Comments on: Why can’t we all just get along?

By: Stace

Stace — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 23:28:44 +0000

Sadly, Darchole, it’s my understanding that some of them do indeed have problems with libraries. I can’t say the people involved in this particular issue do, but I have heard there are writers out there who feel that way. (And lol on throwing away books.)

I agree loaning books only helps. I haven’t seen any official numbers on any of it, though.

By: darchole

darchole — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 05:24:05 +0000

Do these same people who decied to TERRORIZE and STALK this person think libraries are a bad idea too? How about used bookstores? Or donations to charities? Are people not even supposed to throw out books anymore too because someone might take them out of the trash to read them?

As far as this kind of activity (and I’m not talking about piracy, which is essentially a FOR PROFIT enterprise at it’s root), does anyone have any PROOF it actually decreases sales and therefore profit? I’d really like to see a study about this kind of sharing and profits both current and future publishers and authors might see.

As far as my own buying habits go, buying used books or borrowing books from a library actually INCREASES the amount of money I spend buying new books. I can ‘test drive’ a book and see if I like an author or series. Sometimes I don’t like a book I bought used or borrowed from the library, but most times I go out and buy other books by that author or in that series.

By: Stace

Stace — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 17:24:17 +0000

I was shocked, too, and yeah, check the Terms of Service first, you know? Like I said, my initial thought when I saw that was “Hey…!” But it took less than ten seconds for Further Thoughts to intrude, to conclude this is no problem and no different from sharing paperbacks, really, and that it’s no reason to get upset. Sometimes all it takes is a few seconds to stop and think, you know?

By: Stace

Stace — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 17:22:00 +0000

And that’s exactly the point of reviews. I rely on them myself, when choosing books; it’s important to find reviews you can trust. It’s one reason, actually, why I find the bad reviews on Amazon more useful; the bad reviews generally say what they didn’t like, and I can determine if those dislikes match mine or are the opposite, you know? I’ve bought several books off terrible reviews simply because it’s obvious that my taste and the reviewer’s are total opposites, so what they hated I will probably like; and I’ve pretty much been right every time.

By: Stace

Stace — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 17:19:25 +0000

Hey Jali! Thanks for coming by! Yep, I do believe legitimate sharing encourages sales, absolutely. I think it always has.

By: Stace

Stace — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 17:18:21 +0000

Yeah, we had that on our Yahoo loop once, a reader mentioning that she’d found our books on a pirate site, and entering a contest. There wasn’t much we could do, really; we emailed her a polite note about the problems with piracy sites (we didn’t say it publicly) but thanked her for joining us anyway and said we hoped she’d stick around.

By: kirsten saell

kirsten saell — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 23:07:32 +0000

I admit, I was really shocked by the kerfuffle over Ms. Englin’s sharing. I mean, in at least two places online, where people have expressed interest in the Sony, but but but outlay for device + cost of books + no sharing = will continue to wait, I’ve suggested if they have a couple likeminded friends, they could buy three Sonys and share an account. Or five Sonys, if they only wanted to register one computer between them. Imagine, they could all read the books at the same time!

No one even blinked. So when they tore a strip off this poor woman I was left going “Whaaaa?”

I agree, it’s the worst sort of bullying. And really, what was stopping any of those authors from checking the Kindle terms of service themselves, before they all went kablooie?

Now they not only look like jerks, they look like idiots.

By: synde

synde — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 19:19:44 +0000

I said insert expletives here..yah I didn’t wanna get in trouble.

By: Michele Lee

Michele Lee — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 04:25:07 +0000

I feel so stuck in this situation because I’m a reader first, but I am trying to build a writing career so at the least I understand the fear and frustration the writers are feeling when they go off on this kind of thing.

By the way, my reviews are for the READERS not to tickle the author’s ego or the like. I know there’s some really bad, some great and a lot of just meh books out there and I know what it’s like to not have money to waste. So I try to focus on letting people reading my reviews know whether this might be a book for them or not.

By: jali

jali — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 20:53:23 +0000

Hi Stacia,

I’m a Mellophant member and came here to say, “thanks” for sharing your story with us! We really do appreciate it.

I love this article and I agree with you 100%. If I love a book, I share it with my friends – some buy copies of their own to keep and hopefully they pass the word on to others.

I’ll look forward to reading more of your work and I’ll share the link with others.