Author Admits To Downloading Own Works: Easier Than Scanning
from the focusing-on-true-customers dept
Reader Jon R. sent in a great story about author Michael Stackpole, where he talks about embracing new technologies and tools to better reach your audience, while also ignoring things like "piracy." On the "piracy issue," he notes:"People downloading my stories from the big torrent sites were never going to buy them anyway. It's no money out of my pocket."Following that, he pointed out that he has sometimes downloaded his own books from torrent sites because it was easier than scanning the work himself, if he didn't already have a digital copy of it. Stackpole is taking exactly the right attitude on all of this. First, he's embracing new technologies and new distribution channels, rather than ignoring them (or worse) complaining about them. Second, he recognizes that he needs to focus on his real customers (those actually willing to spend money on things) and that he needs to provide them with real value that they'll actually pay for. Finally, he recognizes that there's little benefit in caring about those who get the works by unauthorized means, since there's a pretty strong chance that they were never going to pay for anything anyway. What does complaining about them or trying to stop them really do -- other than distract from providing good value for your true fans?
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Filed Under: authors, books, michael stackpole, piracy
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Books...
They have the first... two or three books in the Lt Leary series for free in the Library to get you hooked, and I've purchased the rest (seven total in the series last time I checked). :3
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Author
I'd also like to thank the unknown person that made a compiled HTML of my book, it's easier to deal with than the Word documents or PDFs.
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Stackpole on scanning books
http://www.michaelastackpole.com/?p=37
A nice example of someone changing their opinion as circumstances change (in this case, his realising that digital piracy actually wasn't worth chasing anyone over).
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More from Stackpole
http://www.michaelastackpole.com/?p=397
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Re: More from Stackpole
http://www.michaelastackpole.com/?p=378 (The Myth of Formula)
http://www.michaelastackpole.com/?p=391 (The Myth of Established Authors)
The third article (which I linked above) is about "The Myth of Traditional Publishers Leading the Way"
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Hey...
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Lesson's learned for Mike.
He is a writer because he wants to write. He does his homework and it show in the novels he writes.
I find his works do provide me with a real value that I actually pay for. Downloading his works for free would, to me, seem like an personnel insult to him and his effort.
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I'm another proof it work... John Ringo put alot of his older books on there for free... and now I buy the eARC of all his new books before they even hit the stores
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You ought do more stories like this and compare them to RIAA type stories... It seems that you get more support from people that matters...
(Maybe because those "music artists" aren't as literate in the first place?)
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I do that too...
Was it wrong?
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Great Author
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