Well, listen to this little anecdote and see if you can blame me for reading pirated books.
I live in the state of Azad Kashmir, in Pakistan. A week ago, I was visiting a town called Hajira and forgot to take my computer with me. Bored, I decided to go out and hunt down some good reads. I found the most grand-looking bookstore and decided to try my luck there. After some fifteen minutes of browsing bookshelves filled with dictionaries, religious tomes, textbooks and political diatribes, I approached the owner of the bookstore.
"Peace be upon you, sir," I said "Have you got any fiction in the store?"
"Peace be upon you, too," he repeated the traditional Muslim greeting "and I'm afraid I don't understand you. What do you mean by fiction?"
I was appalled. For here was a man surrounded by hundreds of books, wearing a pair of round, scholarly looking spectacles ....and he was confused about the meaning of the word fiction. True, I'd used the word in English but nevertheless, a bookseller should know his trade.
For a long moment, I stood their trying to translate the word effectively into Urdu. But then I thought that if the bloke had no idea about the word fiction, what hope did I have to find something there. So, without a word, I turned and walked briskly out into the sunlight.
Two blocks further, I found another bookstore. Now more careful, I asked the young guy in pure Urdu whether he had any fiction in English. The guy returned with a couple of volumes. The first was called A Selection of Short Stories and One-Act Plays for Students of B.A.. Scanning the contents, I found that It was filled with works of the old masters like Poe, Maupassant and Chekhov. Having read all of the plays and stories, I rejected it. The other book was another anthology of short works and was a bit more modern i.e. circa 1970. It was better, as I'd not read most of the contents. I paid 500 Rupees for the book, thanked the good man and made my exit.
I guess that by now you understand that you can't get a pint of good reading material if you ultracentrifuge all the bookstores in my city and its neighboring ones. So when I get fed up of reading on a screen, I take a trip to the capital and get something good to read.
I agree with the you. I think that the authors can't live on praise only. That they need a more tangible reward than a good online review. I also understand authors like Suzanne Collins won't be affected drastically by a couple of thousand free downloads but some promising newbies like David Estes may get disappointed by the low sales of their books and stop writing altogether. But believe me when I say that if I don't download and read your book for free, I'm never gonna read it. Just because I
can't buy it. I also agree with Annelie's point. Blame piracy all you want, but I don't think that it is possible to eradicate piracy and pirates while the internet lives.
You wrote in your article that no uploader contacted you on mobilism. Well, here I am (and FYI, many of the people who approached you above are avid uploaders). You'd ask why, if I'm against piracy, do I upload pirated books? Well firstly, I do the uploading for people like me, those who can't get a book because of one reason or another. And secondly, I guess I'm just akratic (a point demonstrated by the fact that I once had the saying "
Video Meliora, Proboque, Deteriora Sequor" as my favorite quotation).
So, I wish you luck in your endeavors but all I can do about my part in online piracy is apologize and take a move on. For me, it is a necessary evil. And I don't have to give an explanation for everyone else.
-Leo
P.S. You sound a bit too condescending, dear sir. I suggest that you don't talk down to us measly pirates just because we happen to be on the wrong side of the court. I understand that you are a "creator" but you aren't the only one in the world. There are much better and ingenious authors out there. So please, stop overrating yourself and other authors. An author is nothing without readers.
P.P.S. @ jatboylover: Mate, you make my cynicism look like outright naiveté. Lighten up!