How to deal with ebook piracy

[Nick_Djinn]

If you cant beat them, join them.

But seriously, how can you make the purchased copies more desirable and convenient than the pirated copies? If I download an ebook via torrent it will be finished faster than the checkout process, and I dont have to validate it or jump through any hoops. Why would I subject myself to difficulty just so I can pay more money?

You should also think about charging a fraction of the current price. A physical book has production and shipping and sales costs. How can you justify retail price when you cut out the manufacturer, the shipping, the distributor and the merchants and their employees? If you insist on robbing us then we are likely going to rob you instead. There is no justification for charging $17 for 2mb of data. The "convenience" factor is BS. Its equally convenient to walk into a book shop and probably more fulfilling as an outing, unless you are in the boonies with no culture or decent book shops.

If ebooks are dirt cheap, downloading is fast and user friendly, and the copyright protection is automatic requiring no effort on my part or a 3g/internet connection, then it might be worth while for more people. People might get the books for cheaper, but you make up for it in volume.

Another approach would be to EMBRACE the distribution of FREE books for everyone.

Where else can you do this? The PUBLIC LIBRARY! The government provides ebooks to the public free of charge. They want people to read, and the only bottle neck up until this time was money and physical space......But we are going to hold ourselves back as a society to protect the private profits of Amazon.com at the expense to our greater society? Ridiculous.

How about this....We give away the books to anyone who wants them, for free, a limited number proportionate to what an advanced reader could read or what you are allowed to check out of a library at one time. You can keep the book if you want it, but the book only works on one physical device, and to get it on another device is free but requires you to check it out again for that device, and goes towards your limit. There is no limit to how many the library can give out.

The Library gets funding and pays 15 cents, or whatever amount, for every time the book is checked out to each device. They are not intended to be swapped to different devices, but there is no cost to get a new copy for another device so little incentive to work around this. The author gets a mere 10 cents every time the book is checked out, perhaps more for new releases up to a dollar with a co-payment required from the reader (waived for low income and those on public assistance), and if 10 million people read your book as a new release you still get ten million dollars, and your book from 20 years ago still gives you 10 cents every time its checked out by anyone.....and the volume of people checking out your book will increase due to the price tag, and you dont have to have some corporation siphoning off the profits to represent you. The artist gets it all.

This service via the public library would be paid for with taxes, and co-payments from members might be required based on how new the book is and their status.

It makes no sense to put an artificial limit on how many people can check out an 'e-book'.

There is no reason to put corporate profits before our society....We WANT people to read. If it costs only 15 cents to get somebody to read a book, we would be wealthier as a society. Our society would be more intelligent and competitive in the world. The problem with most of the books in the library, that we lend for FREE is that we are not getting enough people to read them. There is a shortage of people reading FREE books. We can fix that by sending them whatever reading material they want, courtesy of your local public library, directly to your device absolutely free of charge, with no artificial limits on how many people can read it at one time because we are not here to protect corporations like Amazon.

Even if you make them erased in 2 weeks, as long as you can check them out again for free (another 15 cents to the author every 2 weeks), this is a CHEAP way of getting people to read. Well worth it if it enriches our society, especially for the poorer members who could benefit most from increasing their knowledge and self education.

Maybe there can be programs for cheap basic readers that you can apply for no more than once every 5 years.

[SensualPoet]

Some fairly bizarre ideas here but to each his own.

It begs the question if you believe that a book -- say, a 300 page novel -- has any intrinsic value at all? Is a 20 page "novel" worth 1/15th the value of a 300 page novel? Should Tolstoy have been paid more for War and Peace than TS Eliot for The Wasteland? And what about popularity? Should it be rewarded? Does it have value? Should John Grisham be paid more per word than DB Henson?

These are not rhetorical questions.

It is true that some books can be found online for "free" and simultaneously illegally, and some other people, oddly, pay $10 for the same book, and others borrow them at the library (which they likely support invisibly with their state or local taxes) for "free".

In my world, I am hoping there will continue to be readers who love reading enough to actually pay for it for many years to come. Otherwise, writers will stop writing or end up as civil servants, writing in their government pensioned pod waiting for retirement.

[Penforhire]

I suppose I have a bone to pick with this phrase, "There is no reason to put corporate profits before our society" because authors need to be paid. Otherwise you are arguing for socialism which isn't going to be warmly received by most of us capitalists. Also, who do you think owns a public corporation? The shareholders. People like us. I want my equities to grow and that requires profit.

Should there be a balance of public interest? Sure. That's why there are corporate taxes, to use just one example of balance.

[Quexos]

Not sure taxes are a good example for justifying a balance in an ultra-capitalistic society between corporations and individuals. When you see how some politicians favor as little taxation as possible for the wealthiest while too often, poor families can't afford to pay a doctor for their sick child.

Originally Posted by Penforhire

I suppose I have a bone to pick with this phrase, "There is no reason to put corporate profits before our society" because authors need to be paid. Otherwise you are arguing for socialism which isn't going to be warmly received by most of us capitalists. Also, who do you think owns a public corporation? The shareholders. People like us. I want my equities to grow and that requires profit.

Should there be a balance of public interest? Sure. That's why there are corporate taxes, to use just one example of balance.

[Elfwreck]

Originally Posted by Nick_Djinn

But seriously, how can you make the purchased copies more desirable and convenient than the pirated copies? If I download an ebook via torrent it will be finished faster than the checkout process, and I dont have to validate it or jump through any hoops. Why would I subject myself to difficulty just so I can pay more money?

The obvious answer is, "because I want my favorite authors to be able to afford to continue writing books."

You should also think about charging a fraction of the current price. A physical book has production and shipping and sales costs. How can you justify retail price when you cut out the manufacturer, the shipping, the distributor and the merchants and their employees? If you insist on robbing us then we are likely going to rob you instead.

Who is the "you" in this paragraph? Authors? Publishers? Ebook store managers?

There is no justification for charging $17 for 2mb of data.

Sure there is: it took three years work to assemble that data.

Another approach would be to EMBRACE the distribution of FREE books for everyone.

Who will be writing these free books? Gutenberg already provides thousands of free books for everyone.

How about this....We give away the books to anyone who wants them, for free, a limited number proportionate to what an advanced reader could read or what you are allowed to check out of a library at one time.
You can keep the book if you want it, but the book only works on one physical device, and to get it on another device is free but requires you to check it out again for that device, and goes towards your limit. There is no limit to how many the library can give out.

People have proposed a "subscription" ebook program; it's worth exploring, but there are some technological issues involved.

1) How do you make it only work on one device at a time? Does it only work on devices that are internet-accessible (and therefore, not on camping trips in the middle of nowhere)?

2) Who pays the authors? Taxes? (And how do you decide how much to pay them--a flat rate per word, so they're encouraged to write longer books, or based on the number of times their book is checked out, so they're encouraged to tell their friends to check out their books and not read them?)

3) Content choices: Will these libraries be carrying erotica and other controversial topic ebooks? Will everyone have access to them? Who will decide what's "explicit" and should be excluded from children's ebook searches?

The Library gets funding and pays 15 cents, or whatever amount, for every time the book is checked out to each device.

Ah, mythical library funding, which will pay the authors, the library database managers, the search-engine programmers, and everyone else involved in the stages between "story in author's head" and "words in front of a reader."

perhaps more for new releases up to a dollar with a co-payment required from the reader (waived for low income and those on public assistance),

Ooh! Effective micropayment software, requiring credit cards for library books (no more books for kids; they don't have bank accounts), sliding scale payments on a fair and rational basis ... wow, that's a lot of tech changes from the current systems.

you dont have to have some corporation siphoning off the profits to represent you. The artist gets it all.

So, the author will be hiring an editor up-front, before she starts making any money on the book? And possibly hiring a publicity specialist to promote her book to encourage more people to check it out?

This service via the public library would be paid for with taxes,

National income tax? Head tax on each person? State taxes, different in each region? How much will this tax be, and what happens when the budget is tight--does this money go away?

There is no reason to put corporate profits before our society....

Corporate profits are part of society.

We WANT people to read. If it costs only 15 cents to get somebody to read a book, we would be wealthier as a society.

Well, yes... if 15 cents per reader made sure the author would keep writing. Otherwise, we'd lose out on a lot of books.

There is a shortage of people reading FREE books. We can fix that by sending them whatever reading material they want, courtesy of your local public library, directly to your device absolutely free of charge, with no artificial limits on how many people can read it at one time because we are not here to protect corporations like Amazon.

No, we can't. Really. Many people don't care to read much of anything at all, and making books free & easy won't change that.

This whole rant, while obviously well-intentioned and heartfelt, shows a lack of understanding of how the publishing industry works, and how publicly-funded projects work.

[kalex]

Create a standard ebook format, force everybody to adapt it. Create a DRM based on the person not device. I don't want to jump through hoops trying to read the book that i purchased on my old sony reader to be able to read it on my kindle. i don't want to be tied down to one company. I want to be able to pick and choose freely without limitations. Its very annoying when a book that you paid for doesn't work on a reader that you currently have. I don't want to purchase same book on amazon simply because I'm using Kindle. Price books with common sense, I really hate seeing kindle book priced higher then paperback or hard cover. Publishing industry is going through changes and eventually they will understand this but its going to take time until morons in the trade are weeded out. Same as it happened a while ago with music industry. Those who understand and are able to quickly adapt and figure out the system will survive and others will fold.

[Fayth]

I've read your post, but all I am seeing is a complete disregard for the livelihood of content providers. Authors need money to live just like anyone else, and the same can be said for editors, agents, etc. If everyone got all their books for free, these people wouldn't be bothering to make books anymore. As for the whole library thing, I can't see it ever becoming a reality.

[GA Russell]

First, it seems to me that the reason we want to defeat piracy is because we want the authors (and the editors) to be paid. So any proposal that doesn't specifically provide for their receiving compensation is dead in the water, it seems to me.

Second, I think that everyone outside the music industry thinks that they fought piracy the wrong way. So whatever the publishers try, it should not remind people of what the music industry did.

I have wondered aloud here how long it takes for a book to sell most of its copies. I know that in music, 80% of a CD's sales occurs within 8 weeks of its release.

Let's say that most books sell most of what they are going to sell within two years of release. I would be in favor of a copyright law that allowed any publisher the right to publish the book after that period, provided that the publisher pays the author a royalty established by law.

Presumably, the original publisher has recouped its money and made its profit during the initial two year period. After that, competition among publishers should drive the retail price of the book down, as we have seen for public domain works.

[Nick_Djinn]

I think some people here are deliberately dense, as in purposefully misrepresenting my argument.

I think the authors should be paid. I think the artists should get MORE of the profits for themselves. I am not as interested in propping up all the middle men who make a killing. I am not against honest people making a living, but I see no reason to adjust policy to protect those making a KILLING. Im not talking about the artists here, I am talking about the producers who have monopolistic control over the industry and take the largest chunk for themselves.

When you spend $17 on a e-book that could be purchased for $6.99 in paperback, do you believe that the ARTIST is getting $17? Do you believe that the ARTIST is going to make more money if Amazon charges $17 than if somebody bought the same book for $6.99?....While contracts vary, this is most generally not the case. Artists get the smaller portion of the profits, or a fixed amount plus royalties per unit sold, and selling the book for a higher price does not mean the ARTIST gets a higher price....It means that billionaires get more profit and the artist gets exactly the same compensation. The exception of course is if they are self published.

Of course some right wingers dont believe we should even HAVE a public library providing FREE books, paid for with taxes. Amazon and Disney shouldnt have to kick down any of their hundred billion dollar profits to pay for parks, libraries, the fire department.....some people think that private fire departments should replace public ones, and that public libraries are socialist because they dont encourage people to buy their own books and resent the pittance they get taxed that actually goes to the public good.



I think the artists should be compensated for their work, and the more people who download and read their book the more they should be rewarded. Instead of piracy where the artist gets nothing, the library will let you check the book out for at least two weeks, and you can renew it for free with a limit of e-books on your reader at once, and every time you check out the books the artist gets more revenue.


I think that despite lower compensation per copy, a higher volume of sales will equalize this, and without as many middle men needing high payouts the artist might actually get MORE money in some cases. This alternative would be paid for with taxes, but would be a wonderful public service that would encourage people to read and also encourage artists to write more books.


What I am preaching here isnt some evil socialist plot. Its a modern day technological expansion of the original intention of the library. You can ALREADY read millions of books for FREE. If free books at the library offends your capitalist instincts, then you have problems.

You can buy a book if you want to, but maybe we should make the e-book section at the library better as a preferable alternative to piracy for those who dont pay for books anyway, and those who wont pay for books can divert small amounts of taxes to support the artists instead of giving them nothing at all.


Please grasp my argument before responding.

[amoroso]

Originally Posted by Nick_Djinn

But seriously, how can you make the purchased copies more desirable and convenient than the pirated copies?

Forget piracy, about which you can't do much, and make those ebooks actually available in the first place, and convenient to buy, to the customers who approach you with credit cards handy.

[Nick_Djinn]

I am a professional author btw.....and yes, I rely heavily on my editor for spelling and grammar corrections.

What I have done, which could be an example to some aspiring artists, is release a free version of my work via bittorent. It lacks the illustration and foot notes. The artwork is excellent, so a portion of those who read my book for FREE will buy a hard copy of my work. Giving away my work has been free advertising and I believe I have sold more copies because I give my work away for free. I am by no means wealthy, but that is how you get your name out there.

Sometimes these ideas are counter intuitive, but there are ways to use them to come out on top.

[EowynCarter]

Create a standard ebook format

Done, it's called ePub

, force everybody to adapt it.

Well, amazon is really the only one making resistance there

Create a DRM based on the person not device.

Get rid of DRM.

[BenBanned]

You could just make everything free.........

[GeoffC]

Originally Posted by Nick_Djinn

I am a professional author btw.....and yes, I rely heavily on my editor for spelling and grammar corrections.

What I have done, which could be an example to some aspiring artists, is release a free version of my work via bittorent. It lacks the illustration and foot notes. The artwork is excellent, so a portion of those who read my book for FREE will buy a hard copy of my work. Giving away my work has been free advertising and I believe I have sold more copies because I give my work away for free. I am by no means wealthy, but that is how you get your name out there.

Sometimes these ideas are counter intuitive, but there are ways to use them to come out on top.

Why not Smashwords?

[abookreader]

I think the authors should be paid. I think the artists should get MORE of the profits for themselves. I am not as interested in propping up all the middle men who make a killing. I am not against honest people making a living, but I see no reason to adjust policy to protect those making a KILLING. Im not talking about the artists here, I am talking about the producers who have monopolistic control over the industry and take the largest chunk for themselves.

I think artists should get to make those decisions for themselves. If they want to sign a contract with Penguin where in exchange for the large percent of the sales price Penguin handles production and distribution -- then that is the choice of the author.

If they want more of the profits for themselves, then by all means self-publish.

Create a standard ebook format, force everybody to adapt it.

How in the world will you force everybody to adapt it? What of those who are resistant? Would you agree that this comment is by and large advocating taking free will away from the market system?

As for the original question of how to stop Piracy, I think you're trying to herd smoke. I don't think you are going to stop Piracy but I think you can educate consumers on why Piracy is detrimental to the people in the industry. Real people. Real paychecks. Real livelihoods. Not inhuman mythical greedy "corporations."

When you can't control actions, the option that is left is to sway opinions.

But the good news is that so far most book buyers seem to be willing to pay a reasonable price for content. Piracy as of yet doesn't seem to be harming book sales too badly according to most studies that have been done to try and quantify what is actually happening. Tess Gerrittsen had an entry on her blog a couple of months ago on her change of mind in this matter.