Romance Writers Defend Copyright
Wednesday, April 9th, 2008 by Patrick RossAs I like to point out, it's not just our friends in the music and video industries who are suffering due to piracy. Another group being hit is authors. One author's group, the Romance Writers of America (RWA), are fighting back with an education campaign to let authors know their rights and how they can defend them. They've created a site that includes among other things a sample DMCA takedown letter as well as a database of file-sharing sites where unauthorized versions of the authors' works are likely to be found (some such as esnips and Scribd I was familiar with, but it was saddening to see how many more there are).
The fact that people are uploading and downloading these copyrighted novels begs the question; if you're a fan of romance novels, why do you want to deny the author her rights and her income? With music, people blame the "evil" record labels. Do romance readers have some particular beef with the publishing industry? Some musical file-sharers also argue that musicians "make enough already," even though most recording artists don't even earn a full-time living from their craft. Guess what — the same is true of romance authors.
Bottom line, there is no excuse for distributing or downloading someone else's work without their authorization; no rationalization can justify it. Kudos to RWA for providing resources for authors to combat piracy, but these authors shouldn't have to create a daily routine of monitoring sites and writing takedown letters; they should use that time to write fiction, which is so much more fun to read.
April 9th, 2008 at 4:57 pm
As a romance writer, I can only say–hoorah! RWA is doing what it can, but we need all the help we can get in making readers aware of what a disservice they do the writers they claim to love when they download our books for free. And yes, I've found my books on some of the sites in the list compiled by RWA.
I've seen all sorts of defenses for this behavior from people who want to believe it isn't really stealing. One argument is that downloading pirated copies is not the same as, say, shoplifting, because with shoplifting the physical object is no longer available for sale, while my book is still for sale no matter how many illegal copies are downloaded.
Pffft. Theft doesn't depend on a physical object changing hands unlawfully. There's theft of services, for example. Identity theft. Probably more examples that I haven't thought of.
Bottom line: stealing is still stealing, even when it's really easy to do. Even when no physical object changes hands. Even when your friends do it. Even when you're unlikely to get caught and punished. And offering a book for free on the Internet is not the same as passing around a paperback you think your friends will enjoy.
April 9th, 2008 at 6:58 pm
As far as I am concerned, there is no difference between hosting an e-pirate website and being a "fence" for stolen property. They both knowingly facilitate the illegal transfer of goods obtained falsely and deprive the rightful owners of income. We - the publishing community - must get together much like the music industry did to make Congress step up to protect our property rights.
April 10th, 2008 at 9:07 am
Very well said.
Too many people have this lovely fantasy that any published writer is automatically rich and it isn't going to hurt if they take this book or that. Very wrong. It does hurt and in some instances, especially like epublishing, it can hurt A LOT.
April 11th, 2008 at 2:10 pm
Nice to hear from some rightsholders on this blog, thanks for posting. We all need to do our part to increase awareness among consumers and policymakers that rights aren't optional in this country.
August 18th, 2008 at 4:33 pm
[...] written before about how it’s not just music and movies that suffer piracy online; anything that can be [...]
April 2nd, 2009 at 2:12 pm
[...] been following Scribd for awhile. Not everything on there is infringed. There are some authors who voluntarily post works there, and [...]