Confused about Amazon vs. Macmillian and everyone else? Harkaway explains.
I double-dog dare you
Let’s see how short I can make this post….
I double-dog dare you to step away from the Internet for the month of February.
Don’t blog.
Don’t read blogs.
Loose track of the shenanigans of celebrities and politicians.
Do not update your status, your mood. Let your Farmville fall apart and your Cafe close.
Why do I suggest this?
Because so many of you are struggling to find time to write, or paint, or read, or do the other creative things that make you happy.
Did you participate in NaNoWriMo? Consider this NoNoBlog-o (thanks for that title, Harold). Blog-Free February. BFF.
Does going cold turkey sound impossible? Then try this: for every 20 minutes you write each day, you can spend 1 minute reading or writing blogs. ONE MINUTE. (That ratio was suggested by several editors I consulted, btw.)
If you are strong, you can use the Internet for research and critical email. But nothing else.
I can’t go cold turkey. But I am going to cut back on blogging and social networking dramatically, and try to keep all entries (except for this one) shorter than 140 characters.)
We’ll meet back here on March 1st to compare notes about how productive we were.
Go! Shoo! Scribble!
PS – I think you can do this. Really.
Vote for your favorite chapter books OF ALL TIME!
I am at the Kindling Words conference kindling new book ideas.
You are sitting at your computer and you need something fun to do.
Fuse #8 is running the poll and has all of the instructions. Get yourself over there and read them, then start compiling your list – now!
The deadline in January 31st.
Hurry!
Oh Happy Day!
There is a lot of music in my head. I always have a song playing in the background of my mind and I ALWAYS wake up hearing a song on Radio Laurie. That song often reflects my mood. This makes it easy to figure out what I’m feeling.
Yeah, weird. I know. But it is the only brain I have.
The selection of songs makes things stranger. I grew up on a college campus in the 60s, fell in love with "classic rock" in the 70s, survived disco (barely – polyesther still makes me break out in hives), and became a fan of hip-hop, indie rock, and country. The only music I don’t enjoy is opera and I’m sure one of these days I’ll get around to it.
Oh, and I’m a preacher’s kid who sang in a gospel chorus. So the playlist on Radio Laurie is rather…. eclectic.
I have more thoughts to add to our ongoing discussion about the suckitude of book pirates. (You really should read through the comments posted on Tuesday and Wednesday – totally fascinating. Thank you to everyone who posted!) But not today.
Today I woke up with this song in my head:
(Much love to our Canadian sisters and brothers a snowball’s throw away from the Forest!)
Today is a happy day for MANY of reasons. Play the music clip above while you read through them.
2. AND, CHAINS (paperback) made the Top Ten list of the National Association of Independent Booksellers.
4. But wait! There’s more! WINTERGIRLS earned an Honorable Mention Cuffie from America’s booksellers. (LOVE this award – best sure to read the entire list.)
5. Still not dancing? There’s MORE. Amazon.com named me to their list of the 8 most influential YA authors of the past decade. Was flabbergasted by that one.
Whew! All this joy is balancing out my book pirate frustration rather nicely, I must say.
I am off to the Kindling Words writer’s retreat today. Not sure if I’ll be blogging there or not, but I’ll come home with lots of pictures, I promise.
I’ll leave you with another version of this song, just to keep your toes tapping all day. (It is from Sister Act 2. The lead singer is Ryan Toby.)
More Thoughts on Why Book Pirates Suck
Well!
That hit a nerve, didn’t it?
If you want to read some fascinating stuff, scroll through the comments to yesterday’s original "Book Pirates Suck" post. I really appreciate everyone who took the time to comment. Your thoughts helped me clarify my position.
Several readers tried to justify book pirating. Here are their arguments (paraphrased in bold face) and my responses.
1. Publishers make too much money and charge too much for books, so it is fair to steal from them.
::busts into uncontrollable laughter::
Publishing is NOT the music industry. No, no, no, no! It is a hide-bound inefficient industry that is trying (veeery slooooowly) to reconfigure itself for the modern age. Publishing has a notoriously low profit margin – on the order of 2% is the number I’ve heard, though I don’t have any stats to back that up. Most people in publishing – including and especially authors – earn very little money. That’s why book piracy could have such devasting effects. Do you really want to read books that were only written by people from rich families?
NOTE: American publishers have been loathe to give up their hardcover sales even though authors (including me) have begged them to. Maybe this piracy will help them see the light. I would love it if all of my books were simultaneously released hardcover and paperback. Do you think that is coming?
2. I just download illegally so I can preview a book. That is different from downloading a book so I can steal it.
No, it’s not. Whenever you download a book illegally (also known as stealing) you are encouraging the person who uploaded it to keep being a pirate. You have countless legal ways to review a book. I offer free chapters on my website. Publishers offer free chapters. You can read reviews all over the Internet. You can borrow it from the library.
3. You are being silly because research has shown that when musicians offer their work for free, or say, post a couple of songs from an album, their sales go up.
A musician offering a song for free is exactly the same thing as a writer offering a chapter or two for free. And I think it is fantastic when an author puts her book on the internet for free downloads. Maureen Johnson is doing that right now. The critical difference is that the writer (and her publisher) is the one making the call. Don’t you think it is fair that an artist gets to control how her work is offered to the public? What if a person snuck into an artist’s gallery, stole copies of an image, then put them all over the net. Is that OK, too?
4. People who download a book for free will then go out and buy it if they like it.
I am sure some will. I am also sure many more won’t. And since when has our economy been constructed on a "pay if you like it" model? If you don’t like a book, you can return it. If a book is not selling in a store, the bookstore can return it to the publisher.
5. But I don’t have the money to buy the book!
I so completely sympathize with that position!!!! I have not been able to buy books for most of my life! (Including right now!) That’s why I am such a fan of libraries. If you don’t have the money to buy books, stealing them is not the answer.
WHAT I LEARNED YESTERDAY
I think the biggest problem here is that the generation that is currently 12 – 26 have grown up with free content on the Internet. They expect things to be free. Is that their fault? Well, maybe the 26-year-olds should be wise enough to have a clue. But we need to do a better job educating teens about economics and the consequences and larger ramifications of stealing. (I get a sense that we’re about to see more people charging for Internet content – do you have an opinion about that?)
IF YOU ARE THINKING OF ILLEGALLY DOWNLOADING A BOOK, THINK ABOUT PANTS
If you want to buy a pair of pants, you go to the store. Try them on. Buy them. Take them home. Return them if you don’t like them.
You do not steal the pants, wear them for a while, then throw them out them if you don’t like them. (If you are a pants-stealer, there is a court date in your future.)
AND you do not sneak into the store at night, steal 100 cartons of pants, then distribute them for free on the street the next morning. (This is what the person who uploads the book is doing.)
The same rule applies to books.
Readers have many different ways to test-drive a book: reviews, blog comments, read sample chapters posted online. Heck – go to the library and read the whole thing. If you want to read the whole book, you buy it.
LAST THOUGHTS
I hope we can develop the technology to catch book pirates. I’m not going to hold my breath.
I hope that book piracy will be a wake-up call to publishers to make paperbacks available faster.
I hope this generation will be kinder than the ones who have come before them and not treat artists like dirt.
Book pirates suck.
