What Is eBook Piracy?

Hey Everyone,

As many of you probably know, a hot topic in the digital world today is eBook Piracy. eBook Piracy is the illegal downloading of any published work without the consent of the author or publisher. Translation: If you are downloading any eBook from anywhere other than a library for free (with the exception of the rare free eBook novellas through legitimate websites), you are STEALING. Many people like to dance around the subject of eBook Piracy, and for a reason unknown to me, the topic has become rather controversial. But here's the straight up truth: if you illegally download an eBook, you are stealing. It is no different than if you were to take someone's handbag or wallet. Again, why eBook Piracy is a controversial topic is beyond me. What is controversial about stealing? It's always been wrong, and it will always be wrong.

DailyFinance.com has an eye-opening article on eBook Piracy, which says, "At one file-sharing website, users have uploaded 1,830 copies of three books by a popular young adult author. Just one of those copies has had 4,208 downloads. On the same site, 7,130 copies of the late Michael Crichton's novels have been uploaded, and the first 10 copies have been downloaded 15,174 times.

Even if only a fraction of the downloads from this and dozens of other file-sharing websites represent actual lost sales, they still translate into a staggering amount of royalties that have been stolen from authors.

There's another cost to authors besides lost royalties: time. Many file-sharing websites will remove unauthorized material, but only at the instigation of the copyright holder. Multiple copies require multiple takedown requests. And, even after an illegal copy of an author's work has been removed, the book is often simply reposted by another user." (You can view the full article here)

According to cnn.com, "Dan Brown's 'The Lost Symbol' was downloaded for free more than 100,000 times within its first days on sale." (You can view the full article here)

So if an excuse of "it's just one copy" is brought up... well, no it's not. It's more than 100,000 copies.

You can help stop eBook Piracy. Buy the book, or borrow it from your public library. Some public libraries even offer temporary eBooks for reading, as well as paper books. Stopping eBook Piracy is something that will have to be done person by person, and it can start with you.

Stay Strong,
Brandi