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I’m due to release my debut novel on the 27th of July and one issue that was in the back of my mind was piracy – people taking my book and putting it out there for free. The prospect hasn’t stopped me from publishing (obviously) but it worried me a little. I thought I’d lose sales, I thought of it as stealing.

However.

I’m currently reading Secrets To Epublishing Success by Mark Coker and in one of the chapters he discusses issues that epublishing authors often worry about. One of which is piracy.

“Some best-selling authors actually encourage pirates to steal their books because they view piracy as a form of free marketing.”

If you think of it like this, people giving your book away is an opportunity to earn more readers and to reach a wider audience. Overall this could in fact, produce MORE sales in the long run. Paulo Coelho is just one author who has been known to deliberately send his books to pirate bulletin boards.

In this video Neil Gaiman talks about his views on ebook piracy as free marketing which I would urge you to watch.

Do you worry about ebook piracy? What are your views?

Coker, Mark (2012-03-27). Secrets to Ebook Publishing Success (Smashwords Guides) (Kindle Location 1175). Mark Coker via Smashwords. Kindle Edition.