Do you pirate books?

**nickib** · 06-02-2013, 04:33 AM

I am participating in an online book club via Goodreads. Once the book of this month was announced, a member said via Twitter that they had the ePub and was willing to send it to all members. I see this as piracy and said as much but no one seemed to care.

Is this a common practice? How do y'all feel about pirating books?

**Cutie McPretty** · 06-02-2013, 04:55 AM

I don't have an e-reader or anything but wouldn't this be considered the 'new way' of loaning a book that you purchased to a friend? By people and companies doing their best to phase out printed text (which is just scary to me -- what if we lost electricity or something in some catastrophic way--think Revolution...sorry; I digress)this opens up new issues...like e-borrowing/e-loaning.

**MissChelle** · 06-02-2013, 05:47 AM

I pirate

**assia** · 06-02-2013, 03:55 PM

Pirating books is almost as common as pirated music, movies and TV shows. It's also just as illegal. Everything e-anything can and is being pirated.

I plead the 5th.

**fuzzy_slippers** · 06-02-2013, 04:31 PM

I pirate. No shame. I don't have an e-reader. I read books on my laptop. I love the feel of holding a book and I don't see myself getting an e-reader any time soon. I love my local library, but sometimes it just can't get me what I want.

Before I buy any more fiction, especially series, I'll torrent it. If I don't like it by the time I'm one book in, I don't pirate any others in that series. Sometimes, I'll even avoid that author.

I pirate knitting pattern books. Especially the ones that are out of print and cost like 300 bucks on Amazon. $300. That's a car payment. GTFOOHWTBS.

I've also pirated a ton of roleplaying books. And I definitely pirate audiobooks.

I don't pirate textbooks or children's stories.

**nickib** · 06-02-2013, 08:26 PM

:/ I guess I live under a rock since I didn't know ppl did this. (Granted I don't pirate music either...) Fuzzy, if you liked the book would you buy the other books in the series? Or just keep pirating?

Thanks for the answers btw.

**skittles04** · 06-02-2013, 09:32 PM

I don't. Mainly on principle, though. I have tons of music, books, & shows on my various devices that I happily pay for. I don't mind showing the publishers, artists, writers, editors, directors, producers, whoever else is involved in the process, what they should be doing to earn more of my money.

The Internet makes it really easy to just download anything you want, though, and there's very little risk of being caught/prosecuted involved. (I've always thought it was a little iffy to trust a pirated piece whatever (aka, not from a reliable, trusted source) with the safety of your computer, however...)

**Intellexual** · 06-02-2013, 09:45 PM

I have. Taught myself to read by ear hustling, memorizing the stories, and then stealing the books to see what the words looked like. Since that experience, I got comfortable with the idea that rules don't apply to me; only the punishments. "Laws", especially one's used for capitalism and exploitation don't mesh well with my principles. The only laws I abide by are those which do go well with my values.

**nickib** · 06-02-2013, 10:07 PM

It's not about laws for me; it's about rewarding and acknowledging the artists hard work. If I enjoy an author's work I will support them with my money (or go to the library and ask the librarian to buy the book). So many writers of color are denied opportunities because their books "don't sell." I didn't think piracy was a big enough to have an impact but hey maybe it does.

Full disclosure: I work in publishing. I have a vested interest in ppl paying for books, lol.

**Intellexual** · 06-02-2013, 10:10 PM

Cheers. Laws don't often get in the way of us compensating people of our own volition. Most of my donation portfolio consists of people, projects, and organizations which detest me but it's about the work they're doing. The work they did? I compensate artists and such who do work that has some legs to it, but I don't buy a wrapped up box on the basis of the idea of what's inside. I want to know what's in it and what value it has for me before I give of mine outside of the time which is far more valuable. That I don't kill people purely for wasting my time is payment enough.

The world already let them live and whatnot to make that happen. I've written thirteen books and every able-bodied person in the world had to allow me to live to get that work done. For my work, I'm so thankful that I survived long enough to not get stuck with jumbled thoughts. If there's a book that's worth more than the time I'd expend to read it, I'd like to know why it's being sold for so much. To me, the sharing of knowledge is a team sport and not for individual glorification.