tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8156209923311553716.post4789085093573082612..comments2023-09-08T08:20:12.018-04:00Comments on The Lyons' Den UPDATED: the Amazon Kindle "piracy" problem...BrennaLyonshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17399508130752035374noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8156209923311553716.post-16198494912679617672009-10-24T08:29:32.388-04:002009-10-24T08:29:32.388-04:00To be specific, what publishers I've talked to...To be specific, what publishers I've talked to were told was that this would allow people to use the book on other devices THEY owned, which we supported fully. Most indie/e publishers are all for portability from one device the buyer owns to another in the same household. IOW, wife buys the book and can use it on her Kindle and her iPod...and further, husband can see it on his iPhone and daughter can see it on her Kindle. All four devices in a single house or maybe daughter in the college dorms, but still part of the family. I'd even stretch that to wife's sister "borrowing" the book. All cool with me.<br /><br />It was NEVER suggested that this would be used to link together unrelated Kindle users. That is a gross abuse of the standards already set for e-book lending. See B&N for how to do this right.<br /><br />I am a reasonable person. I really am. I can deal with the idea that two neighbors might link their Kindles together. But 6-10 of them? Without the publisher being able to opt out? Amazon is being the 2000 pound, completely clueless and self-centered, gorilla of the industry again.<br /><br />BrennaBrennaLyonshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17399508130752035374noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8156209923311553716.post-43624667200870903132009-10-24T08:18:19.962-04:002009-10-24T08:18:19.962-04:00I heard on another loop that the publishers had no...I heard on another loop that the publishers had no idea Amazon would permit sharing of ebooks.<br /><br />I also heard that the critical number is not 6 but 10.<br /><br />So, Amazon tells me "We only sold 7 copies of your e-book." Maybe I receive less than $1 for each of those 7 copies. Now, it turns out that up to 70 people could have read my e-book... and I get $6 (before tax).<br /><br />Interrobang me!!Rowena Cherryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11839386556697211986noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8156209923311553716.post-26634779903915224432009-10-23T09:04:44.196-04:002009-10-23T09:04:44.196-04:00I just want to share something I worked out one da...I just want to share something I worked out one day...a demonstration of what happens with rampant sharing. Let's not even discuss the pirates who share thousands of books, for a moment. Let us discuss, instead, the incidental sharing, if left unchecked.<br /><br />Let's say that person A purchases the book and decides to give a copy to two friends. Even if person A tries to be responsible and deletes all copies of the book from her hard drive, e-mail files, temp files, backups...and she didn't purchase it in such a way that she has a bookshelf she cannot delete the book from...yeah, figuring the odds that anyone goes that far, but...beyond that. Well, she's already blown it by sending the book to two friends, but I'll ignore that as incidental sharing. It doesn't do to sweat the small stuff, after all, when the real pirates are killing us.<br /><br />Or are they the only ones killing us? Say those two friends don't KNOW they shouldn't do the same (there is a reason we educate so much, and person A LIKELY didn't go into that in detail...see it all the time, actually), and they decide it MUST be okay to pass it along to friends, since person A wouldn't do something wrong. She's a nice person... And she probably is, but she's probably also shortsighted in how she approaches sharing books, because it simply slips her mind.<br /><br />Taking into account that some will try to delete their copies when they pass it to an unspecified number of friends or won't read it and pass it along, at all, I'll say it's fair to say we're creating two more copies per person along the way, in an unchecked system. IOW, when B and C pass it along, there are the two they got PLUS two more each, for a total of 6.<br /><br />By the sixth pass-along, there are more than 100 copies (126, to be precise) of the single purchased copy of the book. By the eighth pass-along, there are 510. By the ninth, there are 1022. By the thirteenth, there are 16,382. None of which the author sees a red cent on; she was only paid for one copy, after all.<br /><br />Even if you want to build in attrition that 25% won't pass the book along (and I thought I was being generous enough just assuming only two passes at each level), at all... You're still looking at 95 copies by the sixth pass, 383 by the eighth, 767 by the ninth, and 12,287 by the thirteenth. <br /><br />You see how it can snowball? And that's not even counting the one who sends it to her entire MySpace friend list or posts it on a pirate site. I've completely ignored that possibility in this model. Once it's there, a single book can download thousands of copies in HOURS, without more than one pass from hand to other hands. No middle men.<br /><br />Do I have a problem with that first share of a book to two friends? NO! What I have a problem with is what happens next, because (more often than not), this is precisely what the ones who DON'T know better end up telling me happened. A friend passed it to them and didn't know herself or didn't bother to tell person B what the rules were. <br /><br />Instead of screaming about how we don't trust readers (because I do trust most readers MEAN well, even if they fault in execution), perhaps more readers should sign the petition and take the pledge not to pirate and should help authors educate people about incidental sharing between two friends vs. the type of unchecked sharing that drives authors and publishers out of the business.<br /><br />BrennaBrennaLyonshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17399508130752035374noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8156209923311553716.post-52841991162966173932009-10-23T08:19:29.159-04:002009-10-23T08:19:29.159-04:00Thanks, Rowena! I was honored to help out.
I'...Thanks, Rowena! I was honored to help out.<br /><br />I'll be posting my updated Piracy Primer this afternoon, on my site. Authors and publishers interested can find it on the main page, past my gateway, at brennalyons.com<br /><br />BrennaBrennaLyonshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17399508130752035374noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8156209923311553716.post-88900526159976835462009-10-23T08:18:06.741-04:002009-10-23T08:18:06.741-04:00Oh, Carly!
I completely understand their mindset,...Oh, Carly!<br /><br />I completely understand their mindset, but as I've postulated many times, B&N is doing it right, and Amazon is doing it wrong. I have nothing against giving away someone else's product, IF you have permission of the other party to do so. B&N is seeking that. KUDOS to B&N. Amazon bypassed us and misrepresented how this would be used. Bad Amazon! Yes, tongue in cheek. Until Amazon resolves this, B&N has my FULL support for doing it the right way.<br /><br />BrennaBrennaLyonshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17399508130752035374noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8156209923311553716.post-30188836545129108452009-10-23T08:12:41.208-04:002009-10-23T08:12:41.208-04:00I agree with you Brenna, and I think folks should ...I agree with you Brenna, and I think folks should be aware of the business perspective and why Amazon would do this. They want to get Kindle in as many hands as possible, as quickly as possible. Naturally, they do not want to give away THEIR product. But if they can give away the writer's product, a half dozen here, a half dozen there, it might add up to more sales. A person might say, well I can get all these "free" books, with a clear conscience, (emphasis on that phrase) if only I have a Kindle. Would we all have more sales if we could throw in a free Kindle? I think so. And Amazon knows they'll get more Kindle sales if they can throw in a lot of free books.Carly Carsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18236823971323039071noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8156209923311553716.post-86697773416210828582009-10-23T07:40:38.525-04:002009-10-23T07:40:38.525-04:00Excellent blog, Brenna, and thanks so much for all...Excellent blog, Brenna, and thanks so much for all the great advice you gave last night on The Sweetest Romance chat.RowenaBCherryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14826977922522817547noreply@blogger.com