"Pirating ebooks is an offence against moral justice" says... GoodEreader!?

[meeera]

Originally Posted by barryem

That can be seen either as hypocrassy or as them having learned something as they grew up.

I am loving this neologism. (Portmanteau?)

[Paperbackstash]

Originally Posted by barryem

I'm not really sure what "an offense against justice" means. Does anyone know?

The article says they're afraid piracy will lead to fewer novels being published. Piracy has been around a long time. I just googled and found there are estimates of 600,000 to 1,000,000 new novels every year. It doesn't seem that piracy is slowing things down.

Most of that is because of the change of the publishing house and platform. So many self-publish in the current market easily, and it's easier than ever to start digital independent "companies" with a website and access to Amazon's uploading.

I know several smaller companies have gone under the past few years due to sales, when they've mainly been e-book only. A few favorite authors I follow talk about dismal sales and pirating.

It definitely affects the author's income, output, publishing contracts if they don't self-publish. Sad for them, the companies who take a chance for them, and readers.

That said, while I think it does make an effect, it's not fully to blame for the changing markets. People simply read less, or buy less books. With some many "Free" on Amazon and other places, some people stick to that and don't want to purchase.

[barryem]

Originally Posted by meeera

I am loving this neologism. (Portmanteau?)

It wasn't intentional. I'm a terrible speller and it seems that Chrome's spell checker isn't a lot better.

Barry

[barryem]

I think since more people are self publishing that might also account for a lot of companies going under.

That said, I don't doubt that authors and publishers and retailers lose money due to piracy. It would be impossible for them not to. I do doubt that the problem is as great as is often claimed. I also think that given the size of Amazon pirates might be their most serious competitors.

I think, all in all, readers are probably more honest than publishers and book sellers. If we weren't pretty honest they'd have all gone under long ago.

Barry

[MGlitch]

So a site that regularly steals its news and photos from other sites is going to get on a soapbox about piracy.

Do go on goodereader...

[Deskisamess]

Originally Posted by barryem

It wasn't intentional. I'm a terrible speller and it seems that Chrome's spell checker isn't a lot better.

Barry

So, happy accident then?

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by Paperbackstash

That said, while I think it does make an effect, it's not fully to blame for the changing markets. People simply read less, or buy less books. With some many "Free" on Amazon and other places, some people stick to that and don't want to purchase.

I think this is often overlooked. I don't condone copyright violation--and I'm certainly not going to to say it doesn't have any effect. But I think that some authors/publishers choose to blame "piracy" for their flagging sales when the fact is that "Legal Free (or very cheap)" is very, very hard to compete with these days. Libraries were free, of course, but the sheer amount--not to mention sheer variety--of Legal Free avaialble to those with electronic devices is monumentally staggering. Electronic copyright violation may be pinching some a bit, but it's not running anyone out of business, by any means.

[robko]

Originally Posted by barryem

That can be seen either as hypocrassy or as them having learned something as they grew up. It's hard to know which it is.

Barry

Which (the growing up part) is refuted firmly by this:

Originally Posted by j.p.s

that's true, but after considering how they have handled their own line of hardware, it is not so hard to decide.

and this:

Originally Posted by MGlitch

So a site that regularly steals its news and photos from other sites is going to get on a soapbox about piracy.

Do go on goodereader...

[barryem]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

I think this is often overlooked. I don't condone copyright violation--and I'm certainly not going to to say it doesn't have any effect. But I think that some authors/publishers choose to blame "piracy" for their flagging sales when the fact is that "Legal Free (or very cheap)" is very, very hard to compete with these days. Libraries were free, of course, but the sheer amount--not to mention sheer variety--of Legal Free avaialble to those with electronic devices is monumentally staggering. Electronic copyright violation may be pinching some a bit, but it's not running anyone out of business, by any means.

Libraries and publishers used to say that by putting free books in libraries they were publicizing books. I have no idea whether that's true but my guess is the publishers wouldn't have said it without reason to think so. But with publishers you never really know.

Of course if that's also true of piracy it would be immoral to say so, and probably dangerous in this forum. To say nothing of the fact that the libraries did have to pay for their books and probably the pirates don't.

My guess is that nobody really knows if piracy hurts or helps publishers. My guess would be that it hurts them but I don't really know either. I'd be surprised if it hurts them nearly as much as they claim.

I buy books when they go on sale, with very few exceptions. I subscribe to Bookbub and Book Gorilla and I read them both carefully and if I see something I want I buy it if it's $2 or less. If it's $3 I have to want it pretty badly. And this is part of what sellers are competing with. I'd say half of the books I buy for $2 cost $10 or more normally. It's a great system for readers. I'm glad I don't have to make a living as an author.

Barry

[barryem]

Those do work as evidence against their having grown up. I'm certainly not going to advocate for those guys. At best they've grown up to be fools. At worse they think we're fools. It's hard to know.

Barry

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by barryem

Libraries and publishers used to say that by putting free books in libraries they were publicizing books. I have no idea whether that's true but my guess is the publishers wouldn't have said it without reason to think so. But with publishers you never really know.

Of course if that's also true of piracy it would be immoral to say so, and probably dangerous in this forum. To say nothing of the fact that the libraries did have to pay for their books and probably the pirates don't.

My guess is that nobody really knows if piracy hurts or helps publishers. My guess would be that it hurts them but I don't really know either. I'd be surprised if it hurts them nearly as much as they claim.

I buy books when they go on sale, with very few exceptions. I subscribe to Bookbub and Book Gorilla and I read them both carefully and if I see something I want I buy it if it's $2 or less. If it's $3 I have to want it pretty badly. And this is part of what sellers are competing with. I'd say half of the books I buy for $2 cost $10 or more normally. It's a great system for readers. I'm glad I don't have to make a living as an author.

Barry

I remember that some time ago, Eric Flint and Baen books said that piracy didn't appear to be an issue for their books. Maybe it's changed since then, but I rather doubt it. I suspect that for a lot of authors piracy is both an emotional issue. I also suspect that it is a convenient excuse for lack of sales.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by barryem

...the libraries did have to pay for their books and probably the pirates don't.

I believe that pirated books are bought by the pirates. They have to get a copy from somewhere, right? They're just shared irresponsibly.

I subscribe to Bookbub and Book Gorilla and I read them both carefully and if I see something I want I buy it if it's $2 or less. If it's $3 I have to want it pretty badly.

This and competition from other forms of entertainment are what I believe I believe impacts book sales.

I don't think piracy impacts sales as much as publishers say it does. I have several ebook readers in my family and I'm the only one who knows what Calibre is or even knows what different formats are available. The rest use their devices the way the manufacturer hopes; they buy the books from whatever store the device is connected to and read on that device.

[barryem]

Here in my retirement home it's the same thing. There are several Kindles and a few Kobos and all of them get their books directly from Amazon and Kobo. There are two other people besides myself who have a computer and an internet connection but neither of them have the slightest idea how do do anything beyond Facebook and Youtube. Neither of them read much so those with ereaders don't even have a computer. They use the Wifi in the office to get their books.

Barry

[shalym]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

I don't think piracy impacts sales as much as publishers say it does. I have several ebook readers in my family and I'm the only one who knows what Calibre is or even knows what different formats are available. The rest use their devices the way the manufacturer hopes; they buy the books from whatever store the device is connected to and read on that device.

Originally Posted by barryem

Here in my retirement home it's the same thing. There are several Kindles and a few Kobos and all of them get their books directly from Amazon and Kobo. There are two other people besides myself who have a computer and an internet connection but neither of them have the slightest idea how do do anything beyond Facebook and Youtube. Neither of them read much so those with ereaders don't even have a computer. They use the Wifi in the office to get their books.

Barry

I agree with both of these. I know at least 10 people that have e-readers, and the only one who does anything other than read books that came from the store connected to the device is me. None of them back up their books in any way...they wouldn't have any idea how to. I tried to show my cousin how to do it using Calibre, and she had no interest. Not one of them has any idea how to find books that aren't easily available from the store attached to their reader. I tried sending another cousin a copy of Pride and Prejudice a few years ago that I downloaded from Mobileread, but she couldn't figure out how to get it onto her Nook and ended up just buying it from Barnes and Noble.

This is why I think that piracy is much less of a concern than the publishers and authors believe it to be. Personal experience...plus lack of any hard evidence that it is actually hurting the publishers in any way.

Shari

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by barryem

It wasn't intentional. I'm a terrible speller and it seems that Chrome's spell checker isn't a lot better.

Barry

See New words to live by: “Hypocrassy”. You're not a terrible speller, you're just fond of new vocabulary.