S-3804 Why Authors And Voice Talent Need Help

Senators considering S 3804 should read this. This is a prime example of why authors and voice talent need a change in the law.

As I said before, the books are not "Complimentary". They are stolen. Illegally posted. Posted without permission. 

The club owner admits as much.

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The Complimentary Books Site has Changed Location!

Dear Members It would seem that Google finally took down the 'Books' site (due to terms of service!... which means that some book publishers complained!!). Anyway, after just an hour, the new site is 'live again' I honestly don't know why they bother! Please use the following url to find the new site as this will always point to the new Google pages as they are created "XXXXXX" ">XXXXXX Click Here to Collect Your Complimentary Books! It's always fun and games trying to get these nice 'goodies' to the membership!! Regards Club Admin

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Why do publishers bother?
Feel free to tell this pirate, my friends. The income that he is making from his piracy is made at great cost to those he preys upon. He is a parasite!

The irony of ebook piracy

Here's a really entertaining irony. Authors of e-books have a sort of "no compete" clause in their contracts.

That's right. Even the author and copyright owner is not permitted to "share" more than a certain number (maybe as few as 5!!!) of her own e-books.

Once she has shared her agreed number of ebooks for promo purposes, she is supposed to actually purchase her own ebooks from her publisher or from an authorized vendor if she wants to give an ebook as a prize.

This is certainly the case with my Mating Net which I've licensed to New Concepts Publishing, at least as regards the fact that there is such an agreement in my contract. I've always purchased all my ebooks through either Mystiquebooks or EbookIsle.net, so I notionally still have my "free" allocation.

Pirates wonder why authors (some authors) get upset about piracy. Well, that's one reason. Not only are they infringing on copyright and ripping off the author, the editor, the publisher, the cover artist... they are doing something that the author is contractually unable to do herself with her own books.

Rich, isn't it?

Authors, e-book Pirates, could we get along?

Pirates, file-sharers, lend me your eyeballs for a moment. You want to read the latest releases without paying for them, and you'd like to make some money at the same time.

Your reasons vary. Maybe you are in a foreign land and cannot purchase books legally for one reason or another... price, currency restrictions, censorship, the Western Decadence in your favorite genre. Maybe you think that you are making a noble protest about the cost of books or ebooks. Maybe you are unable to find honest work, so you make money from commissions from file-sharing sites, or from AdBrite-placed advertisements.

Many of you are articulate, literate people, and while you cannot possibly read the 400,000 books that some of you are on record as downloading in a year on 4shared, you are voracious readers and you like to recommend what you have enjoyed to others.

Meanwhile, authors cannot get reviews. Review sites are crying out for staff reviewers... but the positions are usually unpaid. As more and more authors write better and faster, and publish electronically, the shortage of reviewers becomes more acute.

I object to any whiff of blackmail on principle, and the literary world looks down on "paid" reviews as being somehow dishonest. Goodness knows why. The purchase of a print advert in any number of magazines guarantees an author a review. Not necessarily a good review, but a review.

What would happen if pirate sites became legitimate book review sites?

Former pirates would get free books to read before they went on general sale. Maybe authors or publishers would pay a small fee, or purchase advertising so their cover legally showed up beside the review. Pirates could be anonymous. Legitimate ebook distribution to ex-pirate reviewers would be no different or less accessible, because review copies go out at no charge anyway.

Your reviews would probably be way more popular than the most popular and well trafficked review sites such as Amazon, or RT, or Dear Author. You could have legitimate advertising, syndicate (or not) your own copyrighted reviews, and continue to make friends and influence people.

What am I missing?