Saturday, June 23, 2012

Why I'm not a fan of pirating

Last night I was feeling great. I finished the edits on my third Immortal Guardians book (the ones I go through before I submit to my publisher). Today though, I'm finding myself irritated and what some might consider "put out."

I keep finding sites that are giving away my books for free. I'm sure many people just think, "Hey, I'm just helping out my friends. They should get it for free just like I did," but in reality, these people are thieves, whether they realize it or not. When you give away a book for free without the author's permission, you've just robbed them. When you download a book for free that wasn't designed to be sold as such, you've just robbed the author (as well as their publisher, editor, and cover-artist).

I know I'm new to this whole writing thing, and that there are a lot of authors out there (best-sellers especially) who are losing hard-earned money every day because of piraters. So this post today is to just put it out there how this affects me personally, so that maybe at least one of the people who have stolen or distributed my book illegally will realize that its not okay.

Not many people know this, as I have been tight-lipped about it in my writing world, but I work hard at writing (and doing my best to write stories that people will enjoy) because I have a life-long goal that I haven't been able to achieve, and am desperate to.

For many people, having children comes as easy as looking at a member of the opposite sex and poof! they're pregnant. For me and my husband, not so much. We celebrated our eleventh anniversary earlier this month, and during our entire marriage we have tried to build our family. We've lost seven babies due to miscarriage (one being a tubal pregnancy) and it has taken ten's of thousands of dollars, as well too much heartache, to do something that comes so easy to others.

When I first found out I was going to be published, it occurred to me that maybe my husband and I could actually keep trying (more than what we do every month since it's clearly not working), and could maybe save up enough to afford another round of IVF. It didn't occur to me that people would just steal my work, and therefore take away any chances I might have left. Not only does it take that away, but even if I wasn't trying anymore, it would still affect my livelihood, and that of my publisher's and all the people who helped pull it together. People stealing like that can take food off of our tables, and make it so we can't afford to pay our bills.

All I ask is that people think before they download or distribute illegally.

Also, I really do appreciate my fans, especially those who have supported me by purchasing my novels. Every dollar I make goes into my little "Books for Babies" fund. I put everything I have into each book I write in hopes that it will provide you with entertainment and open up your imagination.

3 comments:

  1. I've read so many people who think it's okay to steal eBooks. It disgusts me. To my glee, I've seen some sites get taken down. The pirate's wailing and gnashing over it is legendary. I don't count the illegal downloads as "future potential customers" because I don't think they'll buy my book after a brief taste. They stole it once, they'll do it again. They are people without conscience. I can only hope if the FBI doesn't lay the smack down that karma takes a big chunk out of their livelihood.

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  2. Damn, I welled up a little reading that. I hope and pray you get your wish soon.

    As for pirates, shoot them I say ;-)

    Hugs x

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  3. Kastil, I completely agree. If someone downloads one of your books for free, they're not likely to purchase future ones, so I don't count them as potential customers either.

    Doris, I'm all in favor for shooting pirates. Hmm, is there another book in the works? LOL.

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