A-hoy, matey! Should ebook pirates walk the plank or be set free?

This is my recent reply on JA Konrath's blog where piracy pros and cons are still being discussed. I am a bit concerned about new authors taking everything Joe says to heart without looking into the issue--illegal copyright theft and sharing. As much as I respect Joe for his marketing abilities, I am not sold on his argument that since we can't fight them we should embrace piracy and do nothing, turn a blind eye. I'm just not wired that way, and I'm not alone.

My comment:

I'm dropping by to give you all another update on the 4shared website that has illegally shared so many authors' works.

Mine were removed--as were many others--after 2-3 brief emails with 4shared. It wasn't time consuming and I didn't find it half the battle as when I was fighting for the rights of authors to keep their signature lines on Amazon book reviews, which we can do now although they had been deleting reviews by authors who had done such.

It's a small win, having your work deleted from pirate sites.

Do I think this solves the issue? Not at all. My work could end up right back on the site, but for now I'm satisfied. At least I took a stand against something that is legally wrong.

The word "copyright" and subsequent laws protecting our copyrights are there for a reason. When a pirate distributes an ebook, they are making illegal copies and conversions, sometimes even scanning a printed book. While there will always be people disobeying this law, it is in authors' best interests to not sit passively and allow this to happen.

Over the past week or so I've been contacted by a number of authors who were not happy to see their works pirated. I was also contacted by the agent of a very well-known bestselling author. She wasn't pleased to find her client's works on 4shared and she and the publishers involved are taking steps to have the works removed. 4shared has been fairly easy to work with on this matter.

As for Joe's belief that authors should sell ebooks for $1.99 to see better sales, that's not a guarantee. Not every author has the fan base or history of publishing with big publishers as Joe has had, and whether he wants to believe that makes a difference or not, it does. Having a series also helps in this situation; hook people with book #1 and they'll come back for more because they want to know what happens next to those characters. I KNOW that if I'd been published by a major or even mid-list traditional publisher, my work would have reached far more people than it did publishing with a small traditional publisher. It's a no-brainer.

That doesn't mean Joe hasn't worked hard. When I read about all his promotional strategies, I'm exhausted. :-) And good for him for being so pro-active on this. Many authors think it's up to the publisher to market their books. It's not.

Regarding ebook pricing: Pricing your ebooks at $1.99 does not guarantee you higher sales, and new authors really need to understand this. It's your fan base and marketing strategies (which includes pricing and much more) that will lead to high sales.

An author with a new release SHOULD market her books a bit higher to put value on it and also so that later, when the book has been out awhile, she can discount it to make it more attractive as a backlist or older title.

This doesn't mean she can't put it on sale every now and then, or give away some free copies--both great marketing strategies.

Anyone who's ever been in marketing & sales (that was my background prior to becoming a published author) of other products will know that new products hold better value. If you start with $1.99 ebooks, you don't have much room to go in discounting, especially since some retailers have minimum prices you have to charge (like Amazon).

Though I bowed out of this debate awhile ago, I'm still reading posts here, plus the many emails I've received privately from authors and (surprisingly) admitted "pirates". Though I appreciate their reasoning and can even understand why they do it, I can't condone it as others here have done. For anyone just weighing in on this debate, it is far better to investigate both sides of the piracy issue before making a decision. And trust me, if you aren't an author or if you haven't been pirated, you have no idea how it feels to have your work stolen and re-distributed. Pirates don't usually download a book they aren't interested in, and in that, authors have lost a potential sale. Period.

But I do agree with a couple of points my new pirate friends mentioned: ebooks need to be priced affordably (less than $5 seems to be the consensus, easily accessible to all ereader devices and easily uploaded. Smashwords.com seems to understand these concepts and I believe they have the most versatility when it comes to formats. My books are all available through Smashwords. Plus, their coupons make it easy for me to discount my books for special sales.

By the way, Smashwords, Amazon on other retailers offer a LEGAL method for people to "distribute" authors' works. It's called affiliation. As an affiliate, you can advertise an author's works on your site/blog (which is very supportive) and then earn money on sales purchased via your affiliate link. Former pirates could then earn money to buy more books. I am more than happy to have others distribute my works this way--and we all win.

I'll leave you all to continue this debate. I've said what I need to say on this subject, as you can see on my own blogs about piracy.

I encourage authors to read everything they can on piracy. Don't take my word for it, or Joe's. We each have strong opinions on what's right and wrong. Make an informed decision based on more than a couple of authors' (or pirates) opinions.

Support Authors, Buy a Book! :-)

My other posts on piracy:

http://cherylktardif.blogspot.com/2010/05/authors-are-your-books-being-illegally.html
http://cherylktardif.blogspot.com/2010/05/update-on-blatant-copyright.html
http://cherylktardif.blogspot.com/2010/05/update-2-on-copyright-infringement-at.html
http://cherylktardif.blogspot.com/2010/05/author-ja-konrath-defends-copyright.html
http://cherylktardif.blogspot.com/2010/05/update-3-authors-get-copyright.html

Cheryl Kaye Tardif,
bestselling Canadian author
www.cherylktardif.com

Copyright infringement: an act of honoring or theft?

Recently, a fellow writer posted an article written by another author to our writers' group. He was trying to be helpful. But he openly admitted he didn't have permission to reproduce the article. He hadn't bothered to contact the author and ask, and the article author isn't a member of our group, as far as I know. This led to a discussion on the issue of copyright infringement.

My fellow writer's argument: he was trying to be helpful, was promoting another author who would be grateful for the extra promotion, and he hadn't profited from posting it so it wasn't infringement.

My argument: if you haven't received permission from the author and you've posted their article, especially in its entirety, it's copyright infringement. And as writers, we should be very careful not to cross that line.

Is it copyright infringement if you reproduce an article without the author's permission? Yes.

Even if you don't make any money off it? Yes.

Even if you're trying to help that author? Yes.

There were two solutions to this issue that the writer could have explored. He could've emailed the author for permission; most authors will say yes but may have guidelines/rules. Or he could've posted the link to wherever the article was posted legally.

Over the years, I've found a handful of my articles printed online without my permission. One misspelled my name. One didn't include my name. One altered my text. One added their own advertisement links where I had linked to sites like Facebook. One didn't include a link to my website. I can assure you, I didn't feel honored and I doubt I made any sales from them. In fact, I usually asked them to either attribute me correctly, or in the case of one person who thought it was their God given right to print whatever they wanted, I asked them to remove my article. But if someone asks me first if they can reproduce one of my articles (without any changes) and adds my name (correctly spelled) and a live link to my site, I am happy. And honored.

I know I'm not the only one who has experienced this. I once reproduced a post from a newsletter. The owner of the newsletter stated they had permission to use it and so did the subscribers. After I posted it, the author contacted me and asked me why I'd infringed on her copyright. I explained I thought she'd given permission, as was mentioned in the newsletter. She didn't even know her material had been used in that newsletter. She was pissssed!

I don't blame her, and I felt pretty awful about it. I offered to immediately remove my post, but she graciously allowed me to use it. I'd already attributed her and had included a link to her site (which was how she found out I'd printed her post).

Have you ever found your material illegally reproduced online? If you did, how did you respond? If you haven't, how would you feel about it--especially as I've mentioned--without your name or incorrectly spelled, no links to your site, edited text etc?

I think this is something every writer should be wary of. And anyone who feels that by using someone else's material, they're honoring them or helping them. You're not. Get permission. Or use links; they work. :-)

For some interesting insights into copyright, please check out the following:

• 10 Big Myths about copyright explained
• Basic Copyright Concepts For Writers
• Canadian Intelligent Property Office - Copyrights
• Canadian Authors Association - Copyright

Laws vary slightly by country, but simply put: get permission to reproduce anything you did not write.

My fellow writers and I will appreciate your respect.

Cheryl Kaye Tardif,
Bestselling author & book marketing coach
http://www.cherylktardif.com/
http://www.shamelessbookpromoter.com/

P.S. In case you're wondering, this blog post is copyrighted. If you'd like to repost it on your site, blog or to a writers' group, please email me via http://www.cherylktardif.com/. Or feel free to add just the title and link to the article here. Thank you. :-)