Book Authors See BitTorrent As a Promotional Tool
Written by Ernesto on April 28, 2008Authors are becoming less concerned with piracy, and having pirated copies of their books listed on BitTorrent sites such as The Pirate Bay is even considered to be an honor to some. Particularly for book authors, piracy seems to be a useful promotional tool, rather than a threat.
More and more authors seem to recognize the power of BitTorrent as a means to generate more sales, and actually upload free copies onto BitTorrent themselves.
Best selling author Paulo Coelho posted several of his books on BitTorrent, which boosted his sales significantly. The success of Coelho later inspired Leander Kahney, the author of “The Cult of Mac” and “The Cult of iPod”, to do the same.
A recent discussion on the positives and negatives of piracy confirms changing attitudes towards it. The “behind the scenes” thread on O’Reilly Radar was started by Eric Freeman, who wrote:
“Any thoughts on the rise of Head First titles (mostly HFDP and HTML) on Pirate Bay? I’m trying to just take it as a sign there is strong interest in the books still.”
The consensus among the authors who replied seems to be that having one’s book listed on BitTorrent sites is a good thing, and might actually generate more sales.
Nat Torkington wrote in a reply:
“So long as the royalty checks are strong, take BitTorrent as a sign of success rather than a problem. A wise dog doesn’t let his fleas bother him.”
Phil Torrone of Make magazine added:
“Yup - seeing your books / magazines on Pirate Bay is always a good thing.”
Piracy is less of a threat to book publishers than it is to the music industry though. As Nat Torkington notes, most people still prefer printed copies: “The HF books work really well as books, so at best the torrents act as advertisements for the superior print product.”
For music it’s different, as most people now prefer MP3s. The music that is offered on filesharing networks is superior to the DRMed alternatives that are available through music stores such as iTunes. The only option for the music industry is to adapt to the needs of their customers and start competing with pirates.
In related news, our very own Matt Mason just got his book “The Pirate’s Dilemma” leaked on BitTorrent. Matt announced that an official “free” version will be available for download later, but I’m sure that he doesn’t mind people sharing this pirated copy.
(Via O’Reilly TOC)
Previously: uTorrent Marked as Trojan by Avast Antivirus
Next: Run Your Own Encrypted Decentralized Filesharing Network
30 Responses (Add yours or TrackBack)
Sweet, now if only my printer allowed me to print that many pages. I can understand movies and music, but books…. seriously? who wants to stare at a screen for hours reading a book on the computer, if it was an audio book however, It’s all good.
A book has a value that a piece of plastic does not have.
People will always buy books but pieces of plastic can be made from anything using your knife, granted not as “nice” of a piece of plastic as the mass produced ones and without certain layers of glue and metals but its still a piece of plastic..
The big bonus is that you realy OWN that piece of plastic!
@2 Shut up now.
Seeing work pirated means people must want it. All news is good news for any artist or author I would say. Your name gets tooted in the media and bam sales go up whether it was for or against you. I think soon we will see people trying to get in at the most pirated material which will soon change to the most downloaded work after it all becomes legal with no copyright law. Once more people learn of sharing, the will will be too strong to fight off.
By that logic i can make a book as long as it’s a bunch of sheets of paper on top of one another lol
It’s almost two parallel universes, bookshops/libraries and torrent/ed2k sites. Paulo Coelho was right. Why not bait file sharers to buy a book from time to time or go to the public library? Specially since book stores are under pressure from publishers or under stupid management, when the controlled price of books is removed. Try to find a book that’s not on some bestsellers list. It’s getting harder because book stores want to sell the popular books only. The rest just is in the way. But the rest is as important and if it can survive or be promoted by file sharing, okay with me.
[quote comment="362375"]@2 Shut up now.
Seeing work pirated means people must want it. All news is good news for any artist or author I would say. Your name gets tooted in the media and bam sales go up whether it was for or against you. I think soon we will see people trying to get in at the most pirated material which will soon change to the most downloaded work after it all becomes legal with no copyright law. Once more people learn of sharing, the will will be too strong to fight off.[/quote]
I agree with everything except the shut up part, i fail to see where that fit in your rabbling.
[quote comment="362377"]By that logic i can make a book as long as it’s a bunch of sheets of paper on top of one another lol[/quote]
Kids already make their own books in kindergarden, maybe just a few pages of figurines but its a book.
My main point that both of you failed to see was that people want books because their pleasing and have more value in several ways then what plastic discs have, i myself hate books but it doesnt take a genious to figgure out why books are more pleasing then CDs. Reading in front of a computer screen isnt the way to experience a book.
Plastic discs can be copied and so can books, while reading a book infront of the computer isnt prefered watching movies and music is.
That can change if they made the medium get more value as the book has, add some “real world” stuff that cant be digitaly copied and the value went from a old plastic disc to something more then just a old plastic disc.. Insight boys, learn to comprehend (and i need spelling lessons).. ;)
I rather read a book in printed form than on a screen. Try to read a monitor in bed?
Also i can almost get any non best seller books, no problem at all, you are just looking at the wrong place.
The only books i ever download is from gutenberg.
I’ve been a big eBook reader for years. Remember, there’s other ways to read ebooks than on a monitor. my weapon of choice has been aportis reader for the palm, that with my trusty old PalmVx works wonders. the etxt’s clear to read, I can have 10 books on there, and I can read it anywhere. The only downside is no illustrations - makes it harder to read something like Free Culture on it.
Each there own. If it’s works for you, who am i to bitch ;)
eBooks on a palmheld /are/ great - yes; I have thousands. Still, they’re not a patch on the real thing.
I no longer buy much music, but books? All the time (although I must confess most of my purchases come from ‘remaindered’ stores & previously-owned stock from bookshops, markets, car-boots, etc.)
Hooray book authors.
I’d just like to point out that bands can make plenty of money off t-shirt/concert ticket sales.
Is someone already inventing a small and cheap book press to take home with which we can print ebooks? Or is that too destructive?
Here’s an interesting, 6yr old, article I stumbled across
http://www.janisian.com/article-internet_debacle.html
While not directly related to bittorrents (the bittorrent protocol was only 1 yr old at the time), it does have real life examples of how free content can affect an author’s/artist’s bottom line.
[quote comment="362400"]
That can change if they made the medium get more value as the book has, add some “real world” stuff that cant be digitaly copied and the value went from a old plastic disc to something more then just a old plastic disc.. Insight boys, learn to comprehend (and i need spelling lessons).. ;)[/quote]
Actually, that is sooo true!
When I find something I like on the net (whether it is torrent of any other service), I always buy the “special” edition.
I don’t know why, but for example, I bought the HoMM Complete Edition simply because of the fluff that came with it. A book, a nice t-shirt, tarot deck and the soundtracks. Unfortunately, the art was HoMM V only, but I guess I can’t have it all ;)
I tend to view music as an expression. As such, you shouldn’t take money for it. Basically, that makes you a whore, since most arts aren’t really advancing society. They’re “only” ways of connecting people (which is incredibly powerful - just look at politics).
As such, I only buy the special edition music, as well. Screw buying downloadable music. If I want to pay for it, I want more than the expression.
I personally find it far better to read an actual book than an electronic version. An electronic version has many good things though, like that it is very portable (and easily downloadable - you can read the first chapter from your own home to see if you want to buy it or get it from a library), but if I want to read through a whole book, nothing beats an actual copy.
Right! I can preview book with pdf -viewer, but if want enjoy it I need real thing… then I can spill some cofee on it, do some mess with sandwich and later years when I open it, it will reminds me that year when I bought it and start reading… it was rainy day…
It’s raining…
The power’s out…
There’s a candle waiting to be lit…
Time to hit the bookshelf once again…
I like reading on the PC screen as it’s the same info but with the background lighting it’s easier to read and easier on the eyes than a book where you need say, a light on which uses more power, and glasses. Plus books are expensive dudes.
Candles are nice, but aren’t cheap and are poor lighting. Same with flame lamps.
Old books have their own appeal however. But electronic copies can also be portable as said, and one external drive can hold many 1000s of them.
If I was an artist and couldn’t find my work on TBP, I would be really disappointed…
I can see where they’re coming from. Until we have extremely good/book like eBook readers/printers that can make books, the book will still be better than an eBook.
I tend to read a chapter or two on the PC, decide whether I like it, then buy the book.
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I dunno.. While reading a book can be cozy, It’s not that much bigger a deal than a handheld display, as long as there’s some quality to the machine. So why not just save a tree? ;)
Books!!! Woooh!
(I way prefer to own the book- can’t beat the real article)
[quote comment="362557"]Right! I can preview book with pdf -viewer, but if want enjoy it I need real thing… then I can spill some cofee on it, do some mess with sandwich and later years when I open it, it will reminds me that year when I bought it and start reading… it was rainy day…[/quote]
Hahaha. Good One. You can do the coffee and sandwich trick with your computer too. It gives you stickies and a slow-motion keylogger for free. And years later it will remind you… it was a sticky day. Hilarious.
I think BitTorrent is a great promotional tool. I’ve downloaded quite a few books off TPB, liked them, and bought them at a Barnes and Nobel.
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