"As to hanging, it is no great hardship...": Internet Piracy, and Who It Hurts.

[seanan_mcguire]

I am about to preach to the choir, because I have no idea what else to do, and frankly, I am at a loss for other options

Comments

[murphy73]

I'd been meaning to buy a new copy of Feed (I gave my original copy to a friend) and this post reminded me to do so and I did so. Gotta keep those cats fed and Seanan needs food too to keep her strength up so she can continue writing.

[seanan_mcguire]

Thank you!

[cirakaite]

Yeah . . . if there's no ebook available to me, either because there wasn't one produced or it's not available in the UK, I'll often download one to complement the physical copy I buy. If there's an ebook, I buy the ebook, no contest. If I end up loving the book, I'll often buy both, because while ebooks can't be beaten for convenience, sometimes you have to savour the read!

[seanan_mcguire]

Totally.

[groblek]

Also, physical copies are much easier to loan out to introduce someone to an author. I actually find electronic copies more comfortable to read due to some RSI issues, but I really like physical books - there's something special about them.

Currently my wife & I only buy our ebooks from Baen, because they're the only publisher I know of that offers their ebooks free of DRM in their ebooks, and I just don't trust that any of the DRM schemes will let me read the book again on whatever device I'm using 20 years from now. That's one of the things that annoys me about book piracy besides the harm to the authors - the measures that publishers then feel they need to take to prevent it tend to only inconvenience the legitimate customers.

[beckyh2112]

DRM is why I've learned how to crack DRM on the e-books I've legitimately bought. I'm sorry, assorted booksellers who are not the people who made my ebook-reader, I want to read this book I paid for. You do not make it available in a file format my reader can read, so I crack your DRM in order to convert to something usable.

This is frustrating and one of the reasons I've yet to jump on the ebook bandwagon. Despite the deadtree books forming a to-be-read-wall in my room.

[lysythe]

:/ people are impatient and don't want to wait for their local library to acquire a copy so they can read for free. Jeezus, at least that option means the author gets something.

[lysythe]

Also now when I go to kinokuniya tomorrow on the quest for the elusive textbook, I shall remember to get a copy of Feed. (Read it in the library first.)

[seanan_mcguire]

Yay, on both counts!

[seanan_mcguire]

Yeah. I love libraries.

[seanan_mcguire]

Very welcome.

[phillip2637]

My income for 30+ years has come from creating software. I sympathize with what you're saying, not just because I'd very much like books to continue to exist, but because I've heard those same excuses and more for...30+ years.

[jenk]

Agreed.

[seanan_mcguire]

Heh.

Unfortunately true.