Several months I read about digital piracy of books in a New York Times article. Concerned I checked to see if our books were on the file sharing sites the article cited. They weren’t. Then earlier this week I ran across a new discussion on the topic  in a LinkedIn group.  So I checked again and saw the following jaw-dropping results on just one of the sites:

 Title                                                                  Users Downloading

Best Home Businesses for the 21st Century - 10800

Changing Directions Without Losing Your Way- 2100

Entrepreneurial Parent - 16500

Finding Your Perfect Work  -  8700

Getting Business to Come to You - 6500

Home Businesses You Can Buy - 5800

Home-based Business for Dummies - 8400

Making Money in Cyberspace - 4800

Making Money with Your Computer at Home -18800

Middle-Class Lifeboat  -  2800

Secrets of Self-Employment – 2500

 Secrets of Successful Self-Employment audio -10300

Sitting with the Enemy - 8200

Teaming Up – 19900

The Best Home Businesses for People 50+  - 1000

The Practical Dreamer’s Handbook – 19900

Why Aren’t You Your Own Boss? - 7700

Working  From Home  -  10500

 This totals 154,500 being downloaded that day. I do not know if these numbers are accurate but checking another file-sharing site, I found similar numbers. Research indicates the “hot spot of piracy is males 18 – 34.” This corresponds with the relatively smaller number of downloads of one our most  recent books, The Best Home Businesses for People 50+.

The print sales of our books come nowhere close to this. Nor do the eBook sales. If royalties were being paid on these downloads at just a penny a book, we’d be earning at least $1545 a day and we’d be writing new books as fervently as we could. But digital piracy yields no royalties or fees are paid to authors or publishers.  

This makes the Google Books actions seem a great deal!

The books are free on these file sharing sites, but sites make money by charging a membership fee. This fee entitles members to download not only books but also software like Dreamweaver and Turbotax, movies including pre-releases,  songs, and games.  Membership fees vary by site, beginning at $4.97. One site offers lifetime access for $26.00. Another offers free updates and new releases for $1.29/month.

Did I download a book? No. I did not want to contribute to sites that disregard with abandon the copyrights and livelihoods of the individuals and companies who create the books, songs, movies, games, and software they use –let alone risk my credit card information on such a site.

And perhaps that’s the hope for authors in the future — for books to be sold like songs are on iTunes. iTunes is able to compete with file sharing sites but sells millions of songs to people who pay 99 cents each for  songs they could download free at a file sharing site. Presumably they do this because they expect both quality and freedom from viruses, but hopefully out of respect for the people who create the work they enjoy.

Sarah’s and my reaction to this wholesale piracy initially was to feel crestfallen, then angry, and then we began think about what tens of thousands of new readers of our books could mean.  Next week I will share the details I’m working out for what we all can do with so many new readers.

I am not naming or providing links to the file sharing sites because I do not want to facilitate more opportunities for digital piracy.  However, if you are an author and want to check whether your book is being downloaded, email me and I will send you the links. Hopefully your books are not there yet.

Next week: Can There Be a Silver Lining in Wholesale Book Piracy?

Don’t know how to proceed with a book you have already written or one you plan to write? I can help. You can contact me directly for a free consultation at paul@9lives4yourbook.com.