What about used books? - a reprint from Seanan McGuire

For those who aren't familiar with Seanan McGuire she's an amazing urban fantasy writer well known for interacting with fan and giving straight answers when necessary. I love her Toby Daye books, and she has several other series, so be sure to check her out if UF is your cuppa tea. With her permission I'm reposting Seanan's reply to what authors think about used books and why used books and piracy aren't the same thing.

The Original Question:
Do you get royalties on used books, or are they okay because they've given you royalties before?

Seanan Says....
I do not get royalties on used books.  But!  Used books are awesome and amazing and so important.  I cannot overstress how important they are.  They keep the cycle of reading going; they mean that worlds are not closed off to people just because they don’t have that much money right now.  They keep things that are out of print available and accessible.

That said, I get angry—and not at you; you didn’t do this; this is just something I see with dismaying frequency—when people say “oh, if used books, which don’t pay royalties, are okay, then piracy must also be okay.  Or you’re a hypocrite.”

No.

A used book is a singular artifact.  If my publisher decides that they’re only going to print 1,000 copies of my next book (chosen because it’s a nice, simple number), that means there are 1,000 copies in the world.  500 of them wind up in private collections.  Another 200 wind up in libraries (and may become used books in three to five years, if they don’t fall apart).  Assume 200 are stripped (covers removed and returned to the publisher).  That leaves 100 copies—10% of the original print run—to enter the used book ecosystem.

They will be bought by teenagers counting their pennies.  By college students doing the same.  By single parents trying to have some good things while also feeding their kids.  By homeless people who enjoy reading, but can’t justify more than two or three dollars for a paperback.  By bargain hunters and people who want to sample the series and minimum wage workers and people from a thousand other walks of life that I can’t even guess at.  And always, there will be 100 of them.  If enough people express dismay at not being able to find the book, used or new, there may be a second print run.  Options remain open.

Now let’s assume that when my publisher decided to only print 1,000 copies of my book, some enterprising soul said “damn the Man,” and put it up for free download.  5,000 copies were downloaded.  There is no math that says “of those 5,000 copies, 2,000 were lost sales”; that just isn’t a thing that can be defined.  But when my publisher sees that 5,000 copies were downloaded, they’ll see it as 5,000 lost sales.  Not 2,000; not 2; 5,000.  So the odds of a second print run go way, way down.

Let’s return to the used book ecosystem for a moment.  When you buy a used book from my local Half-Price Books, no, I don’t get royalties.  But the store pays its rent.  People are employed.  The lights stay on.  People who need money can sell their books to the store to be sold to other people looking for a little joy.  A used book is joy magnified.  It is something paid forward into the world.  A pirated book is a dead end.  Maybe someone is happy because they didn’t pay $4 for a used book, or $8 for a new one.  That someone has endangered the author’s income (“Oops, her piracy stats are terrible, and she only sold 5,000 copies of her last book, let her go”), the survival of the library system, which is already under attack (“No one’s borrowing these books, so why are we budgeting for them?”), and the survival of the used bookstore, which uplifts and benefits its local community.

I know I can’t convince people not to pirate.  I know that every time I talk about piracy, my own piracy numbers spike, because now I’m a good target.  But the math is pretty clear.  Piracy benefits the pirate; new book sales benefit the author; used book sales benefit the world.

I have the right to what I want!

I was talking with someone the other say who is pro-pirate.

She's also very articulate and makes an interesting argument for why it isn't illegal to download movies or TV shows: She's a huge fan, she buys everything when it comes out, but her local television provider doesn't show some of her favorite shows and they aren't on Hulu or YouTube so she hits the pirate sites. After all, she's a FAN! She'd give the producers money if they'd provide a way for her to have it, but since they won't she will go get her TV fix another way. Who's being hurt?

The more I thought about it the more this sounds like the Rapist Defense.

Try reading the argument like this...

"Look, I'm a big fan of women! I donate money to the battered women's shelter and some of my favorite people are female. All I wanted was a little sex with this chick, okay? She's gorgeous and I wanted to tap that. I would have taken her out to dinner first if she'd just say yes. I tried to get sex with her another way, but she wouldn't put out. Does she really expect me to wait? I want sex with her now! So I took it. What's wrong with that?"

Normal people will say that the problem with this is that the woman is not something to be objectified and if she didn't want to have a sexual relationship with this person then the matter ended there.

Piracy is the same. In this case the relationship is a creator/consumer interaction with the art being the medium of exchange. The Creator makes the Art and makes it available for certain Consumers. Pirates want the Art but are not the Consumer the Creator made the Art for, so the Pirate steals the Art.

The Pirate does not try to become the Consumer. The Pirate has no regard for the Creator. The Pirate does not want to promote Art or free expression (although they love to hide behind the label of Free Speech). The Pirate is a greedy, opportunistic rapist who will destroy everything in pursuit of what they feel entitled to.

Yes, you may consider yourself a fan of a TV show, musician, or author, but that doesn't entitle you to their work. An artist can create something they choose not to share with everyone, and being a fan of that artist does give you any right to demand it. It doesn't give you any right to steal it.

You are not entitled to someone else's body, their work, or their thoughts. You have no right to force them to share any of that with you.

A Free Meal

I was shopping downtown last week and I was hungry, and as it happened I was near this restaurant that was handing out samples. I tried a bite, decided I liked it, and so went and ate a plate full. As I was leaving this guy came running up to me and told me I needed to pay.

Really, just like that he handed me a bill!

I laughed. "Dude, why would I pay you?"

The guy gaped like a fish out if water and says, "Because it was my food, and I cooked it."

"It's not your food," I said, pointing out the obvious. "You cooked this to share, right?"

The guy backpedaled a little. "Well, yes, but you still need to pay."

"Why?"

"Because you owe me for the time and the materials?"

I could tell he knew his argument was flimsy. "So, you're telling me I should pay for your hobby?"

"What?" He was obviously embarrassed.

"You like cooking?" I asked.

"Yes, it's one of my favorite things. That's why I've made a career out if it. That's why I opened this restaurant."

"You're such a jerk!" I said, barely able to contain my rage. "You do want me to pay for your hobby? You honesty think I should pay you just because you cook? Anyone can cook!"

He looked confused. "That was a gourmet meal. It took me six hours to prepare that dish."

I shook me head. It's like the guy was tuning out everything I said. "I didn't say the meal was bad. I'd eat here again. I'm just saying that it's ridiculous for you to expect me to pay for food."

"I have bills to pay. Rent. Kids. Medical bills."

"So get off your lazy duff and get a real job," I told him. "No one is making you cook."

"You still need to pay," he told me. "I have to pay the farmer who grow the crops, and the rancher, and machinist who installed my freezer, and my electric bill."

I waved a warning finger at him. "Uh-uh. You don't *need* those things, those are luxuries. You could have raised your own food, and if you hadn't opened the restaurant you wouldn't have those bills." A put a gentle arm on his shoulder. "I get it," I said. "I really do. But you have to realize that you aren't doing anything real here. Everything you create vanishes within a day. Why would I pay for something I can't keep or display?"

He just stared at me. I think he finally realized just what kind of snotwazzle he was being. But, just to be sure, I said, "Even if I agreed that cooking a gourmet meal was hard, that it had value of some kind, how could you justify selling food? Society needs food. If you're going to cook you should share it for free. Food is for everyone."

The guy looked so sad. It was like the world had just fell out from under him.

We've all been there. We all have days where we realize we're in the wrong. "Tell you what," I said, feeling a sudden spark of generosity. "I'll pay. Just to make you feel good. I know what it's like to be between jobs."

He was grinding his teeth, put I persevered.

I dug out my purse. "Here's a dime," I said. "Ten cents, just like I'd pay for a package of ramen. That's fair, right? Food is food."


Do you know what? He tried to hit me! Honestly! After I'd been nice to him. I even complimented his cooking, and he tried to hit me! As if it's my fault he doesn't have a real job. He probably lives in his mom's basement.

Some people are ridiculous. They do things for fun and expect you to foot the bill. Let me tell you, I won't stand for it. I am done paying for other people to fiddle around "enjoying life" instead of getting real jobs.

Man, that cook made me angry. He's never going to eat all the food he cooks. I was practically doing him a favor!

But not now. Nope. I am never going back to that restaurant again. I won't even tell you the name, that's how bad it is.

And if you think that's bad, you should have seen the lady at the shoe store! Eighty bucks for a pair of sandals? I told her she'd take the $6.99 I'd pay at Walmart and she'd like it. You have to watch people like a hawk, otherwise they'll walk all over you.


NOTE: This is, yes, a satire on the state of publishing. I promise, I didn't steal a meal or shoes. I could get arrested for that. Alas, we live in a world where stealing words is much, much easier than stealing food.

Dr. Charm VS The Pirates

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