{"id":3239,"date":"2009-09-02T00:00:35","date_gmt":"2009-09-02T04:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/shilohwalker.wordpress.com\/?p=3239"},"modified":"2009-09-02T00:00:35","modified_gmt":"2009-09-02T04:00:35","slug":"the-cost-of-piracy-to-readers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shilohwalker.com\/website\/2009\/09\/the-cost-of-piracy-to-readers\/","title":{"rendered":"The cost of piracy to readers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Piracy comes with costs to readers<\/a>.\u00a0 Whether you pirate or not.\u00a0 Those who don’t pirate may not realize the costs. The costs may include higher book costs which sucks because books aren’t cheap anyway. Who wants to pay higher than we have to?\u00a0 But when publishers lose money, they are going to try to make it elsewhere.\u00a0 That’s how business works.<\/p>\n

There are even costs to those who do pirate.\u00a0 So are you curious about those costs? In a word…BOOKS.<\/p>\n

Quite a few of us take time out to deal with it on a regular basis. And what are we not doing what we’re dealing with it? Writing. Instead of writing books, we are dealing with pirates.\u00a0 This adds up to less time spent writing.\u00a0 Less time spent writing means fewer books<\/em>.<\/p>\n

When a writer has to make business choices, it can also mean the end of the series.\u00a0 If it’s a time-consuming series that doesn’t sell as well as others, the author may decide not to finish the series.<\/p>\n

In the tough economic times we are facing now, publishers are tightening their belts.\u00a0 Authors that don’t sell as well may not get renewed contracts. Series may be dropped in the middle.\u00a0 How does a pirate contribute to that? When you don’t buy the book, it’s a lost sale. Whether you would’ve bought it or not, with or without the pirated copy, when you don’t buy it, it’s a lost sale and those lost sales often add up.\u00a0 If sales numbers are too low, the author isn’t likely to receive another contract offer.\u00a0 Which means you don’t\u00a0 get the books. (and FYI, to the pirates…don’t bother bringing up libraries. Libraries have legal legit copies. Torrent sites and filesharing sites do not. They take one copy and make it into 1000, or 10,000.\u00a0 Copyright laws protect against unauthorized copying and those who pirate trample all over an author’s rights.)<\/p>\n

Authors can’t write for free. Despite what many people think, signing one contract doesn’t make us a millionaire. Signing 20 contracts doesn’t make us a millionaire.\u00a0 It takes years<\/strong> to get established and even then nothing is guaranteed.<\/p>\n

People have this idea that writers sign contracts for hundreds of thousands (or more).\u00a0 I’ve yet to see that contract.<\/p>\n

If you enjoy reading…<\/p>\n

If you respect authors…<\/p>\n

If you want to continue to get books…<\/p>\n

Then you are affected by piracy.<\/p>\n

Sadly, there are too many who either don’t care or don’t understand.\u00a0 Some of those who don’t care just don’t realize it affects them.\u00a0 They are wrong.<\/p>\n

Some of those who don’t care are just out to get something for nothing — but it’s not for nothing.\u00a0 Authors and legit readers bear the cost.<\/p>\n

There are plenty who just don’t understand.\u00a0 They don’t realize what copyright infringement is.\u00a0 They don’t realize that when they pirate they infringe upon an author’s rights and they break the law.\u00a0\u00a0 They don’t realize how much an author’s career depends on every last sale.<\/p>\n

These are the people we need to reach-those who don’t understand and those who don’t realize how much it affects them.<\/p>\n

How can you help?<\/p>\n

Educate them. Plenty of authors have blogged about piracy and how it affects them.\u00a0 Direct them to those posts.<\/p>\n

If you’re a parent of teenagers, see if your teens understand about copyright-do they understand that just because they can find something on the web doesn’t mean it’s yours for the taking? Many many pirates these days are teenagers who do not understand anything about copyright infringemen. Many of them believe that if it’s found on a torrent site that means it’s up for grabs. Make sure they understand those books on torrent sites are by and large unauthorized copies and that when they download them or upload them, they are breaking the law.<\/p>\n

Readers love to read.\u00a0 I’m a reader.\u00a0 I know that.<\/p>\n

Writers love to write.\u00a0 I’m a writer.\u00a0\u00a0 I know that.<\/p>\n

But writers can’t work for nothing…we’ve got our own responsibilities to meet, kids to care for,\u00a0 bills to pay. You would have a harder time making a living if somebody was skimming money from your paycheck.\u00a0 That is what writers face.\u00a0 Our writing is our job.\u00a0 Just like anybody else, were entitled to receive payment for a job done.<\/p>\n

BTW, I’m closing this post to comments.\u00a0 Frankly, as far as piracy goes, I don’t see it as something up for discussion.\u00a0 It is theft, you are making unauthorized copies or you are downloading unauthorized copies, that is copyright infringement.\u00a0 Both the FBI and United States Copyright Office makes this clear.\u00a0 So, if you do pirate, what you have aren’t reasons–they are excuses and I’m not inclined to to listen to them anymore.<\/p>\n

You do not live my life, so you do not understand how this impacts me. I’m facing another surgery on my hands.\u00a0 I ended one series.\u00a0 I had to take one series from one\u00a0 publisher\u00a0 from three publishers and focus on it,\u00a0 with just one publisher, reducing the number of books I can write for that series.\u00a0 And I’m having to retrain how I write — and trust me.\u00a0 It’s not easy to go from keyboarding a story to talking out story.\u00a0 But if I want to continue to write, I’m gonna have to learn.<\/p>\n

I do this because it’s my job.\u00a0 You have no right<\/em> to steal my work.\u00a0 If you’ve enjoyed my work and have pirated my books and wonder why I don’t write as much, you’re part of the reason.\u00a0 And that isn’t up for discussion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Piracy comes with costs to readers.\u00a0 Whether you pirate or not.\u00a0 Those who don’t pirate may not realize the costs. The costs may include higher “The cost of piracy to readers”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_10161045129738658_54762468447":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_bluesky_dont_syndicate":"","_bluesky_syndication_accounts":"","_bluesky_syndication_text":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[41],"tags":[564,247],"class_list":["post-3239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-piracy","tag-piracy","tag-reading"],"yoast_head":"\nThe cost of piracy to readers - Shiloh Walker<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shilohwalker.com\/website\/2009\/09\/the-cost-of-piracy-to-readers\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The cost of piracy to readers - Shiloh Walker\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Piracy comes with costs to readers.\u00a0 Whether you pirate or not.\u00a0 Those who don’t pirate may not realize the costs. The costs may include higher "The cost of piracy to readers"\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shilohwalker.com\/website\/2009\/09\/the-cost-of-piracy-to-readers\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shiloh Walker\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AuthorShilohWalker\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-09-02T04:00:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.shilohwalker.com\/website\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/shiloh_logo-2-e1410738561344.png?fit=100%2C115&ssl=1\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"100\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"115\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"shilohwalker\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@shilohwalker\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@shilohwalker\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"shilohwalker\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.shilohwalker.com\\\/website\\\/2009\\\/09\\\/the-cost-of-piracy-to-readers\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.shilohwalker.com\\\/website\\\/2009\\\/09\\\/the-cost-of-piracy-to-readers\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"shilohwalker\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.shilohwalker.com\\\/website\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/4a0549ddc3adddbd9f57abb7c37335da\"},\"headline\":\"The cost of piracy to readers\",\"datePublished\":\"2009-09-02T04:00:35+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.shilohwalker.com\\\/website\\\/2009\\\/09\\\/the-cost-of-piracy-to-readers\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":988,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.shilohwalker.com\\\/website\\\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"piracy\",\"reading\"],\"articleSection\":[\"piracy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.shilohwalker.com\\\/website\\\/2009\\\/09\\\/the-cost-of-piracy-to-readers\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.shilohwalker.com\\\/website\\\/2009\\\/09\\\/the-cost-of-piracy-to-readers\\\/\",\"name\":\"The cost of piracy to readers - Shiloh Walker\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.shilohwalker.com\\\/website\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2009-09-02T04:00:35+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.shilohwalker.com\\\/website\\\/2009\\\/09\\\/the-cost-of-piracy-to-readers\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.shilohwalker.com\\\/website\\\/2009\\\/09\\\/the-cost-of-piracy-to-readers\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.shilohwalker.com\\\/website\\\/2009\\\/09\\\/the-cost-of-piracy-to-readers\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.shilohwalker.com\\\/website\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The cost of piracy to readers\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.shilohwalker.com\\\/website\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.shilohwalker.com\\\/website\\\/\",\"name\":\"Shiloh Walker\",\"description\":\"Let Me Tell You A Story\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.shilohwalker.com\\\/website\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.shilohwalker.com\\\/website\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.shilohwalker.com\\\/website\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Shiloh Walker\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.shilohwalker.com\\\/website\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.shilohwalker.com\\\/website\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/www.shilohwalker.com\\\/website\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2011\\\/07\\\/cropped-shiloh_logo-e1310090037952.png?fit=49%2C50&ssl=1\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/www.shilohwalker.com\\\/website\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2011\\\/07\\\/cropped-shiloh_logo-e1310090037952.png?fit=49%2C50&ssl=1\",\"width\":49,\"height\":50,\"caption\":\"Shiloh Walker\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.shilohwalker.com\\\/website\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/AuthorShilohWalker\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/shilohwalker\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.instagram.com\\\/shiloh_walker_author\\\/\",\"http:\\\/\\\/pinterest.com\\\/shilohwalker\\\/\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.shilohwalker.com\\\/website\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/4a0549ddc3adddbd9f57abb7c37335da\",\"name\":\"shilohwalker\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/8abbb1e96efdc186d6277cdff598b840d4ba778c838739a98a1086f4d33fc30d?s=96&d=wavatar&r=pg\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/8abbb1e96efdc186d6277cdff598b840d4ba778c838739a98a1086f4d33fc30d?s=96&d=wavatar&r=pg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/8abbb1e96efdc186d6277cdff598b840d4ba778c838739a98a1086f4d33fc30d?s=96&d=wavatar&r=pg\",\"caption\":\"shilohwalker\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.shilohwalker.com\\\/website\\\/author\\\/shilohwalker\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The cost of piracy to readers - Shiloh Walker","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.shilohwalker.com\/website\/2009\/09\/the-cost-of-piracy-to-readers\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The cost of piracy to readers - Shiloh Walker","og_description":"Piracy comes with costs to readers.\u00a0 Whether you pirate or not.\u00a0 Those who don’t pirate may not realize the costs. The costs may include higher \"The cost of piracy to readers\"","og_url":"https:\/\/www.shilohwalker.com\/website\/2009\/09\/the-cost-of-piracy-to-readers\/","og_site_name":"Shiloh Walker","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AuthorShilohWalker","article_published_time":"2009-09-02T04:00:35+00:00","og_image":[{"width":100,"height":115,"url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.shilohwalker.com\/website\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/shiloh_logo-2-e1410738561344.png?fit=100%2C115&ssl=1","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"shilohwalker","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@shilohwalker","twitter_site":"@shilohwalker","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"shilohwalker","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.shilohwalker.com\/website\/2009\/09\/the-cost-of-piracy-to-readers\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shilohwalker.com\/website\/2009\/09\/the-cost-of-piracy-to-readers\/"},"author":{"name":"shilohwalker","@id":"https:\/\/www.shilohwalker.com\/website\/#\/schema\/person\/4a0549ddc3adddbd9f57abb7c37335da"},"headline":"The cost of piracy to readers","datePublished":"2009-09-02T04:00:35+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shilohwalker.com\/website\/2009\/09\/the-cost-of-piracy-to-readers\/"},"wordCount":988,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shilohwalker.com\/website\/#organization"},"keywords":["piracy","reading"],"articleSection":["piracy"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.shilohwalker.com\/website\/2009\/09\/the-cost-of-piracy-to-readers\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shilohwalker.com\/website\/2009\/09\/the-cost-of-piracy-to-readers\/","name":"The cost of piracy to readers - Shiloh Walker","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shilohwalker.com\/website\/#website"},"datePublished":"2009-09-02T04:00:35+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shilohwalker.com\/website\/2009\/09\/the-cost-of-piracy-to-readers\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.shilohwalker.com\/website\/2009\/09\/the-cost-of-piracy-to-readers\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.shilohwalker.com\/website\/2009\/09\/the-cost-of-piracy-to-readers\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.shilohwalker.com\/website\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The cost of piracy to readers"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.shilohwalker.com\/website\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.shilohwalker.com\/website\/","name":"Shiloh Walker","description":"Let Me Tell You A Story","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shilohwalker.com\/website\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.shilohwalker.com\/website\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.shilohwalker.com\/website\/#organization","name":"Shiloh Walker","url":"https:\/\/www.shilohwalker.com\/website\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shilohwalker.com\/website\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.shilohwalker.com\/website\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/cropped-shiloh_logo-e1310090037952.png?fit=49%2C50&ssl=1","contentUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.shilohwalker.com\/website\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/cropped-shiloh_logo-e1310090037952.png?fit=49%2C50&ssl=1","width":49,"height":50,"caption":"Shiloh Walker"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shilohwalker.com\/website\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AuthorShilohWalker","https:\/\/x.com\/shilohwalker","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/shiloh_walker_author\/","http:\/\/pinterest.com\/shilohwalker\/"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.shilohwalker.com\/website\/#\/schema\/person\/4a0549ddc3adddbd9f57abb7c37335da","name":"shilohwalker","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8abbb1e96efdc186d6277cdff598b840d4ba778c838739a98a1086f4d33fc30d?s=96&d=wavatar&r=pg","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8abbb1e96efdc186d6277cdff598b840d4ba778c838739a98a1086f4d33fc30d?s=96&d=wavatar&r=pg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8abbb1e96efdc186d6277cdff598b840d4ba778c838739a98a1086f4d33fc30d?s=96&d=wavatar&r=pg","caption":"shilohwalker"},"url":"https:\/\/www.shilohwalker.com\/website\/author\/shilohwalker\/"}]}},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shilohwalker.com\/website\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shilohwalker.com\/website\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shilohwalker.com\/website\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shilohwalker.com\/website\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shilohwalker.com\/website\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3239"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.shilohwalker.com\/website\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3239\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shilohwalker.com\/website\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shilohwalker.com\/website\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shilohwalker.com\/website\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}