I was searching the Net for some open source linux software for my tablet, and stumbled upon a file-sharing website. It was chock full of files, documents, music, movies, and… ebooks. Lots of the stuff was copyright-free, whether open source, or copyright expired, as in the case of Aristotle, Demostenes, perhaps even Jane Austen. Now, movies and music do not interest me much, but what really affected me, was the availability of ebooks (freely downloadable) by authors whose works remain protected under the copyright terms, and who, undoubtedly, never consented to this type of distribution.
I should add that many authors believe in file sharing of their books, just as many musicians believe that MP3s of their music help spread the word and lead to increased exposure, and some do release their books on the inernet, for free. I am among those authors who would gladly release his book in electronic format, for free, alas the publisher would not be enthused.
What struck me, as a negative, was the availability of books that neither the author nor the publisher consented to electronic circulation, as in the case of books that only hit the bookshelves in the past few weeks but are already available for free download. As an author I find it infinitely satisfying to see that someone out there wants to go to all the trouble to prepare spiffy electronic versions of my work, and even more pleasing is the download count which shows how many readers are keen to strain their eyes only to read my work. Is there any better sign of popularity and admiration than readers’ time and energy spent on aquiring their favorite author?
What insterests me is the thought-process of a publisher who is faced with this reality. When a book is available for free, so very shortly after its hard copy release, what publisher will want to pay to buy the rights to publish, and to publish a book that circulates for free at the same time? Perhaps a time is coming when royalties and advances will be the stuff of tales of the times past? (Not that these are, or were, that valuable to the vast majority of authors anyway).
Perhaps a time is coming when publishers will rely exclusively on re-printing in hard copy the stuff they scrounge on the Internet, as they already do.
Perhaps a time is coming (has come) when authors will no longer rely on the middle-men to reach their readers? I am trying to see the nagative of this scenario, but just can’t.
PS
Many of the books available for download are bundled together, in one compressed package. They include old classics, as well as new material, some of which comes from my friends.
Here’s a selected list of bundled books I saw available for download:
David Morrell — 19 books in one downladable file
P Coelho — 10
Jonathan Kellerman — 6
Ann Rice — 15
Tim Zahn — 22
Clive Cussler — 27
Nora Roberts — 13
Meg Cabot — 4
Robert Ludlum — 32
Harlan Coben — 5
Agatha Christie — 93
Alex Kava, Colin Forbes…
…and the list goes on.













































