Pirating books. You've probably seen this topic in the news over the past couple of weeks and heard the heated discussion revolving around it. In short, a website called OceanofPDF, known for hosting pirated books, was recently shut down. Publishers like Penguin, HarperCollins, and Random House issued tons of take down notices, and eventually the requests went through. You can read more about it here.

This should be a good thing, right? A site that's allowing people to essentially steal an author's work is no longer able to distribute the pdfs. Unfortunately, there's been a lot of backlash in which authors are being called "Elitist" and selfish for wanting money for their work. Now granted, some of the people do have a good point. If they've already purchased the books and something happened to them, shouldn't there be a way to get them back? Or what if they bought a paper version and want an e-book for the road that came out later?

First, if you lost the book, I'm sorry, but if you lost a DVD or music, you'd have to pay to get that back, too. If you want the e-copy, some authors will sell packages of e-books and the paper book, so you can just get it that way. Or just buy the e-book. Generally, e-books are priced a lot cheaper anyway. My paper book is $15, but my e-book is $3.99. I'm not asking you to pay full price for the e-book.

Some people have argued that 1. they don't have the money for books or 2. they can't get them from the local library. Generally if you speak with a library about wanting a book, and there are enough requests, the library can buy the book or even loan it from another location. If you get the book around the time it launches, many authors put their novels on sale. Or they'll do low sales or offer giveaways.

We're not dragons stealing your money and cackling on top of our glistening hoard. Most of the money we actually make off of our books goes towards expenses in order to bring more books to you. Spend money to make money. So to have our work put on a site without our permission and to watch hundreds and thousands of people download it without us seeing a cent from it is...how is that fair?

I want to give you a look into how much it costs to actually publish a book. It's different for traditional and self-published authors, but we all put money into it.

First, it starts with our time. I work a full-time job, and I spend most of my free time (what little I have), writing my novels. This is not just a casual hobby. This is something I want to turn into a profession, so I dedicate my time to it. I've taken courses in writing, storytelling, plot development, creative writing, (which costs money,) so I can create my books. It also causes a lot of emotional strain to do what I do. See Writing with Depression for clarification.

And then there are the other expenses once I've actually written the book. I have to pay for things like:

an editor
proofreaders
sensitivity readers
cover artist
promotional materials
book swag
programs like Scrivener and Adobe DC to format the books or a designer who can do it for me
buying the books themselves
tables at conventions to sell my books
hotels/gas/meals to travel and sell

It all adds up.

Most of the money that I've made from sales have gone back into my book or is being used to take care of costs for the next one. I'm not rolling in money, so yes, every dollar does help. Some people say, "Well, I'll give you a review. That's payment enough." Look, any review is wonderful, and I'm grateful for it whether it's good or bad. But the thing is, if everyone decided that's how they were going to pay for the book, I'd have hundreds of reviews, but no revenue.

We pay money for movies, music, theater, etc, but when it comes to art and books, suddenly it's just too expensive. I understand our economy is awful, and I'm drowning in debt as well. But it's heartbreaking to realize that something I spent months or even years on is being handed out for free. If I want to give it away for free or drop the price, that's my prerogative, and I would promote it so that people who are having trouble buying my book can get it for cheaper. Some say I get more readers if my book is given away for free. Hey, that's great. I love getting more readers. But what about all the time and effort writers put into their craft? Does that mean nothing?

If it was just happening here and there, that would be one thing. But there are whole sites dedicated to this. I give books away. I reach out to libraries to see if I can get my books there so people who are low on cash can at least borrow the book. But that's my decision and my right to do that.

I guess what I really want you to understand is that being a creator and doing something I love doesn't mean that I don't put a ton of work into it. I'm providing a service. Is it so bad that I would want compensation from it so I can keep creating and bring more stories to my readers?

I'd love to hear your opinions on it.