last you.
Most of you reading this aren’t book pirates, so you hardly need that lecture. But I’ve heard some people say that authors or publishers who price their ebooks “high” ($9.99 or above) are just asking for piracy.
Nobody asks to be robbed. That’s like the argument that a woman who wears a short skirt is asking to be raped. (Can you see her in the store, trying it on, and relishing the thought that this would be the skirt that would finally get her raped?) When someone prices something, it’s because they believe the product is worth that much. So I wish people would stop justifying theft by saying price-setters are asking for it. If someone can’t stop themselves from stealing a $14 book, they need a lot more moral help than your justification will ever give them.
How to Deal with It
On a much lighter note, if your work is out there and you want to do what you can to keep the pirates down, set up a Google Alert for your title and your name, and any keywords you think would partner with a pirate’s search. When you find an illegal copy, send word to the point of contact at your publisher who handles such things or serve up a boilerplate desist letter you’ve gotten from someone with the legal know-how.
Or you can implement Daniel Nayeri’s ebook piracy solution: flood the market with corrupted copies of your work. If no one can find a free book of yours that doesn’t abruptly end with the last chapters of Moby Dick (instead of the juicy, delightful ending you actually wrote) or isn’t full of odd garbledygook replacements for the word the, they might just break down a pay for a copy. If it’s on sale.
Image by Carlos Porto via FreeDigitalPhotos.net
I’m wondering where honesty and integrity went. What is wrong with people? I know so many people that pirate movies, music, games… you name it, they’ve pirated it. Every time I find out someone I know does this I ask them if they’re going to pirate my books if they ever get published. Of course, they say no… they know me, after all.
It’s totally cool to steal from strangers, I guess.
I mean to hunt down any pirates who steal from me and break their knees with a sledgehammer. Because, as history makes very clear, the only way to deal with piracy is extreme violence.
And hangings, of course. Many, many hangings.
It’s easy to hate on pirates because they are stealing, but saying that a $15 eBook is a totally fine price is kind of an arguable point.
Take, for example, Wise Man’s Fear. When that book came out, the Kindle version on Amazon.com was MORE than the hardcover copy. Now, it was my belief that hardcovers were priced higher because they cost more to print, and the reason they keep putting out hardcovers is because people like to collect them as a novelty (and also because it earns both the publisher and the author more money if they force fans of a highly-anticipated novel to either have the hardcover or nothing).
If the last part made you feel a bit uncomfortable, it’s because that’s what they are doing with the Kindle version. I’m now paying a premium for a format that, frankly, costs maybe a couple cents of bandwidth to get to me. I understand there have been costs up to this point (the actual writing, editing, formatting, etc.) but if I’m paying extra on a hardcover because of the cost to publish, why am I spending more on a digital version?
Baan has it down, I think. For the first month after a book is published (hardcover or otherwise) the eBook is $15. From then on out it’s $6, regardless of book. They don’t charge a premium for more popular authors, and have a set price.
Think of the music industry. iTunes standardized the “99 cents a song, $9.99 an album” price. Because it was a reasonable standard, it adapted (and even forced other music distribution companies to try and compete, like Napster giving 90 cent songs, etc.) and that became a reasonable price. Why don’t we have a standardized price for eBooks?
And frankly, if Amazon were in charge, I bet it WOULD be standardized. As a Kindle owner who got a Kindle because he loves to read books, the fact I’m paying more for A Way of Kings on Kindle than the beautiful hardcover version just makes it seem like publishers are intentionally trying to kill eBooks. The problem is it won’t work: I’m not saying this is going to be some massive revolution like some, but I DO know the era of personal computing is slowly moving to the iPad generation (eMachines and other “bargain” desktop PCs are tanking, as are printers, because people who just want internet and word processing and Facebook buy iPads). With more Pads in people’s hands, eBooks are going to grow more and more popular. It’ll even out, for sure, but it’s time publishers figured out the pricing scheme that doesn’t alienate a whole chunk of their customers.
I actually thought of a few ways to fix this. The movie industry did it right: in most DVDs or Blu-Rays you buy it comes with a digital copy. Why not do the same for hardcover books? Then I’ll pay the premium and also get a copy for my Kindle, and I’ll think I’m getting a good deal. Like I said, that download is a fraction of a cent to them.
The point of this ramble is that while that yes, we all know piracy is bad and easy to blame for everything, you have to cater to your generation. Our generation is used to getting music free over the internet. We very well “brought down” the record industry because that’s just how people think. It’s easy to complain about how awful it is and make threats, but unless you adapt you’ll just be another torrent statistic. If publishers want to survive, they need to fix how they do eBooks. Will they still lose sales to piracy? Of course. It’s never going to go away, and it’s time to face this. But if you offer an incentive or charge a rate that the CONSUMER thinks is fair, they’ll probably pick the moral route.
Last example: Steam. Steam is a PC game distribution client that came out right before the huge PC gaming “crash.” PC games are pirated obscene amounts, mostly because their audience is people who know their way around computers and how to get things for free. However, Steam could very well save PC gaming. They made it convenient. All their prices are cheaper than in the stores, even on release dates. They have frequent, constant sales. They promote both big name and indie games and offer them all at obscene discounts. Steam makes billions and billions of dollars a year, converting pirates over because of the convenience of it all.
They did it because it was made by a game company that was comprised of gamers who knew how the world works now with piracy. They knew how to beat the pirates at their own morality game, making games both cheap, convenient, and “fair” in price. It’s what iTunes did for music, but on crack.
And you know what? I could go on Demonoid right now and download a 6 GB torrent with 100,000 ebooks on it, just like that. When looking at that vs paying $15 for a digital copy of Wise Man’s Fear, even the most moral person begins to start having second thoughts.
Final aside: Scalzi has said that if you buy one of his books ever, feel free to pirate the ebook because you already bought the book once. Which only further solidifies my idea that we should give ebooks away with paper copies. I mean, I bought this Kindle and I have something like 300 books in my house (we have shelves upon shelves of them). Should I feel guilty if I go pirate the eBook versions of books I already own? Or should I shell out $15 AGAIN for a book I bought in paperback three years ago for $5?
That’s a massive essay. I apologize. This is just a testy subject for me, as both an eBook reader, and author who wants to make a living off writing, and a fan of books (paper or otherwise) in general.
Totally understandable. Pricing is a tricky subject. I just don’t think piracy is. 😉
I totally agree with the idea that including an electronic copy with a hard-copy bundle is a smart move. I think more people should do it. Is $15 a price I would pay for an ebook? No. Does that mean I should feel justified in pirating it? I would also argue no. I completely agree that the industry needs to evolve to meet what readers are willing and happy to do.
I would point out that hardcovers only cost $1-2 dollars to print, but right now doing all the coverting it takes to get text into different ebook formats adds to the existing workflow (and thus adds costs). These costs could be minimized if the workflow were changed. Again, that is an area that needs to evolve and adapt. That, to me, doesn’t mean you should feel free to avoid paying for the work that’s been done until that workflow change happens.
As far as ” if Amazon were in charge, I bet it WOULD be standardized”: I think Amazon is weaseling its way into too much of the publishing industry as is. They do a lot of great things, but the amount of control they have–and their willingness to use it–makes me nervous. Just sayin’.