Scurvy Pirates - Aargh!

The topic today is book pirating. I saw two things in the news/blogosphere this past week that piqued my interest in this topic.

First, I saw a news story that Homeland Security has been raiding flea markets across the country to crack down on counterfeiting. They seized millions of dollars of merchandise and shut down, at least temporarily, some flea markets. They confiscated knock-off handbags, shoes and counterfeited DVDs and CDs. 

While on first blush this looks like a good thing - crack down pirates and those that sell their wares - the reality is that the raids have little to do with helping the companies who created the original item and everything to do with tax evasion. Much of the sale of the counterfeited goods in handled in cash so the businesses can avoid taxes. And lets face it, a person paying $20 for a Gucci handbag knockoff probably can't afford the real deal, so it's not like the Nikes, Gucci's and Louis Vuitton's of the world are losing sales.

I saw this article and I thought, "Where are the crackdowns on digital pirates, huh? Why not go after the pirates themselves?" It's like busting the drug dealers and showing bales of confiscated drugs on network news. It looks like you're doing something when in reality you're going nothing to prevent the illegal activity.

The second item about piracy came from one of my favorite bloggers, Seth Godin. His blog post is titled, "Piracy? You wish." You can read it here. I rarely disagree with Seth but on this one, I shout a "Whoa, hold on there."

Seth, in another post directed to publishers, essentially argues that publishers need to allow open DRM (digital rights management) because there's no piracy problem. Seth says:

"Books are free at the library but there's no line out the door."

I'll disagree with that Seth. There is, often, a virtual line out the door for popular books. I was in the queue to get my hands on The Night Circus for over two months. 

Seth went on to argue that because books take a long time to read and are relatively cheap, "Most of the inputs necessary for a vibrant piracy community are missing."

I will again disagree. Strongly.

I don't know where Seth has been hiding, but book piracy is alive, well and thriving.

I should know. I just found two more sites pirating my book, Emily's House, this week.

Apparently the fact that it's cheap (most of the time you can find it somewhere for no more than 99 cents) hasn't deterred the pirates.

Really people, you can buy it for 99 cents! Why buy a pirated copy?

What's going on here?

I spent some time tripping around the Internet, finding my book on pirated sites, then clicking through. You always end up at a download content site that doesn't actually create the work to be downloaded but just manages the payment and downloads. And what I think is going on (correct me someone if you think I am wrong on this), is that people can pay a small monthly fee and download as much content as they want.

For about $20 a month, they can download bootleg anything. Movies, music, books. Instead of paying that $20 for one hardcover book, they can get an unlimited number of books plus their movies and music.

So yes, Seth, there is a pirating problem.

Seth Godin also seems to conclude that there's no piracy problem based on his own experience: "I've written several free books and even when I want unlimited piracy, it doesn't happen."

I think Seth is missing two points. First, just because it didn't happen to you doesn't mean it's not happening to anyone. I've never been raped either but that hardly means that no one has been raped.

Second, Seth must not be aware of how pirated material is actually being disseminated. If he did, he'd see that offering your book for free on Smashwords or Amazon isn't the same thing as people downloading your work through these sites that offer unlimited downloads of anything. Heck, my book is practically free to buy AND has open DRM (meaning that I have allowed people who buy it to lend it freely as many times as they choose). And, I have offered it for free on Amazon for five days in which I gave away almost 4,000 copies.

None of this prevented piracy.

Personally, I think DRM is bullshit and will do nothing to prevent piracy. DRM only serves the need of the publishers to sell more books and decrease the value of the product purchased by the customer. If publishers could put a lock on the paper copy preventing you from loaning it, they would! It irks me when I buy a digital book and can't loan it to a friend or book club member to read yet if I spent (sometimes less! - go figure that one out) on a paper copy, I could loan it freely - as many times as I wanted.

But knowing someone is out there selling my book without giving me a penny for it - that burns my buns. And you know the worst part? One one site alone, it showed the number of downloads of my book to be over 8,000.

If you add up all the books I've sold AND given away, I'm not even near that number.

The pirates are doing better at marketing my book than I am! Perhaps that's what steams my muscles more than anything.

If by any chance you, reader, partake in downloads from sites such as I've mentioned, I ask that you consider the fact that you are engaged in theft. It's no different than knowingly purchasing a stolen car. Piracy will end only when people stop supporting the pirates. And if your copy of Emily's House is pirated, at least go to Amazon and give it a 5 star review.

And if you are a pirate who stole my work and have sold more than me, let me know your marketing techniques.

What do you think? If you're a writer, have your books been pirated? And if so, what is your reaction to it? Have  you done anything to try to prevent it?

Friday Book Review: The Night Circus

This week's Friday review - The Night Circus, by Erin Morgenstern.

The Night Circus is a wholly original novel, unlike anything I've read before. While I enjoyed it very much (so much in fact that I initially borrowed it from the library but decided to buy the hardcover because I know I'll read it again), this book is not for everyone. I'll tell you what I liked about it and what wasn't so hot too. I'll also share with you some thoughts from friends of mine who have read it who didn't love it as much as me so you have some perspective on it before you buy it or commit the time to read it.

First, What I Loved About The Night Circus: 

An original, imaginiative place - the night circus. This book is like Harry Potter for adults. J.K. Rowling gave kids Hogwarts. Erin Morgenstern has given adults the night circus. For people who love magic and mystery, Morgenstern created an adult world where magic is real and the  mysterious is displayed for the visitor to the night circus. Morgenstern created a world that feels so complete - down to the smells of the foods served - that the reader begins to believe that she could actually go visit it. I want to go to the night circus! If you enjoy becoming immersed in a magical realm, then The Night Circus may be for you.

A beautiful love story that does not feel like a romance novel. I enjoy a romance novel from time to time, but I prefer my romance to come organically out of a story rather than be formulaic. If you like a great lovestory but don't enjoy romance novels per se, then the Night Circus may be for you. There are scenes between Marco and Celia that are so beautiful and so descriptive, you feel like you are right there with them. The whole scene that takes place between them in the house and with the pillow room - outstanding.

There are other things to commend The Night Circus, but for me these were the two highlights. Above all, it is a story that immerses you into a very fun, magical, intriguing and wholly original world. Not since I read the first Harry Potter book have I read a book more imaginative than this one.

Now, for what could have been improved and/or what's not so hot:

Lack of plot. Okay, there is a plot. Sort of. But the plot is the weak spot of the book. I had the opportunity to hear Erin Morgenstern do an interview on NPR about this book and I know that for a long time during the process, she just had pages and pages of description about the circus but no real plot. Efforts were made to create a plot, including the lovestory between Celia and Marco, but the plot still feels like an add-on. In a group discussion on this book, we all agreed that the best parts were the parts where the author described the circus, written in 2nd person. So if you are someone who can't stand to read a book that's not strong on plot, then this may not work for you.

Another complaint that I heard raised about the book was that it lacked depth of meaning or theme. For at least one reader I discussed this book with, she felt that it was just a lovely description of a circus and a bit of a lovestory with not much else. I think that's a valid point to raise. Frankly when I read it I was just enjoying being a voyeur of the circus so much, the lack of strong plot and/or lack of well developed theme didn't bother me at all.

So bottom line, I loved it and consider it one of my top reads of 2011. If you want to read a book that takes you on a fun ride to another world, then check out The Night Circus.

5 Hawks for The Night Circus

NEXT WEEK - Steampunk Week here on Natalie Wright's YA

Don't Miss It - Total Awesomeness!!!

Monday - A Steampunk Primer

Wednesday - Interview with Jason G. Anderson, author of the steampunk novel Gears of Wonderland

Friday - Review of Gears of  Wonderland

5 Things I Learned on the Way to the NaNoWriMo Winner's Circle

Wow, what a month of literary abandon! I started strong, staying in track the whole first week. Then day job, parenting, Thanksgiving, and oh yeah - launching my first novel! - slowed me down. WAY down! But the NaNoWriMo pep talks got me back to the novel and then I started hearing from people who had read Emily's House, and they asked "When's the next one coming out?" That really fired me up and pushed me to the 50,000 word mark. Procrastination meant I had to write 15,000 in the last three days (I don't recommend this).

SO, here are the (top) five things I learned on my way to the NaNoWriMo Winner's Circle:


5. It is best NOT to fuel your month of literary abandon with Halloween candy and Thanksgiving leftovers.

I gained five pounds along with my 50,000 word manuscript!


4. I CAN write everyday. I won't feel the muse welling up from my soul every day. Some days, the muse has closed up shop and refuses to open, not for all the chocolate in the world. But NaNoWriMo teaches you to write anyway. And sometimes, unexpectedly, the muse decides to peek her head out and join the party. (But truthfully somedays that muse wench won't come out to play and it's just you at the computer by yourself with your Hershey's bar, staring at a blank screen or typing gibberish.)


3. It's not wise to cram 30% of the challenge into the last three days and writing for 10 hours in a single day isn't a lot of fun.

2. Writing is more fun with a community of friends urging you on. When you join the NaNoWriMo challenge, you have the great folks at the Office of Letters and Light there to support you with funny, amusing and effective pep talks. I especially enjoyed the pep talk from author Erin Morgenstern. Her bestselling novel (and a wonderfully imaginative read - I love it!), The Night Circus, was born during the month of November, several years ago, in Erin's NaNoWriMo months of literary abandon. What an inspiration!

And then there were the tweets and the posts and the applause and the "you can do its" from fellow Wrimos, all working toward the same goal. We held each other accountable and shared sentences and ups and downs (and virtual glasses of wine and chocolate and coffee - writer fuels). I wrote my first draft of my first two novels just about completely alone in the process. And that wasn't all bad. But it wasn't nearly so much fun as being in a community of folks all working toward the same goal and speaking the same language.


1. If you stick with it, you have given yourself a wonderful gift: a newly minted, messy, wonderful, surprising manuscript, beckoning you to dig in and mold it and shape it and play with it until it's a thing of beauty - a Novel.