I feel general discouragement when I think about online book piracy. It's frustrating and kinda ticks me off. But I mostly think about people who steal books online as rather faceless. Which is how I'm sure they think of me and all the other authors they're stealing from.
But none of us are faceless, are we?
These past couple of weeks I have gone beyond discouraged to disheartened. Because people I know participate in piracy. I'm taking it personally. I know I'm not supposed to and I never did before. But when it's a friend, co-worker, colleague or even in this case a fellow writer, it burns in my chest. I think it's my heart. Possibly indigestion.
Piracy is so big right now, it is affecting whether or not writers are going to make it. In some cases, it already has.
But that's the bigger picture. And there's about a dozen blogs and articles going into great detail and depth on online piracy as a global issue.
Tonight, I'm feeling personal.
Writing, telling stories, putting my heart out there...that's my dream. It's a big one. It's the kind of dream I never wake up from and am always chasing. It has it's own pitfalls and milestones. It's already full of heartache and hard work.
When you download a book illegally, you're sending a message, passive aggressive as it may be. Your actions stand in the way of my dream. Your actions make my pursuit harder.
None of this means I have any intention of stopping.
So you've made it personal. You figuratively spit in my face and called me unworthy.
Hear me when I say you're wrong about me.
You're wrong about a good many of us.
We won't stop and we thrive on challenge.
What I want to know is, are you really comfortable being that person? Being the one who stands in the way of someone's dream?
Think about it and get back to me.
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