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| Photo by: Karen Bursey, Edmonton, Alberta |
I've been told that if one person downloads it, and likes it, he might tell his friends, and THEY will buy it. And so on. You know what I think will happen? I think they'll download it for free, and then they'll tell their friends where to download free books. And so on.
When I worked as a meat manager, I constantly had to deal with shoplifters. We could never catch them all. It was a full time job. The more shoplifting that happened, the more thieves came in...we developed a reputation for being an easy target. What did these people do with our expensive steaks and roasts, the ones clearly tagged with the 'Champions Family Foods' logo? They sold them on the street. Should I call that 'free advertising?'
We GIVE e-books out. We spend hundreds of dollars on 'swag'. We do our own advertising and marketing, thank you. We don't need any help from people who distribute our work illegally.
You've read my rants about piracy before, but I've been pirated AGAIN. Over 460 copies of Thoeba went out without payment. This was after I saw this post from an author I know from Facebook. If you think I'm pissed, wait until you read this. *language warning* With her expressed permission, I give you Gracen Miller...
One pirate site…
Rockin' the Heart downloaded 1,325 times (and it just released the end of Jan 2014).
Taboo Kisses downloaded 2,219 times.
The Road to Hell series (that's ALL 3 books) downloaded 2175times.
For you selfish bastards who think this doesn't amount to much in cash, let me break it down for you.
Rockin' the Heart pirated downloads would've netted $3,312.50 in sales.
Taboo Kisses pirated downloads would've netted $5,547.50 in sales.
The Road to Hell series pirated downloads would've netted $3,632.25 in sales.
That's a GRAND TOTAL of LOST sales in the amount of $12,492.25!!!
FUCK YOU VERY MUCH YOU PIRATE THIEVES! Yes…every single one of you who downloaded a free ebook off of a pirate site—mobilism, torrent, etc. NOT Amazon, Nook, etc.—YOU ARE THIEVES!! Why don't you take a $12,492.25 pay cut…and that's just ONE pirate site. I'm so angry ATM. I'm honestly at that point where I'm about ready to say fuck it and quit writing. I didn't even make $600 off of the entire Road to Hell series in 2013, but the pirates happily stole $3Grand from me off one site for the series!
I'm livid for her, and all of us. There's been talk about putting a halt to giving out free ebooks for contests. It feels like we can't trust anyone. Some of us want to give up, myself included. What's the point of spending all the time and money to promote our work if we get nothing out of it but grief and anguish? Would you?
