On the internet, a breach of copyright is the sincerest form of flattery

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25/02/2017 by ChrisJamesAuthor

This is mainly a post for my fellow bookwrights, a heads-up in case you’ve never heard of a place where people might be able to download your e-book for free. Go to your preferred browser and type in “Paid shit for free” and click the site at the top of the resulting pile, taking a moment to admire the eloquent erudition in that title. Then, put the title of your book into the Search window and see what comes back.

Yesterday, I found my latest novel available for download there, which capped off a quite abysmal first week of publication for it. When I clicked through, my browser exploded with pop-up ads, mostly for gambling sites. I stopped there, feeling that the offered download of my book might well have a virus from such a place (although it has apparently been downloaded nine times).

Paid shit for free does have a page with a copyright disclaimer, mostly along the cowardly lines of “we only facilitate the theft, we don’t got no actual copies, guv’nor!” I sent them an email demanding they remove the page for my book, but, as you might expect, the page is still there.

It’s easy to get offended and angry with such places, but this sort of thing goes on all the time in our wonderful prehistoric capitalist paradise. A more prosaic approach is to appreciate that anyone going there to get your book for free was not likely going to pay for it in any case, so the sale is not lost and a reader is gained. At least, that’s what I keep telling myself *sigh*

Update 26 February, 12.33 GMT +1. So, I just got an email from someone involved with the site confirming that the page has been deleted and thanking me for pointing it out to them. Bless their cotton socks.