2 authors, 2 very different viewpoints on ebook piracy
The publishing world is at a crossroads when it comes to ebooks: Publishers/authors can either embrace ebooks, trash all this DRM non-sense and reap the rewards (i.e. profits), or they can take the route of the music industry and fight against the rising tide of ebooks, slap draconian DRM on everything and watch the industry get taken over by pirates. If the latter happens, then it’s only a matter of time before we start seeing RIAA-style lawsuits.
Surprisingly, even among authors, digital distribution is a point of contention. Here are 2 authors that represent two opposite sides of the digital spectrum:
The author who sues his own readers
First is Harlan Ellison who, according to this NYT article, doesn’t take lightly to pirates of his work:
Nine years ago, Mr. Ellison sued Internet service providers for failing to stop a user from posting four of his stories to an online newsgroup. Since settling that suit, he has pursued more than 240 people who have posted his work to the Internet without permission. "If you put your hand in my pocket, you’ll drag back six inches of bloody stump," he said.
Ouch! So let me get this straight: This author sued 240 people who liked his writing enough to "pirate" it online without permission? I know a lot of struggling writers who’d kill for 240 readers who loved their work that much.
By doing a quick Google search, I came upon this website which I presume belongs to Mr. Ellison. You can find a lot of information about him there, even articles he’s written, transcripts of speeches he’s given. But you find his site selling any of his books as ebooks (at least not that I found). And on Amazon, I only found one of his books available on the Kindle.
If Mr. Ellison was so inclined, he could probably make a tidy profit releasing his books in ebook format on his website and then selling them for a fair price. If he’s popular enough to have his works pirated, then surely there’s a big demand for his books in digital format.
Give those ebooks away for free!
On the other end of the spectrum we have Cory Doctorow. This is an author who is way ahead of his time, at least, according to the same NYT article:
Cory Doctorow, a novelist whose young adult novel "Little Brother" spent seven weeks on the New York Times children’s chapter books best-seller list last year, offers free electronic versions of his books on the same day they are published in hardcover. He believes free versions, even unauthorized ones, entice new readers.
"I really feel like my problem isn’t piracy," Mr. Doctorow said. "It’s obscurity."
You did read that correctly: Cory releases free version of his novels at the same time the print version is released. I have seen several of his novels and other writings on Feedbooks where they are not only available for free, but no DRM either!
Now here’s my question: Who do you think will be driven to obscurity in the next decade or so? It probably won’t be Cory Doctorow, who makes his works widely available to dedicated fans and new readers alike. I also have a feeling Cory doesn’t spend a lot of time chasing down pirates (hint: because his work is already available for free!).
Harlan Ellison might have bigger problems. Instead of embracing ebooks, he fights against them to the point of suing his own fans.
Big authors refusing to embrace ebooks risk being shoved aside
On a much larger scale, J.K. Rowling has also refused to go digital with her popular Harry Potter books for the fear of piracy. Guess what? She now has a piracy problem because she hasn’t given fans what they want – her books in digital format!
Big-name authors like J.K. Rowling who refuse to embrace ebooks might become victims of the law of unintended consequences. That is, authors like this might get shoved aside. Fans will get fed up with their stinginess and will simply move on.
Independent authors, who have no choice but to embrace ebooks and other creative ways of getting their work out there, might start seeing themselves become more popular, especially as demand for ebooks rises.
Who do you want to be like? Harlan Ellison? Or Cory Doctorow? Leave a comment below with your answer and reasons why. I look forward to your responses!
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Read More: eBooks, Reading, DRM, Kindle, Piracy, RIAA, Software
