Perhaps The Sequel Can Be 'Don't F**king Worry About Piracy'
from the just-a-suggestion dept
As I'm still a relatively new parent, way too many people have forwarded me copies or links to the PDF of the suddenly viral "children's" book Go the F**k to Sleep in the last few weeks. If you haven't seen it yet (and you're a parent), it's worth checking out, as it'll probably give you a chuckle for putting into words what you've thought many times, delightfully packaged in a near-perfect replica of so many children's books. Honestly, upon seeing it, I went searching to see where I could buy a physical copy (which, don't worry, I'll keep far away from the actual stack of baby books), and was disappointed to see that it wasn't coming out until the fall.And here's the really ridiculous part. Despite all of this, Akashic appears to believe that it's still in its best interests to go after those hosting copies of the PDF or graphics, and have them take it down.
And Akashic [has] been doing what they can to control distribution of the document by asking people to take down any posted PDFs. This may not be much. "As the publisher of this book, our responsibility is to tackle instances of piracy when we become aware of them," Ahmad said, "That's just doing a service to our authors, ourselves, book sellers, distributors, to everyone involved in the successful making and promotion of a book."But, um, how is that "a service" to the author or the publisher? There appears to be a ton of evidence that the very lack of their ability to stop that is a huge part of the reason why the book is a massive success story. It seems like yet another case where people focus on the "but we must stop piracy!" without considering what that means for the bottom line.
Plenty of authors (and musicians and filmmakers) have already made this leap into recognizing that just because it's available for free, doesn't mean you can't make a ton of money with it. It just seems weird that Akashic seems to recognize the value it got from all this "piracy" on one hand, while at the very same time, talking about how it needs to stop it "as a service" to itself and its authors.
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Filed Under: books, children's books, piracy
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I've received a ton of links, etc. for this book as well, but I don't think I saw any with PDFs hosted, as opposed to what appeared to be approved excerpts.
What's the basis for equating the viral success with the PDF hosting?
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The pdf has increased the demand so much that the publisher moved up the book date, tells people that the pursuit to stop the free pdfs is at least misguided.
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As I stated, I saw links to articles about the book that included excerpts and showed the cover, but did not host any PDFs. That is how I saw it.
Where is the "ton of evidence" that the unauthorized PDF hosting is driving demand as opposed to the authorized excerpts?
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"Akashic appears to believe that it's still in its best interests to go after those hosting copies of the PDF or graphics"
If they could push the release date up and increase the run, why were they waiting until fall?
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Of course, I don't think assuming every bit of the article is 100% accurate is a good move.
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The one I quoted (The "or graphics" part in case you missed it)
"Of course, I don't think assuming every bit of the article is 100% accurate is a good move."
I don't assume shit, hence the "if" part of my sentence.
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So I guess we can put that "if" to rest.
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You: "Ok, well the quote that that line is based on...doesn't support the notion that they would go after people hosting authorized graphics..."
Me: WHAT???
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Hope that clears it up.
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Also:
"This volume had a few key properties that enabled its electronic popularity: an undeniable title, a good-looking cover and a short length, making it easy to read, post and pass on. Also, the long lag time between the book's pre-sale (it was originally scheduled to go on sale in October) and the buzz made online sharing necessary."
Hell, the main reason it went viral is because people spread it. There was NO advertising for it.
"One benefit of the illegal action seems clear. "Up until this week," Ahmad said, "we have done nothing to promote this book.""
So all signs point to piracy and the pdf, with its availability, allowing people to talk and discuss the book, deciding if they want to buy it when it comes out.
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I don't think the notion that nobody would share links to articles about the book if there were no PDF is supportable either.
At any rate, it's certainly not a "ton of evidence."
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Granted, "nothing" may be a hyperbole. But if they hadn't done in promotion, that means no articles (reviews are a major part of promotion).
If there were articles written without any pre-review copies sent to anyone, that means the reviewers read the pirated copies.
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People saw the content. They saw the pdfs and bought those. People being people, someone said "you gotta read this". Then, they sent the pdf to someone else. So it went viral from that. It was funny and out of 100 people, let's say 10 want the book. And some people, knowing more than one person, may have linked to the Amazon page, where people decided to buy the pdf for themselves. I would venture to guess that people want to see this first, then decided to buy.
Personally, I heard a snippet of this on the radio, when a DJ was talking about the stories he read after he puts his kid to sleep. So if you'll excuse me, now that I know the title...
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Let's say their is "content" A and "content" B. A is the description, cover page, and excerpt that, apparently, was distributed by the publisher. B is the entire book as a PDF file.
From what I've seen, there was viral publicity based on A. So where is the evidence that B contributed any more publicity than that generated (or that which would have been generated) by A alone?
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"Where is the "ton of evidence" that the unauthorized PDF hosting is driving demand as opposed to the authorized excerpts?"
Yeah it happens ALL the time genius. We often see books with absolutely no marketing jump to the top of the Amazon bestseller list. It couldn't possibly be all those eyes on the PDFs who actually liked it so much that they want a physical copy. No that couldn't possibly be it. It just magically happened.
Excepts and cover shots with no marketing behind them have often produced bestselling results. Stop drinking the Kool-Aid. (Do I need a (R) or TM with that?)
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The part where it had no marketing, and yet an explosion of interest and endorsements.
Regardless, you'll agree that the PDFs haven't exactly hurt (pre-)sales, surely.
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As I clearly stated, there were articles and links to articles about this book that went viral without any PDF hosting. For example, I think Wire or BoingBoing or something had an article/post about it that didn't host any PDF without authorization. Rather, it had excerpts of the book and an image of the cover, without any further hosting of PDF pages or anything.
I have no idea whether the unauthorized PDF hosting/distribution has had any effect, positive or negative, on book sales in comparision to a hypothetical world in which only the approved excerpts of the book were distributed. However, I can attest that I received numerous links to this book from friends that did not have anything to do with PDF hosting.
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Again, the has been "no marketing" for this book. So where, exactly, do you suppose the BoingBoing submitter got ahold of the book to review it? They quoted a passage from the book, so clearly they have seen more than just the cover. Use your head McFly!!
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http://boingboing.net/2011/04/26/go-the-fuck-to-sleep.html
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http://boingboing.net/2011/04/26/go-the-fuck-to-sleep.html
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There you go, just keep on ignoring the part where THERE WAS NO FUCKING MARKETING!
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Did you read the link I provided? It's not a review. It's the same description, word for word, that the publisher uses on its Amazon page for the book.
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Try google and you'll find a bunch of other stories on the book and the role the PDFs played in popularizing it.
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So I'm wondering where the evidence is that the source of viral success was the unapproved PDF distribution?
It seems plausible to me that it would have reached a similar viral success without the PDF distribution, based on what was put out by the publisher/author.
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The numerous stories that point to the unapproved PDF distribution. Sure, not many admit to reading it themselves, but they almost all mention the fact. You apparently think that there's no reason for that.
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Other people's conclusions aren't evidence. They certainly aren't a "ton of evidence."
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This is the opposite. Everyone notes it has happened, but they don't want to get into detail about how they know (sound strategy, given Akashic's behavior.)
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Anyway, everyone notes that the PDF has gone viral. I'm not disputing that.
I'm questioning whether there is any evidence (or a "ton of evidence") that viral publicity and/or success of the book orders is attributable to the PDF's viral distribution.
There is actual evidence that stories about the book were being shared *apart from the PDF*. I have seen no evidence that it is the PDF, and *not* the other viral publicity, that drove sales/success.
I'm also not saying that is untrue. I'm just saying I've seen no evidence of that, so it strikes me as a double standard to claim that there is a "ton of evidence" for that from someone who always asks for empirical evidence to back up claims he doesn't like or agree with.
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It's not. But when everyone is pointing to the elephant in the room, you can assume that the fact that they're citing the cool elephant rides as the reason for the elephant's popularity is not just speculation.
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Well, how 'bout this. Buzz was built up on the book through articles. People wanted to see the whole book out of curiosity. It won't be released for 6 months? In the age of information we have to wait 6 months for a dinosaur publishing company to print and deliver the material? Obviously somebody leaked the book in full, arguably bringing a lot more attention to the book since now people can look at all of it instead just a few excerpts. As some mentioned, they will now buy the book when it comes out. Others won't, and they probably wouldn't have anyways. So what does it matter if the book is out in full on pdf or jpeg on some website?
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I just thought, for someone who so often criticizes claims not based on empirical evidence, claiming a "ton of evidence" supports that notion that sales were driven by the PDF distribution, as opposed to the viral publicity having little or nothing to do with the PDF distribution, was suspect.
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No, I probably won't buy it, primarily because I don't even want to explain to people why I have it.
I just want the PDF. Awesome.
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When is someone going to do something about that filthy den of thieves calling themselves a "search engine"! Nothing but a bunch of freeloading felons if you ask me...
/sarcasm
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From the wtf department
chuckle? perhaps. But I never had such thoughts.
As for pseudo-children's books "It's A Book" by Lane Smith was well worth the $. What this article brings to mind is the old truism that the "you get what you pay for". This particular item is not worth the paper it's printed on, imo.
So is copying a pdf really stealing if people are only downloading it because of curiosity and have no interest whatsoever in displaying the thing on their coffee table? Does piracy take place if "no harm" was in fact done, and the volume of sales will be the same regardless of the availability of a preview copy?
Case in point: I can go to the bookstore and read the entire book without buying it. Does that make me a criminal? This isn't freaking Harry Potter. Releasing content before its actual release date... is it really going to matter?
*Shrug* Whatevah.
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Re: From the wtf department
And every parent has had those thoughts (It's the reason the book is funny and not child abuse). It's the actions you take in response to those thoughts that make you a good parent or not.
I would so totally buy this for my sister (and she would display it), but if they're going after the people who helped them sell it, I don't know.
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Don't need the PDF
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Hardwired behavior
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At least they are only asking
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