My journey into the darknet

[jabberwock_11]

In regards to the idea that borrowing books or buying used books does not benefit the author:

While it is true that used books and lent books do not tend to give any profit to the authors, they were purchased or paid for when they were new and have already paid out their royalties. The author may not see any money from a used book, but they do see an increase in readership as well as the possibility of having readers become paying fans. Publicity in any form is good, and these days word of mouth publicity can create an avalanche of otherwise untapped fans.

[Ravensknight]

Have to say, what you described is pretty much exactly what happened to me. But now that I've caught up with my collection, I have to go almost cold turkey. I hope I can do it! :-(

[alecE]

Thank you jabberwok_11 for a very entertaining OP. I've only wandered in the darknet twice. Once I obtained a copy of 'The Difference Engine' which doesn't seem to be legally available in digital format anywhere. If I could buy it legitimately, I would.

I'm suffering the pangs of darknet temptation at the moment - I've recently discovered the 'Sharpe' series by Bernard Cornwell. I'm really happy to buy these as legal copies, but Harper Collins are being very slow about bringing them out. So that torrent download of Mr. Cornwell's entire and complete works is sitting (untouched so far) on my hard drive, looking more & more like that elephant in the room...

And yes, I do remove the drm from books that I purchase, but I consider it's my right to protect and future-proof my purchases. I do not think it right to pass such liberated titles on to other people.

And as for geo restrictions, I haven't by-passed those, yet. But it's almost certainly going to happen one day when yet again I'm prevented from helping an author get some money.

I prefer to act within the law, I WANT to pay money for books, so why does the publishing industry make it so damn hard when the means to circumvent these restrictions are so damn simple?

[kindlekitten]

Originally Posted by alecE

Thank you jabberwok_11 for a very entertaining OP. I've only wandered in the darknet twice. Once I obtained a copy of 'The Difference Engine' which doesn't seem to be legally available in digital format anywhere. If I could buy it legitimately, I would.

I'm suffering the pangs of darknet temptation at the moment - I've recently discovered the 'Sharpe' series by Bernard Cornwell. I'm really happy to buy these as legal copies, but Harper Collins are being very slow about bringing them out. So that torrent download of Mr. Cornwell's entire and complete works is sitting (untouched so far) on my hard drive, looking more & more like that elephant in the room...

And yes, I do remove the drm from books that I purchase, but I consider it's my right to protect and future-proof my purchases. I do not think it right to pass such liberated titles on to other people.

And as for geo restrictions, I haven't by-passed those, yet. But it's almost certainly going to happen one day when yet again I'm prevented from helping an author get some money.

I prefer to act within the law, I WANT to pay money for books, so why does the publishing industry make it so damn hard when the means to circumvent these restrictions are so damn simple?

I agree with you wholeheartedly and those instances are the lone reason for my walks on the darkside. I'll certainly pay first, but by golly, if they're going to be a manure head about it... well there ya' go

[jabberwock_11]

Hey, I am right there with you. Like I said, if I had been able to find legal copies of the books I wanted I would have never even wandered onto the darknet.

It's funny that you mention the Difference Engine, I have a paperback copy of that book and was actually about to look around for an ebook version of it tonight...sigh, if what you say is still accurate it appears that I am going to be forced to, yet again, look to alternative means to find a copy of what should be a readily available book (it is still popular and is considered mandatory reading among the steampunk folks).

Ah well, maybe someone out there in publishing land will read this and say to themselves, "ya know it might be a good idea to look at the possible profit gains from digitizing our back catalogue of books..."

[delphidb96]

Y'know...? Darknet, it's what's for dinner!

Me, I find that most of my ebooks come from retail estores, such as Fictionwise, eReader and Amazon, but there just are *some* titles I still cannot find anywhere but the darknet. And until I *can* find them all, reasonably priced, I'll continue to scope out the darknet. Plus, I'm quite willing to try really new authors in genres I haven't 'discovered' by darknet copies.

Derek

[TGS]

I would have bought it if I could - but no-one would sell it to me - so I stole it, (this is a rhetorical use of the world "stole" - I, and apparently no-one else here, knows whether this is actually stealing - but it obviously naughty or we wouldn't have this confessional going on) . Don't get me wrong, I'm not condemning people who use the Darknet, but don't for chrissakes pretend there is some kind of difference between what you describe and the actions of those who just take stuff because they can. By all means if it's what you want to do go on and do it - but spare us the self-righteous justifications.

People do bad things - it's OK, mummy's not going to tell you off and she'll still love you.

[the_callant]

My driver for ebooks has always been the large number of books in a small physical space. I started reading ebooks with an HP clamshell device, and LX360 I think. Migrating through other PDA's. In the early days the only source of ebooks was the darknet. What was available legally was very restricted. I have noticed that legal ebooks are becoming more readily available, and amazon and others claim that the ebook sector is rapidly expanding. All of this in spite of ebooks being widely available from the darknet. This seems to be at odds with the claim that these books are adversely affecting ebook sales.
I would much rather buy a well presented ebook from a legitimate source than use the darknet. The scan errors are frustrating. I will add that I usually have a paper copy of the books in my posession, so I have paid the author for his work.
What amazes me is that publishers cannot see the potential in ebooks. Where the legitimate sales can grow in the face of a lacklustre support from the publisher, and almost every book available for free on the darknet, if the publishers were more supportive, I am believe sales would increase faster.

[Format C:]

Originally Posted by TGS

......

the actions of those who just take stuff because they can. By all means if it's what you want to do go on and do it - but spare us the self-righteous justifications.

.........

It's just human nature.

If you think about it, the US of A themself have been stolen from people who just had bows and arrows to protect their land........

[gastan]

Originally Posted by Format C:

It's just human nature.
If you think about it, the US of A themself have been stolen from people who just had bows and arrows to protect their land........

Yeah. And the Greeks stole Persia. The Romans stole Greece, Persia, and Europe. The Huns stole Eastern Europe from the Romans. Spain and Portugal stole South America and most of the South Pacific. Etc, etc, etc. What's your point?

[ficbot]

I must be doing it wrong then, or else I am very stupid, because the few times I have explored (just out of curiosity) the alleged 'Darknet,' I have found errors in every book. It's just too much work to go through and proofread them all. I would rather just pay to get a proper copy. All those people who say they get perfect, beautiful copies of, say, the Harry Potter books, I have no idea where on earth they are getting them from because I have never seen them.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by ficbot

I must be doing it wrong then, or else I am very stupid, because the few times I have explored (just out of curiosity) the alleged 'Darknet,' I have found errors in every book. It's just too much work to go through and proofread them all. I would rather just pay to get a proper copy. All those people who say they get perfect, beautiful copies of, say, the Harry Potter books, I have no idea where on earth they are getting them from because I have never seen them.

Yep. I'm in that boat with you. I hate PDFs and anything else I've seen "illegally" are fraught with errors etc.

[mr ploppy]

Originally Posted by jabberwock_11

The author may not see any money from a used book, but they do see an increase in readership as well as the possibility of having readers become paying fans. Publicity in any form is good, and these days word of mouth publicity can create an avalanche of otherwise untapped fans.

Just like all the fan made free ebooks do

[leebase]

Originally Posted by alecE

I've recently discovered the 'Sharpe' series by Bernard Cornwell.

I loved the Sharpe series. Listened to all 20 (or so) books on my commute to and from work for about six months

Lee

[sony_fox]

I must be doing it wrong then, or else I am very stupid, because the few times I have explored (just out of curiosity) the alleged 'Darknet,' I have found errors in every book. It's just too much work to go through and proofread them all. I would rather just pay to get a proper copy.

I wish.
If only the books I'd bought and paid for were anything even close to as good as the pbook versions.

This always used to be the filmmakers argument - don't buy some grotty handheld cam shots from a cinema buy the real deal. Book publisher don't even manage to make it to this standard. So far I can't say whether the darknet is worse. But it wouldn't be that hard to be better.