Pirates don’t like being called thieves.  Heh.  Here’s a helpful solution, then.  Don’t steal.

Yasmine Galenorn posted about David Hewson’s post on digital piracy and I love it,  particularly this:

I’m not convinced. Does a shoplifter who discovers they’ve stolen something they like go back and pay for it next time? Not usually. They just go back and steal some more. And piracy, remember, is theft, nothing more, nothing less. I don’t care if someone argues, ‘Well I wouldn’t have bought your book anyway.’ Can a shoplifter get away with saying in court, ‘Well I wouldn’t have bought that bottle of Moet, guvnor.’ Of course not. The fact there is no physical loss in digital crime doesn’t make it less of a crime. And certainly not one of those so-called ‘victimless crimes’ we hear so much about today, crimes, it seems to me, that are mainly committed by people who find it socially unacceptable to think of themselves as common thieves.

Socially unacceptable to be called a thief.  Well, thief…don’t steal.

Some of these thieves seem to think a writer’s ‘real’ reward comes in being read in the first place.   Again, for the disillusioned, or maybe I should say starry-eyed people out there who think all professional writers write just to get read and that’s our sole reward?  WRONG.  I’m a person with responsibilies.  Before being a writer, above all, before all, I’m a mom and a wife.  I’ve got a family.  My husband and I are responsible for providing for this family, a house, clothes, food, an education…all that piddling stuff.   I can’t do that when my sole reward is having my work read.  Nice fantasy, nice Utopia.  Send us tickets and passports so we can come live in this world…we might like a world where all our needs are met and I can simply write for the pleasure of others.

But if you can’t provide that world, you’ve got no business expecting my ‘sole’ reward to be the pleasure of being read.

If you’re not a pirate, thank you.  From the bottom of my heart.  You have no idea how much writers appreciate readers like you.  If you have downloaded illegal free reads and you don’t realize what the big deal is… it is a big deal and it’s one that hits authors, and it also impacts readers.  If you’d like to know more, check out my page on readers and piracy.