Venting: Pirating books is wrong! #bookbloggers #bookblogger #bloggers #blogger #books #blog #blogpost

I’m not an idiot, contrary to what some may think, a bastard, sure, though as Slipknot sang ‘I’m just a bastard but at least I admit it‘ and a bad blogging influence (I don’t know why you’d have to ask the Jackanory jackass who called me it) and, as such, I fully realise and understand that writing about pirating books will have no effect on it at all and it won’t change a thing but……it’s my blog and sometimes it is best to write out your feelings on a subject and express yourself and this is what this is. It won’t change a damn thing and it won’t make a difference, all it is is my writing, ranting and venting.

Those of you on Twitter might well be aware of the recent furore over a site called Oceans of PDF (you can find their website !!HERE!! and their twitter !!HERE!!) an illegal site that offers downloads of ebooks that came about over this past weekend (the 30th June & 1st July 2018).

As I’m writing this post (July 2nd, 2018) the site is still up and running though I know many authors have complained and demanded their books be removed from the site and that the host on which the site is hosted as well as the Society of Authors have also been notified so hopefully it will soon be erased from existence and the owner/owners hung!

A quick Google of ‘pirate books download sites‘ and sadly but not surprisingly there is a long list of questions asking about them and sites (other than Oceans of PDF) that you can download books from.

I as well as many others I checked out the Oceans of PDF site and tagged authors whose books were on there. Representing the legal side.👍 Black Sails pirates are cool, book pirates are not! I didn’t check out any of the sites after my Google search, honestly, what’s the point? They are there, that says it all. For the Oceans site, damn, they had so many books! All genres and all popular authors as well as indie and less well-known works too! It was shocking and those who run it have the audacity try to make out that they are doing a good thing and offering a service! There are some deluded fuckers about!

The worst thing though well, obviously, the fact that the site exists is the worst thing but the second worst thing is that there were countless testimonials from people praising the site! Thanking them for giving them the opportunity to read the books, etc! What. The. Actual. Fuck!

If it’s not bad enough that you get pirate sites but then you get supposed book lovers thanking them for the chance to read books without buying them! You obviously love books so much that you won’t pay for them, sigh!

This is the problem! Yes, sites like Oceans of PDF and other pirate sites shouldn’t exist just like people shouldn’t sell their yet to be released ARC’s on eBay but other people then choose to visit the site, check out the ARC and then make an informed choice to either illegally download the ebook or purchase the ARC! If there wasn’t the market then the pirate sites and eBay ARC sellers wouldn’t have a use. I don’t get it, are you that brain-addled that you seriously don’t get that pirating books (as with movies and song’s) and selling ARC’s is wrong!

I’d love to smoke some of what you have been on that you can justify the behaviour and the choice that you make!

Testimonials on a pirate site, the eBay sellers with 99% positive feedback, it’s no wonder they do it because you enable them! If people didn’t use the sites or buy the ARC’s then there would be no point in the sites or sellers existing but the fact that they get praised shows that there is a market for it! Why?! They are books, people, BOOKS!

You aren’t Robin Hood robbing the rich and giving to the poor! And you have absolutely no moral high ground here at all, NONE, you have no morals, period! There is no argument nor a single damn reason that you can give that is valid as to why you should download an illegal ebook from a pirate site!

Stealing is illegal, stealing is wrong, if you are starving and dying of thirst then OK, I can understand stealing food or drink to survive. Yes, it’s still wrong but if stealing a bottle of water and a packet of fish fingers (c’mon, I bet some of you like fishy fingers) means that you don’t die then OK but these are books! BOOKS! Reading isn’t a necessity, it’s not food, drink, air or blood and it is not something we need to live! It is a hobby and you are stealing books to take part in your hobby! Wrong!

I’m sure those that choose to illegally download books will cry victim and offer what they think are valid reasons, I offer you to two words, well, four, a double two, two then two, suck it! Then, fuck off! Though, please, don’t suck it, I don’t want your dirty filthy thieving personage anywhere near me as god knows what I’d catch after you have been on those sites!

Truly, please try to play the victim card, I beg you, I implore and I beseech you, tell me that you are a victim and that you have done nothing wrong! It. Is. Illegal!

The only victims here aren’t you, you filthy pirate scum (I was going to use cunt but people don’t like that word. Fuck it, it’s my blog, you filthy pirate cunts) they are the authors whose work is appearing illegally on these sites! The authors, not you!

Buy the book! It’s simple really! If you can’t afford the new release, wait for the paperback version or an ebook offer, again, it’s simple and then purchase it! If you have the hard copy and for some reason decided that you want the ebook too it is not OK to illegally download it just because you have bought one version! You should have bought the ebook version in the first place! If you are downloading ebook versions then you obviously have either an e-reader or phone to read the book on, if you can afford one of them then you can afford to buy a book! Sure, some books aren’t available in some countries but that simple fact doesn’t make it right to download an illegal copy to read! Borrow the book from a friend! Borrow the book from a library! Browse charity and secondhand bookshops! These are legal solutions people, legal!

Authors put their time and dedication into their work and they give us readers, sadly, those who illegally download books are readers too though it pains me to refer to them as such and they sure as shit aren’t book lovers, many hours of pleasure lost in their work, in the stories they craft and the characters and worlds that they create. Without sales, there won’t be books! Most authors don’t make much (from what I’m aware) from the sale of each book, then again, even if the author has ‘made it‘ and is rich and famous that still doesn’t give you a right to pirate and download their book. Add in indie authors and it’s their livelihood where every sale counts and you are taking that away from them!

Yes, yes, I’m sure that those who do it will say it’s only one book but that one book could be the difference between the author being able to continue writing or not! If the books don’t sell, no contract. If they are books in a series and they don’t sell, the rest of series won’t get commissioned, published and finished!

It doesn’t matter if it is only one book or many, one more book! One more stabbing! One more terrorist attack! One more shooting! One more unhappy soul who slits their wrist because they don’t belong! One more adds up, soon becomes many and it only takes one to tip the balance! Wrong! Wrong! Wrong and one matters! – yes, I have a flair for the melodrama at times.

And, don’t you dare give me that bullshit that it isn’t hurting anyone and that it is harmless! Liar! It is hurting the authors! It is hurting the publishing industry! And it is hurting people like me because I genuinely love reading and yet I have to breathe the same air and live on the same planet as you filthy pirate fuckers!

Now, some of you don’t like how I post, my blog or foul language and some just don’t like me but one thing I’m pretty sure about and that we can all agree on whether we are bloggers, readers and/or authors is this. PIRATING. BOOKS. IS. FUCKING. WRONG!

And for those who don’t like swearing. PIRATING. BOOKS. IS. WRONG!

So, if anyone who has ever illegally downloaded a book reads this and wants to offer me a valid reason why it is OK for them to have done it then please, contact me through my blog, I’d love to hear from you and while you are giving me your ‘oh so true‘ and ‘oh so valid‘ reason please also leave your address and credit card details and that way I can steal from your house or use your credit card to buy something or even send your details to the author and they can then get the money back you owe them for the books you stole and that would all be fine, it wouldn’t be stealing or illegal on my part!

You see, you have already set the precedent for saying that stealing isn’t illegal by pirating books and then saying that that is OK so, ergo, it would have to be OK for me to steal from you, where is your moral high ground now, eroded away and replaced with sorry about your damn luck, fuck you!

To the pirate book mafia, you’re welcome, a real book lover!

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