The Best Books in Life Aren't Free

It’s time I take a running head start and leap onto my soapbox. File sharing has become a destabilizing force in the publishing industry. Millions of people are doing it and I’m going to be completely upfront and honest by admitting I use to be one of them. Guilty as charged! And since I’ve ridden the bandwagon before; I may very well be viewed a hypocrite. I believed the rationalizations and justifications, anything to make it okay. I never allowed myself time to think, “Is this right or wrong?” I chose to live in the grey area, but at the end of the day there is no grey area. It’s simply black or white. Before you continue reading, I challenge you to keep an open mind a really consider what it means to “share” books and how your decision to do so affects others.

First, let me address a few of the rationalizations the average reader may make to justify theft. Yes I said it, theft. I know I may sound harsh especially since I use to do “the bad” myself, but I wish someone had shown me this kind of tough love in the beginning before I had to come to the realization on my own that this was wrong! Way wrong!! One of my favorites is, “Books are too expensive and I can’t afford to buy them.”  You know what else is too expensive? Gas. So next time your pumping gas and it’s about $4.00 a gallon, I want you to fill your car up and then I want you to drive off without paying. Now when the po po pulls you over, I want you to snap a picture of the officer’s face when you tell him that you didn’t pay because it was too expensive. You know what else is expensive, getting bailed out of jail.

I love this one, “I just download it to read and if I like it then I buy the book” (insert bullshit sneeze here). Do I even really need to comment on this one? I mean come on people; does anyone believe that?  I also hate to tell you that it’s not the same as borrowing from the library. Borrowing implies giving back. After you illegally download a book, do you email it back to the author? I didn’t think so.

The next time you’re in Barnes & Noble I want you to pick up a book and walk out of the store with it; see how far you get. How is that any different than downloading an ebook without paying? Yes I know it’s available on the internet for free. It’s out there for anyone to download, but so is child pornography. Does being available make it right? If you are participating in this, then go ahead and slap on your eye patch because it is piracy.

Lastly and most importantly, you are hurting others when you do this. You’re hurting the authors. It takes time, money, time, and money to write a book. They might as well just go ahead and post their checking account numbers directly to the interweb because you’re directly taking money from them every time you illegally download a book.



Now think of a few of your favorite series….

          

Got it? Now think about how you’d feel if half way through the series the author stopped writing; you’re left completely hanging. That’s what will eventually happen if authors can’t make money off their stories. They work way too hard to provide countless hours of entertainment; time taken away from their families and friends. They do not deserve to be ripped off. Even if you’re not a writer, just put yourself in their shoes. You can’t honestly tell me you wouldn’t be angry, frustrated, and heart-broken if people were stealing your hard work. Because I’ll say it again; IT’S STEALING!!!

Here's a few examples:

I searched a well known file sharing website for a few of my favorite books. I took note of the amount of downloads for each book over the past month. Now let's say that the author will make at least $1.00 profit for each book (most likely more).

Fifty Shades Freed by E.L. James: 1,764 downloads= $1,764
Catching Jordan by Miranda Kenneally: 2006 downloads= $2,006
Cross My Heart by Katie Klein: 1,333 downloads= $1,333
Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire 586 downloads = $586

So you can see who's losing out. I could go on, but you get the idea.

I really love books, but because of this blasé attitude and disregard for right and wrong, the publishing world is in trouble. This has got to stop and I challenge everyone to make a commitment to no longer support the file sharing of books. They are not free; someone is paying. There are many free and legal ways to obtain ebooks. Thousands and thousands of amazon authors allow their books to be available for kindle loan. Right now, I have three kindle books on loan to people I met on goodreads. There is also the library. Most libraries have ebooks and hardcopies available for borrowing.

I appreciate you taking time to read my rant and if I offended anyone I’m not sorry. The only person who’d be offended by this is someone illegally downloading ebooks and that’s wrong. Not an opinion, but a fact. That may be a bold statement, but I support it one-hundred percent. It’s never too late to change; to start with a clean slate. I challenge you to be a person who steps away from what everyone else does and be the person who does what’s right. 

READ ON!