Authors Gone Wild

I have a really good one tonight.  This one actually shows how the major publishers are causing authors to take stupid and drastic measures to prevent piracy.


I read something a few days ago regarding how much publishers take out of the cost of a book (check it out here).  Now that was a few days ago but it is completely relevant here, trust me.  At any rate, if you don't have the time to read that here is a snapshot.  For the most part, if your book is priced over $3.99 the publisher is going to take 70% of the selling price of the book.  At that price it means that the publisher gets roughly $2.79 for each book sold leaving the author with $1.20.  That may seem fair at the start but let's take a closer look at it.  Electronic books (or e-books) have begun to outsell printed copies.  How much do you think it costs to print that e-book?  Oh wait, it's an electronic copy so it isn't printed.  That's right, $0.  I would agree with the 70% if you are talking about a printed copy as there is a lot involved with it.  But electronic is something completely different.

So now that you see that piece of it you may be wondering where the rant is, right?  Well, I read a story today that I actually think most everyone should read.  Here is the gist of the article.  An author was surfing the web and for some reason decided to search for himself (perhaps a little stuck on himself).  He found a website whose sole purpose was to share e-books and went on a rampage.  He notified the authorities and every author that he knew that had a book mentioned on the site.  This group of authors demanded that the site be shut down immediately or they would sue.  So why is this a rant?  It isn't because this site was created by a wounded veteran, it is completely because the site was dedicated to legally sharing e-books among people who are a member of the site.  You see some publishers (Amazon and Barnes & Noble) allow you to share an e-book with someone else for up to 14 days.  That's what this site was about.  It was basically a book club for e-books.  There was no cost to be a member and no one was sharing books that they did not legally purchase.  Once this side of things began to come out, the greed and self-centered nature of the authors really came out.  Of the dozens of authors that were a part of the threat to sue and the rage against this legal site, only one has apologized. That's right, one.  And what gets me even more upset is that several of the authors have even said that their actions were completely justified and that they would do it again in a heartbeat.

I'm all for cracking down on the illegal trading of files, no matter if they are books, songs, movies, or any other type of media.  But do a little research before you show just how stupid and greedy you are.  Rely on the government to enforce the laws that are there to protect you.  If these authors would have done that I wouldn't be ranting about it tonight!  Of course, that would more likely be because the government would take so long to do the investigation, but that's a different rant!