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S T E I N H A U E R
(Image from the Mego Museum)
I was doing one of my annual self-searches on the web and came across a curious thing–a torrent with my name on it.
For those of you not versed in the ins and outs of video & music piracy, a torrent is just another way of sharing files, usually illegal ones, with the world at large.
Turns out some clever Swede saw the benefit in sharing the audiobook of Bekännelsen–the Swedish edition of The Confession. Hell, I didn’t even know there was a Swedish audiobook of mine out there! (I wonder if I was paid for it…)
Anyway, it’s kind of cool to know I’m out there alongside pornography, Radiohead albums and shaky-camera dubs of The Bourne Ultimatum, even if I’m not making a red cent off of it.
August 17th, 2007 at 2:14 pm
So, what will you do? I expect you told your agent, who told the co-agent, who informed the publisher.
As for losing track of moneys due: Oh, yes. The delays are so huge that you forget when you signed a contract, or if a partial advance arrived. By the time the rest of the advance is due (usually 18 months later), you may have forgotten all about the sale.
August 17th, 2007 at 6:43 pm
I’ve followed this issue a bit and it always seems like something authors wrestle with.
Personally, I don’t think I’d go after anyone pirating my work.
I figure any exposure is good exposure. True, there’s no money going into my pocket every time someone downloads that audiobook or illegal e-book. BUT, and this is a big BUT, it’s like investing. The payoff comes in the future, as long as your patient and interested in more than short-term gains. This time around they aren’t paying for it, however, it gets them familiar with my name.
If my work is something they really dig, there’s a much higher likelihood that if they see my name on the shelf with a new title in the future, they’ll pick it up and toss down the $10-$15 for the full price of the book, because they know they’ll be getting their money’s worth.
This is my own personal philosophy, executed regularly, and I think it’s one lots of Wired Generation kids use. I’ll illegally download an entire band’s album, for instance, and give it a listen. If I give it more than one listen — if I like the music, and I like what they’re doing — I’ll then go out and buy the whole thing to support the band.
There will always be people who abuse the system, of course, but they’ll do it no matter what. Whether it’s physically stealing books and CDs from a bricks-and-mortar store, or downloading without any thought to the artist, I don’t think it’s something that can be controlled either way. So, finding a way to flip what looks like an initial detriment on its head could turn out to be a big advantage in the long run.
(For instance: I’d contact the Swede who put the torrent out there, and telling him it’s no big deal. You’re cool with him disseminating your work and you aren’t going to bust his balls about it. However, you have one condition: You’d like to send him a brief 1-2 minute audio introduction for the e-book, and have him add it to the beginning, saying something like, “Hey, I’m Olen Steinhauer and thanks for checking out this free audio book. If you think it’s worth a damn and listen all the way to the end, I’d really appreciate it if you went out and bought one of my books at a regular store so I can keep writing these. Enjoy,” and add a plain .txt file to the download as well, with a similar, brief introductory message from the Swede himself that says, “Hey, if you guys like this book, go out and buy some of his work!”)