Thread: Gaiman on Copyright
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Old 02-19-2011, 07:00 AM   #43
mr ploppy
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Keryl Raist View Post
But, if it's reading my book for free or reading another book for free... I'm not sure. I mean, I gave away a ton of books. I intend to give away more books. So, getting a legitimate free copy of my book isn't difficult.
But presumably not very likely for someone who has never heard of you? Think of it like the difference between selling your book on Amazon and selling it on your own site. Which would be most likely to get you new readers?

People browse pirate sites the same way they browse Amazon, and download anything that looks vaguely interesting. In most cases that will be the end of it, but some of them will be looked at, and then they will choose one of those to read. The odds against the person who chooses to read your book stumbling across you in any other way are pretty remote.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Keryl Raist View Post
Mostly I'm not interested in someone else profiting off of my book. I don't want Buccaneer Bob's House of Pirated Goods to be able to sell my book for a fraction of the price I do or give it away and make money on his website where he gave it away.
There will always be people making money from you. The only way to avoid that is to never publish your writing. Like with any service, you need to weigh the benefits against the cost. Amazon brings you more buyers but takes 30-70% of your income. Pirate sites bring you more readers but no immediate income from those readers.

If they download your book they might read it. If they read it they might like it. If they like it they might tell other people about it (through reviews, etc). If they like it a lot they will buy your next book as soon as it comes out because they won't want to wait for the pirate edition.

With most services you would weigh that against the benefits you would gain from letting them take their cut. With piracy the choice of whether to participate is taken away from you, so it basically comes down to a choice between waving your fist or ignoring it and hoping for the best. You can have your book removed from most of those sites, or you can have Google remove links to it when people search for your name, but that's pretty much the extent of your powers.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Keryl Raist View Post
Maybe it's short sighted. Maybe Bob the Pirate and all of his readers will be great word of mouth and spur on lots of sales. But I'd like to see some numbers that indicate the pirate community benefits anyone other than the pirates.
There is anecdotal evidence from other writers on their blogs, but the only indpendent research so far has been about music.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/4718249.stm

I was going to mention Steve Lieber as well but someone beat me to it.
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