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New authors worry about piracy, especially in this age of digital publishing and online marketing.
Yes, piracy happens, but here’s why you shouldn’t let fear keep you from putting your words out into the world.
Most of the reading public are book lovers, law-abiding (usually) citizens, and want to compensate you for your creative work. Trust your readers.
A Personal Example
I noticed a customer had bought two copies of the same ebook from my website. I emailed her, assuming that she must have clicked twice by mistake, and I wanted to refund her. She explained that she had bought a copy for herself and one for a friend. I was thrilled, of course, because she could have just shared the file.
Hugh Howey, the bestselling sci-fi author of WOOL, shares on his site that one reader downloaded his book through a pirate site, then sent him money later in recognition of a good book.
Most readers want to help authors, not harm them. Those who download from pirate sites are not likely to be your target market anyway.
Paulo Coelho, author of the worldwide hit The Alchemist, deliberately leaked his ebooks in Russia on piracy networks . His sales went from 1,000 per year to over 1 million, because those free books gave him more visibility in a hard-to-reach market. He says of piracy, “It’s a medal to any writer who understands that there is no better reward than being read.”
Self-help writer, Tim Ferriss, used Bit Torrent file sharing site for the launch of his New York Times bestseller, The Four Hour Chef, and generated hundreds of thousands of sales from free downloads.
Fantasy writer, Neil Gaiman, talks about piracy as a modern-day version of lending a physical book. Broader distribution means a broader audience and a broader audience means more sales. After all, the most pirated books in the world are by the most successful authors, like JK Rowling or George RR Martin.
Tim O’Reilly says, “For a typical author, obscurity is a far greater threat than piracy.”
So, is it better to be pirated and have your book read or have your unseen manuscript sit in a drawer?
If you’re not writing or publishing because you’re afraid someone will pirate your books or your ideas, you might need to consider other issues.
Steven Pressfield talks about creative resistance in his book, The War of Art. Stopping writing because you fear piracy is a form of resistance. It’s something your lizard brain—that primal part that tries to keep you safe—can distract you with, when really you need to get your butt in the chair and finish your book.
It’s scary to put your words out into the world. You might be judged. You might fail. You might get a one-star review. Maybe no one will even notice your book. Such fears are part of the creative process we all go through. Don’t let the pirates stop you from fulfilling your goals.
Joanna Penn is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of supernatural thrillers as J.F.Penn. She also writes inspirational nonfiction and is an award-winning entrepreneur and speaker. Her site, TheCreativePenn.com is regularly voted one of the top 10 sites for writers and self-publishers. Connect on twitter @thecreativepenn