Quote:
Originally Posted by kartu
Name a single "fighting pirates" success story please.
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I never said it would be successful. I said it would be interesting.
However, since you raised the subject of success--yes, there are thousands of success stories, small ones. Every time an individual wakes up to, or is educated to, the fact that supporting piracy is tantamount to stealing, that's a success story. Every time a search turns up legitimate sources first, and pirated sources farther enough down the list that an average reader won't see it or go for it, that's a success story. And small success stories are important, because they're stories about individuals making better choices.
Obviously the pirates aren't going away. And obviously someone who
wants to find the pirate stashes will continue to be able to do so. But that's not the point. As sourcejedi said, the point is to move the temptation away from where most readers won't get sucked in (
Pssst! Wanna buy a free ebook?) on their way to the store.
People who know me on this board know that I'm no stranger to free promotion. I gave away many tens of thousands of copies of some of my books before I put them up for sale at a low price. A couple of them are still available for free. But that's by my choice, as the copyright holder.
I don't get too riled up by the pirates. Hell, I used a pirated edition of my own first novel as a source file for my own legitimate ebook release (through E-reads, as it happens). I recognize that I've gotten free advertising through the presence of my books on the darknet. I also imagine I've lost some sales. (How can I know? Answer: I can't.)
As a practical matter, I choose not to play "Whack-a-mole," though I don't mind E-reads doing it on my behalf. But I do contest, as an ethical matter, the sense of entitlement I sometimes witness that says, "I have a right to any ebook I want, whether it's been authorized by the author or not." Because no, you don't.*
*By
you, I don't mean anyone in particular. I mean all of us.