Pirates aren't uncommon in the choppy waters of publishing. Every remotely successful author is all but guaranteed their own pirate story.Somehow I didn't think a niche genre novella selling for $2.99 from a small indie press would be the sort of thing to grab a pirate's attention. Frankly, I wasn't sure it was going to grab anyone's attention! It's my (very quiet) debut and authors are inclined to worry about things like this.
You can imagine my surprise when a Google Alert popped for a place I've never heard of: Mobilism.com
Someone was requesting the ePub version of my book (available from Breathless Press, All Romance e-Books, Book Strand, and 1 Place For Romance right now - it will be on Nook and KOBO in the next week or so) in exchange for 10 WRZ$, the currency of the Mobilism site. At first, checking from my phone, I thought this might be a book selling site that I just hadn't heard of. Stranger things have happened. I still don't know who buys book on Diesel, but I sell them there.
Alas, it wasn't to be. Someone wants to buy my $3 novella for $10 fake cash. That's quite a mark up, and out right theft. Most pirate sites either list the book for free, or the pirate changes the cover and sells a plagiarized text as their own. This is the first time I've run into a site where the pirates charge each other for the stolen copy. I guess it's Port Royal of the internet.
Mobilism claims it isn't a pirate site. This is from their welcome page:
Welcome to Mobilism...the single largest user-powered database of apps, games, movies and books for mobile device users of all platforms! With over half a million members and millions of users, over 100 000 releases, and more than 750 000 posts, Mobilism is one of the largest and oldest mobile platform sites, as well as, in our opinion, by far the most organized one.
So sit back, download some apps, learn something new, and enjoy your stay!
No pirated material is hosted on their site, only links. Which is a little like saying the pimp selling a ten-year-old on the street isn't really a pedophile, he's just enabling. Maybe the kid was 18, was he to be the judge? Did the pimp know a person paying for the kid's company for an hour wanted sex? Maybe they were going to play video games. It could happen...
Nor am I the first person to be violated by Mobilism. Lloyd Shepard, author of THE ENGLISH MONSTER found himself in a similar predicament. He asked the person why they were asking for a pirated copy, a legitimate question under the circumstances. The responses were actually polite, if a bit cliche. Pirating books is compared to the thrill of Robin Hood, or the dues authors owe society, or the fact that a person can get the book for free so they should be allowed to get the book for free.
There's even a page on the Kindle Boards going round and round on whether or not piracy is good for an author.
So, here's my 10 WRZ$ on the the subject of piracy...
I'm not flattered. I'm not happy. I don't think this will boost sales or help me in any way. It certainly isn't helping my Karma when I visualize the pirate being mauled and eaten by the bear in my backyard. Especially when I laugh at the idea of the pirate's skull showing up in tomorrow's pile of scat! (But, seriously, the look of surprise on your face, Pirate. He he he!)
Why would anyone steal my hard work?
Could the person asking honestly not find the ePub files? Were they impatient because Barnes and Noble and Kobo are lagging?
Could they not find my email address to ask me? I'm pretty sure I still have one author copy to give away.
If this were one of my short stories I don't think I'd be as upset. I give away my short stories to newsletter subscribers every month. And, in a sense, the short stories are already paid out. The only one who loses anything when I give away a short story is me.
But when EVEN VILLAINS FALL IN LOVE gets pirated, that's different. My editor suffers. My small press suffers. My cover artist suffers. My future career suffers because of lost sales. The misery is one eternal round.
If three dollars is really that far out of your budget, send me a sob story, I'll probably buy the book for you. And I will buy it, because that way my editor, my press, and my cover artist get their portion.
You see, that little book up there. I wrote it. I edited it. It's my creation, but I had help. The beautiful cover art was done by Dara England, who also did the cover design on SEVENTY. I had two editors, plus the copy editors and formatters and publicists and everyone else at Breathless Press who put time and energy into polishing the book and making it wonderful. They all deserve to get paid for their work. There is no argument you can make that makes their work something the public should have a right to for free.
Don't pirate my work, please. You're killing my zen, damaging my karma, and generally making life darker for everyone who put work into this book.
If you really, truly, desperately want to spend $10 on EVFIL, send me an email. You can send me $10USD and I will send you EVFIL in any format you like plus a signed thank you note. It's really not that hard. Promise.
- Liana
