Ficsane Reads

How to Build a Fictional World - Kate Messner

Why is J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy so compelling?

- whole theaters gasping

- a mother gasping and shouting “HOW COULD YOU?” at the screen while her young kids told her to be quiet

- one boyfriend saying “HOLY SHIT, YOU DOUCHEBAG”

- another boyfriend saying “…did he just…? DAMN”

- yet another boyfriend saying “…ouch” with an audible wince of sympathy

- a little girl in front of me saying “…no” in a hushed, horrified voice

- and a girl around my age literally STANDING UP and screaming at the screen “YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE!” while her boyfriend physically restrained her and tried to calm her down

I saw someone complain that the illegal version of my book was taking too long to download, and I wanted to take a moment to apologize to this person. So here we go…

Dear Person Pirating my Book,

If you do pirate a book, I hope you’ll think of other ways to give back to the writer. Buy the book sometime down the line when you can afford it. Ask for it for a birthday gift. Request it from multiple libraries. Even create fanart or talk up the book to other people.

It’s authors who bear the chief brunt of this, not publishers, who can easily stop publishing one writer and go to another.

I worry all the time that I won’t get to publish another book.

You know Seanan McGuire? Awesome author. The first time I read her stuff was when I pirated a book of hers, a few years ago. I still have pirated copies of several of her books on my kobo. But, also: in my room I have ten of her books on my shelf, and an eleventh on pre-order, not to mention the legal ebooks I’ve bought of her novellas and short stories. None of which would be true if I hadn’t pirated that first book.

When I’m pirating a book, a lot of times it’s “dang I want to read that book, but my hard copy is in another city and I don’t want to pay for the same book twice," or “hm this author looks interesting but I don’t want to pay for the book until I’m sure I’ll like it and the library doesn’t have it and I need something to read on the bus tomorrow" or “gosh I think you’d enjoy this book, friend, but I can’t loan you my copy because we’re in different cities, so I’ll email you this pirated ebook instead" or whatever.

There’s no friend here—there is someone giving away thousands of free copies that the writer and their publisher have not authorised.

Think of it as a cycle.

Writer writes a book—sells it to a publisher to publish it—publisher publishes it and generates copies to be bought—library buys copy and loans it out because it’s the library’s copy and that’s OK—or person, maybe your friend, buys copy, friend loans it out and that’s OK. It’s her copy.

The writer sold the right to make copies to their publisher, and nobody else. It’s the writer’s book—the writer produced it with a great deal of effort, without the writer it wouldn’t exist.

So pirating a book is more like the pirate going into the writer (who they don’t know)’s house, saying, ‘Hey, this looks cool, I’m going to take it, okay?’ and the writer saying ‘No, please, please don’t’ and the pirate replying ‘I don’t care, and I’m taking it anyway.’

‘Illegal downloads are, indeed, probably eating a small percentage of your book sales. But I don’t think there’s a one-to-one ratio of “books pirated" to “books not purchased" the way many authors seem to assume.’

I agree with you and I never said I assumed that. Some people who pirate the book would never have bought it. Some people would have.

Some people cannot afford to have a percentage of their book sales eaten. Neil Gaiman certainly can. Neil Gaiman, in this situation, may well be saying ‘Yes, you can borrow my copy.’

Neil Gaiman can have one view on the topic, and I can have another. It’s worth noting, I think, that Neil Gaiman is a multimillionaire and does not ever have to worry about his next book not getting published. He can afford lost sales, and to regard them in any way he wants. Neil Gaiman can ask his publisher to give away one of his books free for a time, and his publisher will do it—most people’s publisher would never do it. Neil Gaiman has his books advertised, discounted, put before thousands of people in a way most people’s books never are. Neil Gaiman’s career was well-established before the digital revolution. Neil Gaiman is not speaking from a typical position. Neil Gaiman is in a position of power. Neil Gaiman is very privileged.

And who is more likely to have their book in a library or bookshop, so it is convenient when you ‘need something to read tomorrow’? Neil Gaiman. If it’s a struggling author, they are less likely to have their books in the library or the bookshop when you need something to read tomorrow—so their books are more likely to be pirated. It is something to consider, that it’s much easier to hurt those who are struggling—and that people do it more.

The people suffering most from this are struggling authors, not mega bestsellers. I think that’s something to keep in mind. (Though I also don’t think it’s okay to go to a mega bestseller’s house and take the book if the mega bestseller also says ‘No, please don’t.’)

Seanan McGuire *is* an awesome author. She’s made awesome posts about internet piracy.

http://seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com/288301.html

http://seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com/493792.html

I’m really glad that you have bought ten of her books. I’m really sad about the people who pirated one, and then said ‘wow they’re awesome’ and pirated the rest.

If Seanan McGuire or any author I loved had to stop writing a series that I loved due to poor sales, I’d be mad at those people, because they do exist.

It is a complicated, complicated situation. I would like e-books to be shareable, once someone has bought a copy, among at least a certain number of friends who don’t live close to each other. I would love one of my books to be given away in a special promotion. I have several times, and now again, given free permission to any teen who is forbidden books with GLBTQ content in them—pirate mine away, and I hope they help you, and I wish I could have done better for you, and my thoughts are with you. But those for whom it’s just more convenient to pirate my book, because they don’t have it in the library—well, I wish they would think twice.

But Sarah Rees Brennan is right, guys. Neil Gaiman ≠ most authors. He was rich and famous well before pirating books was a possibility. He was rich and famous before the Internet was really the Internet.

While I definitely agree that some people who download a book would never have bought it, I also don’t totally agree with that argument. I have a few “pirates" in my own extended family (good god, the fights at Christmas dinner), and the one thing that keeps them from buying a book is nothing more than laziness.

One of those family members is a 26-year-old teacher who enjoys reading historical nonfiction. His argument is that knowledge should be free (even though knowledge is not the same thing as hard work, historical analysis, and years of researching primary documents). Yet when a book that this family member wants isn’t downloadable, I watch as he goes and PURCHASES that book in a store. So you see, this family member of mine suffers from what most people suffer from these days: a need for instant gratification. (I get it. I’m totally the same nowadays. I feel a craving for a cookie and I want that darn cookie NOW. But I don’t go steal the cookie from neighbor.)

One of my other family members is a 60-year-old financial advisor who likes to read nonfiction about photography and sewing and various house crafts. She also likes cozy mysteries and thrillers. This woman’s daughter is an editor at a major publishing house, and yet this woman still brags about how she hasn’t bought a book in years. (Wow, me and editor-relative are so red-faced during those convos…) This older relative of mine just downloads anything that remotely strikes her fancy and she doesn’t even read half of the downloads. So yes, she probably is someone who wouldn’t go buy all the books she downloads because clearly she’s more of a hoarder than she is a bibliophile. She likes that brief rush of getting something new more than she likes the book she downloads. Yet her rampant downloading habits support that piracy site…and in turn, hurt us authors.

My point is, these two people could not be more different. And they don’t really fit the profile I have in my head for a media pirate. A teacher who loves historical nonfiction? A financial advisor sewing quilts? Yet they both are pirates, and they both justify their stealing in various ways. No matter the justification, though, their thievery really just boils down to laziness and the need for instant gratification.

(Note: I will still acknowledge that laziness and instant gratification do not apply to all pirates…but I do think it applies to most.)

And while a few lost sales for Neil Gaiman might not hurt him, piracy does hurt the rest of us. In this business, EVERY SALE COUNTS. Massively counts. Especially for self-pubbed authors, who have no publisher legal team to back them up. Especially for debut authors, who have to prove themselves on that first book…or watch as their entire career implodes before it even had a chance to take off. Especially for midlist authors, who are barely selling enough each year to prove to their publisher and to bookstores that they’re a worthwhile investment. These days, selling a few thousand copies—no matter the critical response or devotion of fans—isn’t enough to keep an author’s career alive.

"The drakons are protectors of Vallonis. They have been lost since the breaking, but now one has returned." 

Hi again!  I thought I’d re-post now that there’s a description available and you can pre-order through Kindle. It’ll release on July 16th, is 96 pages long, and yours for only $2.99. :)

Don’t miss this exciting short story that connects THE DARKEST MINDS to its much-anticipated sequel, NEVER FADE!

Gabe’s life has been devastated in the wake of the economic crash. The only option left for someone like him to escape his tragic past is to leave his small town behind and to attempt to become a skip tracer. This already almost impossible task is made all the more difficult by his first score, a young girl who won’t speak, but who changes his life in ways he could never imagine.

Includes a bonus preview chapter from NEVER FADE!

Pre-order:

Kindle

Nook

iBookstore (Bonus screenshots of the first two pages!)

but you might be interested in entering this giveaway: Lucky #13 for a chance to win any of the following:

THE MOON AND MORE – Sarah Dessen

SHATTER ME – Tahereh Mafi

UNRAVEL ME – Tahereh Mafi

CINDER – Marissa Meyer

SCARLET – Marissa Meyer

MADMAN’S DAUGHTER – Megan Shepherd

I’m hosting my 1st ever giveaway on my book blog: Ficsane Reads — enter to win one of the following: 

THE MOON AND MORE - Sarah Dessen

SHATTER ME - Tahereh Mafi

UNRAVEL ME - Tahereh Mafi

CINDER - Marissa Meyer

SCARLET - Marissa Meyer

MADMAN’S DAUGHTER - Megan Shepherd

THRONE OF GLASS - Sarah J. Maas

DEFIANCE - C.J. Redwine

OF POSEIDON - Anna Banks

UNDER THE NEVER SKY - Veronica Rossi

SHADOW & BONE - Leigh Bardugo

DIVERGENT - Veronica Roth

SOME QUIET PLACE - Kelsey Sutton

IF YOU HAVE ANY OTHER BOOK IN MIND - AS LONG AS THERE IS A PAPERBACK VERSION - I'M WILLING TO ACCEPT!

RULES:

1) Open to US/ CANADA only

2) I’ll only be able to purchase paperbacks for now! Sorry!

Contest ends July 10, 2013! Good luck everyone :)