Piracy Experiment

[Xanthe]

Originally Posted by mr ploppy

Really? That's a pretty big shift in demographics over the last 10 years or so. When I first became aware of them it was mostly scifi books so I would guess it at mainly young males. I suppose that explains why there's no skinhead or hell's angels books floating around.

Over the last 10 years there's been a lot more publication of the back catalog of the scifi genre, not just the Old Masters of it, IMO, because OOP scifi writers started showing up on the Dark Net. I would come across authors there that I had never heard of before, because I had never seen their names on books when I was perusing the SciFi section of Borders or B&N. People were in raptures because they could finally get new copies of favorite books that had worn out from being read and re-read. As the years have gone by, I now see those authors turning up in reprints.

I'm sure we all have favorite authors whose works we try to keep alive by at least word-of-mouth, if not by anything else. Authors always give homage to earlier writers who influenced them; it's good that the potential future scifi writers are now getting more exposed to the broad historical range of the genre, and learn that there is more to it than Asimov, Clarke, Heinlein, et al (not to knock that crew at all, BTW ).

[Catlady]

There may be a lot of romance out there, but it all seems relatively recent. I'd like to find the older romantic suspense, but other than a handful of titles from Victoria Holt, Phyllis A. Whitney, and Mary Stewart, there doesn't seem to be anything available. I'm thinking of Velda Johnston, Jane Aiken Hodge, Dorothy Eden, Anne Maybury, Elsie Lee, Willo Davis Roberts, etc. These were kinds of paperbacks that had covers with a mansion in the background, a single light shining in a window, and a woman fleeing in the foreground. Fun stuff that sadly seems to have just disappeared.

[GA Russell]

Originally Posted by Xanthe

So a sisterhood of sorts has developed among those who read that genre - it's our guilty secret...

Xanthe, why are you wasting your time reading that trash?

[Xanthe]

Originally Posted by GA Russell

Xanthe, why are you wasting your time reading that trash?

[GA Russell]

LOL!!!

[Xanthe]

Originally Posted by Catlady

There may be a lot of romance out there, but it all seems relatively recent. I'd like to find the older romantic suspense, but other than a handful of titles from Victoria Holt, Phyllis A. Whitney, and Mary Stewart, there doesn't seem to be anything available. I'm thinking of Velda Johnston, Jane Aiken Hodge, Dorothy Eden, Anne Maybury, Elsie Lee, Willo Davis Roberts, etc. These were kinds of paperbacks that had covers with a mansion in the background, a single light shining in a window, and a woman fleeing in the foreground. Fun stuff that sadly seems to have just disappeared.

That may be starting, though, as the ebook reading population increases. I've seen a bunch of Victoria Holt, Phyllis Whitney and the non-Arthurian Mary Stewart available recently, and I hadn't seen their books around in ebook format before. I'm not really into the traditional Gothic romance genre anymore, and I have the sneaking suspicion that if I read some of those books again now I wouldn't get the same enjoyment from them.

For some of those authors, though, unless there are hardcovers around, the age of the paperbacks is probably maxing out and it really depends on how many people kept those books. I probably have a bunch of them in my storage unit but there's no way I would take apart those books to scan them. I can lay my hands on Elsie Lee's "The Nabob's Widow" (absolutely love that book) because that's one that I periodically re-read, but I just checked on Amazon, and the used price runs from $39.99 to $100. So even if I had a working scanner (I don't) and was willing to take apart the book to scan it (I'm not), the value of the book would prevent me from doing so. Just checked the price on a Grace Ingram hardcover that I bought years ago for a twenty-five cents as a ex-library book - it's worth $140+ now.

Got to wonder what the rest of those "trashy" novels are worth now.

[starrigger]

Originally Posted by Xanthe

Over the last 10 years there's been a lot more publication of the back catalog of the scifi genre, not just the Old Masters of it, IMO, because OOP scifi writers started showing up on the Dark Net. I would come across authors there that I had never heard of before, because I had never seen their names on books when I was perusing the SciFi section of Borders or B&N. People were in raptures because they could finally get new copies of favorite books that had worn out from being read and re-read. As the years have gone by, I now see those authors turning up in reprints.

I'm sure we all have favorite authors whose works we try to keep alive by at least word-of-mouth, if not by anything else. Authors always give homage to earlier writers who influenced them; it's good that the potential future scifi writers are now getting more exposed to the broad historical range of the genre, and learn that there is more to it than Asimov, Clarke, Heinlein, et al (not to knock that crew at all, BTW ).

Can't argue with that! (Though sometimes reading the oldies can be a surprisingly painful experience. )

[Xanthe]

Well, we approach those books now with completely different mindsets and life experiences than we had when we first read them. For scifi, it's hard to recapture that spark to our imaginations that occurred when we first read the books as kids. Also, for some books, re-reading them now really brings to the forefront how our society has changed from what it was when the book was originally written, which can sometimes distract you from the story. Some stories and authors simply don't age well; there's a reason why no reprints are occurring; I think more time has to pass before they are at least deemed a curiosity or a genre tangent worthy of republishing.

Though I do think we tend to cut a lot of slack for the books that are enshrined in our memories, those that helped to formulate the person we are today.

[mr ploppy]

Originally Posted by Xanthe

I probably have a bunch of them in my storage unit but there's no way I would take apart those books to scan them.

If you use a camera on a tripod instead of a scanner you don't need to take them apart. But if they won't open more than 90 degrees you will need two hands to hold the book and another to take the photos.

Obviously you should only do this with books you have written yourself, like your diary or some really bad poetry you wrote when you were a teenager, because anything else would be like killing kittens.

[mr ploppy]

Originally Posted by Xanthe

Well, we approach those books now with completely different mindsets and life experiences than we had when we first read them.

I grew up with the Stainless Steel Rat books. I read through them all one after the other quite recently, and still rate them highly. One thing that really annoyed me about the new one that came out last year was that all the pocket communicators and robot brains had been replaced with mobile phones and computers. That's just WRONG!

[Grimm]

Originally Posted by Quexos

Well I can assure you that what you found is NOT Retail quality
Retail quality is said of an ebook that is not just put together by fans or pirates but actually purchased then made available online. It is by definition the best quality version available. With table of content, complete text and nice formatting.
So I stand by what I said: Pirated Retail quality ebooks do exist but they are a small minority.
As for low or bad quality copies out there, they are no match to the Retail one can purchase on official sites thus I don't consider it worth worrying about for publishers or raving about for pirates.

With all due respect, if you have not downloaded the pirated copies how can you say they are NOT retail quality?

As for pirated retail books being a small minority, I have to disgaree. I've done my own experiments and to be fair, easily 95% of what I looked at were indeed retail quality, linked Tables of Contents and all. I have compared retail copies with the pirated ones and yes, they are identical.

And as was pointed out earlier, it is incredibly easy to find these items if you know where to look. Invite-only or semi-closed registration torrent sites have so many retail quality e-books on them you'd be amazed.

[Grimm]

Originally Posted by Quexos

So again I'd be happy to be wrong but it's very unlikely that you (or any one else) "know" of a place on the net where retail quality books galore ...

Your stunning arrogance aside, I am a member of one of those sites with retail quality books galore are on offer. I prefer to pay for mine, but I can assure you, they are indeed out there.

[Grimm]

Aaaaaaaannnnnnnnnd I totally didn't realize the posts I was responding to were so old... lol.

[Grimm]

Originally Posted by unboggling

I'd be interested in learning what one of those alleged "good, membership-only" book-piracy sites looks like, how much it costs, what the membership/joining process is, the quality of the selection and formats available. Until that experiment, if ever, I will avoid piracy sites and pirated copies.

They are free. The quality of the selections can, and with the respect to the one I am a member of, be excellent. Limited registrations/invite-only is a very good model to choose, as a matter of fact, the site I use does not allow any "adult" content, be it pictures or movies. Not saying I do or do not use it for books but I do know that the quality is, on the whole, excellent.

[Grimm]

This thread has been pretty fascinating, but one thing I keep coming back to is this:

The pirated books were paid for originally. How is someone downloading a pirated copy of an e-book any different than a person borrowing a pbook from a friend or buying a pbook from a secondhand store?

Either way the author got paid for the original purchase, but that is all.

Not saying piracy of e-books is good or bad, just asking the question.