Good for you Rosie. I'm going to put this out on my Writers Group's Facebook Page and Twitterfeed.

Good luck. Perhaps "stinkle" should change their handle to "stinkie"?

Well said Rosie, I am tired, so very tired of the 'the world owes me a living because I'm a single Mum brigade' expecting free stuff, fags, alchohol, makeup, getting my nails done, music, books, in fact anything they want, they have. The problem is, the circle continues as their children learn from them and 'normalise' handouts, legal or illegal and think it's part of everyday life. Society has changed for the worse, and thank you for defending it and your right to a fair payment for a good bit of hard work, something I feel this person Stinkle may not even know the meaning of.

Thanks for the reply Rosie, perhaps I was a little hasty in assuming the person is a single mum, but, taking that out of the equation I do still stand by the rest of my comment. I'm a disc jockey by profession and always pay for my music, and dammit, at the same price as the general public. I am tired of the 'it's there to be had free so I will' attitude some people adopt, even the not so young amongst us. Regards.

Hi Colin,

I agree absolutely that we need to ensure there is a work effort and I loved Rosie's note.

I am a bit surprised by yours and the 'single-mum brigade'. I think that is unfair. Do you know that over half of all single mums had their children in relationships. I'm a single mum, work incredibly hard as a senior level business woman. I also write (in the evenings), I've never claimed any benefits and have paid tax and national insurance all my working life. I set a good example to my son by teaching him that you need to work for what you want.

Just in the way Rosie's note may educate people who look to steal digital content because of thoughtlessness, maybe you will think twice about generalising about all single mums.

I agree, John, I think it is just thoughtlessness, and a level of detachment that the internet grants. When all you have to do is click a mouse, you don't think about the people you are taking revenue away from.

Well said, Rosie. I found two of my E books being offered free on a site a few weeks ago and wrote them a stinking email. To which I got a reply that they'd removed them but in future, if I wish to complain, would I please use the proper channels. Blooming cheek!

Here, here! Well said Rosie. I wrote my first two novels in the evening after I'd finished my full time job (which involved a commute to London). Now I'm on maternity leave I'm writing during my son's 1.5 hour nap. Some days I'd rather watch tv, read or sleep but it's the only time I've got to myself. So when people end up on my website by googling 'free Cally Taylor pdf' or similar my blood boils! My author photo may look glamorous but the reality is very different. Eau de baby sick anyone?! ;)

Nice one Rosie. You should create google alerts for your name and titles then you'll know asap what's happening with you and yours. http://www.google.co.uk/alerts

I agree, it sounds more like thoughtlessness than malice. The result, however, is still theft.
I'd love to know if you hear from her and what she says.

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We are selling your book at the shop Rosie, and am exceptionally pleased by your email ... I think the most dangerous thing about the internet is that you are FACELESS. Hear hear! If it's without your permission, it's wrong, it's illegal and it's downright theft!

"The majority of people who pirate would not pay for the stuff if pirating was not an option."

That's kind of like saying car thieves wouldn't steal cars if cars didn't exist.

"Copyright holders really are not losing much income from piracy"

I know at least one audiobook / radio play company (a large firm, not something running out of someone's basement) that is constantly facing the threat of going under because nearly 90% of the ppl who identify as "regular listeners" aren't paying for the content they're listening to. The producer offers the content for download at reasonable prices - about nine quid for a two-hour piece, all very accessible. But it's still heavily pirated and so the studio has to cut planned product lines, etc, because the cash simply isn't coming in. Tell me again how copyright holders aren't losing out?

I've a physical library of around 600 novels, a (legitimate) dvd collection of over 400 movies, and a retro game collection probably closing in on 1,000 discs/cartridges.

I prefer physical copies to digital, I merely know the arguments. Though, I will freely admit I am all for downloading a long since out of print book that you simply cannot find a copy of.

Adam wrote: "Piracy is not stealing. ...... Piracy makes a copy, ....."

Piracy is making/receiving a copy of something for which you did not pay and not paying for a copy of material under copyright protection is stealing.

Thefore, piracy is stealing. Period.

Adam, that's a bit much. Tell it to a pirate! Making a copy breaks copyright, which is stealing. I hate it when ignorant people can't see that.

Or, I suppose, tell me the definition of 'steal'. As the definition of 'stealing' would be something along the lines of "to steal"

I see nothing in those definitions about copying, merely taking.

Loopholes? That is law. That is how all laws are written.

I never said it was legal, nor did I say it was moral. I merely said that it was not stealing. Also, not all humans are moral people, nor are all peoples sense of morals the same.

When I say long out of print, I mean something written in the early 1900's or earlier. Where someone has painstakingly taken pictures of each page of a book, and uploaded it for others to view an old work, which has no hope of being re-released.

I also said I prefer physical copies to digital copies, I wouldn't pirate your book to begin with, as I'd rather had a physical copy. When I said I support the downloading of long out of print books, I was merely putting my opinion out there.

Who said she should be exempt? I've not said whether I believe filesharing is right or wrong(aside from long out of print books). I merely have said that pirating is not stealing.

A good friend of mine has a collection of nearly 100 hardbacks which he bought brand new and has yet to open. Why did he buy them? He read the digital copies, and thought the authors were better than average. He prefers digital to physical copies, but chooses to buy physicals copies to support the authors. While he certainly isn't the norm, there are others like him.

As for your second point, I work based off of commission, so if the customer doesn't like what I'm doing that day, that is exactly what happens, I receive no pay. I definitely have varying opinions on it, but overall I like it, as it makes me work that much harder.



As an example of how pirating can help copyright holders, I will tell you about Paulo Coelho. 'The Alchemist' was not selling well in Russia, roughly 1,000 copies a year. Which is insulting to such a great book. Against the wishes of his publishers, Mr. Coelho uploaded the Russian translation of 'The Alchemist' to several filesharing networks. Essentially giving his book away for free. The next year, he went from selling 1,000 copies a year to selling 10,000 copies a year. 10,000 went to 100,000, and 100,000 went to over 1,000,000 copies per year.


He even posted links to pirated copies of his works on his blog for some time. It led to him selling more books than ever before. In the beginning he was surprised by it, but now he fully supports it.

@Johanna
"I've a physical library of around 600 novels, a (legitimate) dvd collection of over 400 movies, and a retro game collection probably closing in on 1,000 discs/cartridges.

I prefer physical copies to digital, I merely know the arguments. Though, I will freely admit I am all for downloading a long since out of print book that you simply cannot find a copy of. "


How can I manufacture any loopholes? I'm not the ones who wrote the law.

Also, perhaps you should post a response that has actual merit, rather than an ad hominem.

Just wanted to say well said Rosie! X

Rosie, such a dignified post! I think she'll have got the message by now!

Adam argues that authors who've given away their books for free have then gone on to see lots of copies. And yes there are plenty who do this. But he seems to have missed the point that Rosie has not chosen to go that route: the book is being given away free on her behalf against her will. It strikes me that this is what the internet allows people to do: impose their morality or lack of it on the work of other people. Besides, I suspect that Rosie, having a traditional publishing deal, will not be getting much of the e-book fee for her book anyway, as opposed to an author who's giving away free from a self-published context, or a trad. deal that allows for him to do so. In other words, Adam is advocating that Rosie should receive less than she's contracted to. He argues that it's like him working to commission and a customer not paying if he doesn't like the result. It's not: that's a deal you agreed to. In this instance, Rosie hasn't agreed to the deal you're imposing on her, or advocating as such.

I'd like see Adam go in a restaurant, eat a meal then refuse to pay the bill, citing the fact that restaurants which give their meals away free to critics get more customers in the long run.

Well done Rosie you have done a great job and i appreciate , it happens with many of the people but they don't do anything but you have done a great work.