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Hi Folks,
Just to be clear on all this, yes I'm absolutely against people downloading free copies of my book but that has nothing to do with why I'm angry with all this. I'm not mad at anyone here in the least. You saw a free deal and took it. That's not your fault or your problem and I'm fine with that. I don't agree with it, but hey, that's just me. I also hate when people steal free music off the internet or you see some idiot in a movie theater with his camcorder running, stealing the movie to upload onto the internet.
It's a personal thing, I guess, but people work hard on those books, songs, movies, etc, and just because you CAN get something for free, it doesn't mean that you HAVE to take it. That's all I'm saying on the matter. You guys can do whatever you want and I'm perfectly fine with that.
What I am angry about is Dorchester Publications offering the book for free without asking my opinion. I have no idea if any of you are writer/artists but the way the game works is they pay me for certain rights they have bought off me. They have no right to do anything other than what I have agreed to let them do. Well, in the last year Dorchester has broken and willfully breached every contract I've signed with them. They've sold foreign rights to my books and audiobook rights to my books and who knows what else they have done, but the one thing they HAVEN'T done is pay me for any of it. They currently owe me thousands of dollars and apparently have no intention of paying me (or hundreds of other writers across the world). You might not agree that I should have some say in how my books are sold, priced, translated, adapted, etc, but I respectfully beg to differ. After what they have done, it is my opinion that they have ZERO right to do anything with my works and I am working hard with my agent to get the rights to my entire catalogue back where they belong - with me. Please remember, this is a billion dollar New York City Publishing House, not a tiny small press who might not know any better.
So where does that leave us? Nowhere, I guess. I'm still getting screwed out of my livelihood but somehow I'm in the wrong about all this? My apologies if I've offended anyone here but to me the bottom line is that I should have the right to stand up for my intellectual properties without having to justify it. Consider this... if someone put a sign on your front yard saying everything in your garage was free for the next two days would you be mad if I came and took your lawnmower? No one asked you if it was okay to give your stuff away but that doesn't seem to matter anymore. Do you see what I'm getting at? If that is so different from what happened, please tell me why. Not trying to change your minds, all I'm trying to do is get you to see things from my end of things.
And seriously, I have no animosity to anyone here and I have no plans to get into any arguments with anyone. Please give me your honest thoughts on this. Am I that wrong to be angry that Dorchester is cheating me out of the royalties that I use to feed my family? I can understand a promotion designed to give me more exposure in the hopes of selling more of my other titles, but does your opinion on that change when you understand that no matter how many sales of my books this free giveaway might inspire, they have no intention of paying me? Can you at least see why I am angry?
Respectfully,
Gord
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