The Darkside is comin', now nothin' is real. . .

[rolanni]

So, today's news from Google Alerts is that  a person of no melant'i, who goes by the screen-name "Hocham," asked in something called the mobilism forum for a copy of Necessity's Child by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller.  Hesheorit was willing to give 10WRZ$ for a copy, because they couldn't wait until February.  The request was posted at 1 p.m. yesterday.

At 3:20 p.m. yesterday, another person of no melant'i, this one hight "Mage" posted a link to a pirated copy of our novel, thus, one supposes, earning his 10WRZ$.

Of which we, the authors, receive not one cent, or WRZ$.  Worse, the pirated copy is now out on the web for even more persons of no melant'i, of which there appear to be quite a number, to download for free, or for the exchange of WRZ$.

May I just say that I am so very, very tired of having our work stolen?  I just, really, want to put my head down on the desk and weep.  Apparently "Hocham" is a fan of our work (I'm going by the "can't wait until February" aspect of hesheorit's post), and yet thinks it's PERFECTLY OK to steal from us.

What, I wonder, does "Hocham" think writers live on?  Mist and buttercups?  What, I wonder, will "Hocham" do for hesheorits next Liaden book if there is no next Liaden book?

We've talked about "numbers" here before.  If books don't do well for publishers -- if they don't "have numbers" -- series have been cancelled.  It can and does happen.

Will "Hocham" and "Mage" take responsibility for their actions?  Or will they just go on to their next "favorite author" and kill them, too?

Honestly, we don't need fans like this.

Authors write for a number of reasons -- and one of those reasons is to earn money.  If they don't earn money, they may continue to write, but those stories will never be published, so that's sort of a moot point.

Don't steal, for ghod's sake.  Is that so damned hard?  And don't download pirated books.

* * *

In other news, contracts arrived yesterday for the Carousel books and for the Five Book Liaden Universe® dash.  So, yanno, yay!

I hope we'll be able to see all of these published for y'all.

Comments

[ariaflame.livejournal.com]

Arghhh. It's not as if it's even that hard to get your books legally.

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

If books don't do well for a publisher, authors get canceled.

(Nobody we know, of course . . .)

A valid rant

[rshel.livejournal.com]

Your books are VERY available at reasonable prices. (Actually, I would pay more than for other authors now that I'm hooked on your style and content.) Bottom line, there is no possible reason to steal or offer your works for others to pirate. No melanti indeed.

[cailleuch.livejournal.com]

Frelling idiots! I've already read Necessity's Child by buying the eArc. I've also ordered the paper copy from Uncle Hugo's. It was not hard and is my way of making sure there are more books. I'm hooked and will do whatever it takes but that never includes cheating authors.

[jessie-c.livejournal.com]

I just can't understand this. After all, the book is perfectly legally available in e-arc form at Baen right this minute. If hesheorit is so unwilling to wait until February what's keeping himheririt from popping by and just buying hisherorits own copy?

I don't suppose that you could at the very least have that pirated copy extinguished by whomever is hosting it? Or are they persons of no melant'i as well?

[laurahcory1.livejournal.com]

Working on it. DMCA sent. Squishing e-pirates could be a full-time job, I swear.

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

Laura, thank you so much!

[maurita plouff (from livejournal.com)]

Pffft. I purchased the eArc, and fully intend to purchase the final version.

Please do contact the site to have the file taken down: please see this URL
http://www.sendspace.com/abuse_copyright.html

[rasmusb.livejournal.com]

It's not like BAEN is hard to download an EARC from (after honestly purchasing our wonderful authors' product).

Weird that the supposed fan didn't even check the publisher's website. *shakes head*

[intuition-ist.livejournal.com]

Is it worth popping up on aforementioned forums to say "hi i'm the author, this book is available in ebook format now, here's the legitimate link, and obytheway 'Mage' of no melant'i is officially a pirate"?

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

Um... here's a blog entry by another author who attempted exactly that.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/mar/16/lloyd-shepherd-ebook-pirates-mobilism

[drammar.livejournal.com]

And then some people will try to tell you that you should feel flattered (!) that someone should go to such lengths as to steal your work. In what universe is that reasonable and logical thinking?

I am angry on your behalf, and on behalf of all writers and other artists whose work is stolen. No melant'i indeed.

pirates

[nocal-kathyf.livejournal.com]

No one who steals books, in whatever form, is a fan. I have the earc from Baen, and have also ordered the hard bound from Uncle Hugos, as I do with all your books. There is no excuse for this theft. Aargh. I am so sorry. Can Baen (which I assume has deeper pockets than the writers) follow up on this through legal channels? Wishing for a fast, positive resolution for this situation for you so you can write and live and not hit your head on the desk anymore. Congratulations on the new contracts!

Re: pirates

[lonewolf545.livejournal.com]

A nice lady from Baen (I'm presuming it's Laura Haywood-Cory from her username) has already posted in this thread that she's working on dealing with the issue. Yes, Baen will send the appropriate DMCA notices and invoke lawyers if necessary when their loyal fans inform them of illegally posted copies of their work (a big problem lately has been people uploading them to Amazon to sell them, with names that are designed to look like legitimate offerings from Baen).

[reedrover]

Argh!
::sigh::
And congratulations!

[elbales]

Ugh, decency megafail. I'm so sorry to hear about this. People can be such jerks. Thinking good thoughts for excellent sales in the face of asshaberdashery.

Pirates

[rnjtolch.livejournal.com]

And what else will happen is that DRM will rear up again.

Re: Pirates

[chaddaï fouché (from livejournal.com)]

Well that would be stupid since DRM are of no import to pirates : all DRM schemes can be broken in seconds, and in fact that makes the pirated copy _superior_ to the legal offering since you can use it far more freely on whatever device you want and easily convert/backup and so on... DRM has absolutely no merit in the strife against piracy but only as a means to reduce the ease with which a consumer can change its choice of a device family (Kindle, Nook, iBooks), it's of no benefit to the author or the publisher (apart from Amazon Publishing or equivalent).

[lornastutz.livejournal.com]

Ibid

[art brooks (from livejournal.com)]

I also hope they catch them and close them down. I vividly remember the long hiatus after The First Three Books, and would hate to have that happen again.

[6-penny.livejournal.com]

Keelhauling is too good. A long plank with hungry pirhanas is called for. And stinging jellyfish.

[grassrose.livejournal.com]

Have you SEEN how that "mobilism" universe is set up? Folks get in-site currency for pirating, with the specious sigblock of the administrator reading "Support developers. If you like it, buy it." Uh huh.

[ironore.livejournal.com]

I am a firm believer of voting with my money when it comes to media, such as movies, songs, and of course, books. Why would companies make more of what I like if everyone stole it instead of bought it? We as consumers have to create the economic incentive so that a wonderful universe, such as that in the Liaden Series, continues to exist.

[attilathepbnun.livejournal.com]

Strange, strange people ....

Outrageous!

[catherine ives (from livejournal.com)]

I'm glad that Baen and their lawyers are on this one! Let's hope this whole deal is nipped in the bud! Really really annoying behavior.

And the good news is....

[catherine ives (from livejournal.com)]

Contracts arrivng. That's great news for us the real fans!

[anisosynchronic.livejournal.com]

May Denial of Service attacks and worse obliterate the lot of them...

[libraryofalexa.livejournal.com]

Does this mean that Audible is now going to put its warning on Lee & Miller books that it has on Pratchett books? The one that tells you that if you're caught pirating the books you will be terminated from Audible?
Meanwhile, I guess that my mom deserves THREE audiobooks this year instead of just two so that you can get some more author's rights...

I don't normally link to things in comments, but...

[otherdeb.livejournal.com]

...between your post and a meme on Facebook, I felt I should write a post about the purchase of pirated works (http://otherdeb.wordpress.com/2012/11/15/a-word-about-poverty-and-media/). I did my best to conceal your identity, but if you need me to do more, please let me know.

My readership is not huge, but anything I can do to get the word out that this is wrong, I will be more than glad to do.

above

[patt demetri (from livejournal.com)]

Well if I were dying I would steal a copy but then to be fair I would order a copy for my library I can see no other reason . If you find out who did this make her die or him.