Tuesday 28 August 2012

Get thee hence

Of all the things that a writer might find cruel, such as a fellow writer stealing your precioussssss ideas, or a review absolutely hating your pride and joy, which might have had the longest gestation period in the history of anything brought into existence, the worst is perhaps when a book review blogger admits to only reading pirated books.

That's like breaking into the bookshop at midnight and helping yourself to the shelves.  Of course you don't actually steal a book - oh no, you sit there with your flashlight devouring stories and when dawn peeks over the horizon, you sneak out of the bookshop.  No harm done, right?

Wrong.

You wouldn't do it because a) the bookshop is alarmed and b) there's an established system of consequences for breaking and entering.

A book is locked until you use a legitimate means for opening it.  Either:
  1. pay for it
  2. go to the library and borrow it
  3. land yourself an ARC
  4. download it from www.projectgutenburg.org if it's old or out-of-print; or
  5. write to whoever owns the rights of the book and ask for a copy
Do it the way that protects and supports the creators of your enjoyment.  Anything else means you're just a common thief.

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