Quote:
Originally Posted by Randolphlalonde
Here are the facts:
The law as it has been interpreted for laymen by legal professionals simply states: Copyright the exclusive right to make copies, license, and otherwise exploit a literary, musical, or artistic work, whether printed, audio, video, etc.: works granted such right by law on or after January 1, 1978, are protected for the lifetime of the author or creator and for a period of 50 years after his or her death.
That means what I've copyrighted is mine. By law that body of work has been made into an object, otherwise termed as "intellectual property". There are no legal differences stipulated for digital content where eBooks are concerned. This is the law in the US, Canada, the UK and elsewhere. There is no disputing this outside of a court of law.
I have the right to decide how and where my work is distributed until I assign rights to another party (publisher, distributor, etc...).
Anyone who infringes upon that law is subject to punishment by the legal system of their country and in other countries with consideration to international treaties. Individuals who break copyrights may be imprisoned, fined by the state and individuals who file claims in pursuit of compensation.
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The more personal side:
My eBooks pay the rent. If people didn't pay a fair price for them, then I would have to seek other employment and I wouldn't have time to write 3-5 books a year. I _may_ be able to get 1 out in 12 months because I'd be working for someone else.
In my case, the illegal distribution of eBooks wouldn't help one bit. People don't buy my books in print, they're not in stores, they buy eBooks. I don't charge much for my eBooks, certainly not unfair prices (everything is under $10.00 and the non-DRM versions on Smashwords are all $4.99 or less, I even have two free books there). Buying those books keeps me in spam and cheesy macaroni so I can write more books, benefiting my readers. They know that, and they don't mind paying the cover. In a few hundred emails I've never had anyone complain about price.
So, there are the legal and personal facts that I believe in. Don't bother arguing on the legal points with me, I've already done my homework on this, consulted a lawyer and could write a book on the topic. I don't, because it would be really, REALLY boring and I don't want to become known as "That Copyright Guy". I'd rather be known as "That EBook Writer" for entertaining people who prefer to read books on a screen, instead of a dead tree.
If you're really looking for something free, you can grab one of the free titles I've posted on Smashwords. You can even pretend you're stealing it.
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*sigh*
You may as well have just written 'Please don't read my works because I consider most of you thieves. Please, please, target audience, please note my name and make sure that you never, ever read my stuff again.' You may have consulted lawyers, you may be able to write a thousand books on the subject, but you really don't get what's happening at all.