Ebook Piracy: It’s Definitely Not a Victimless Crime

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I’ve noticed a disturbing attitude among some readers: some believe that pirating ebooks doesn’t hurt the author. This couldn’t be further from the truth. As an avid reader myself, I know the temptation of downloading pirated ebooks for free, but I invite you to take a stand with me and support the authors we love! And if your budget is tight when it comes to books, there are plenty of free, legal options that we’ll dive into in just a bit.

Myths about Pirating

Here are a few myths that a subset of the reading population believes about pirating:

• I’m just one person; downloading the ebook won’t hurt the author’s sales. The more people that think this, the more sales the author will lose out on. And the effects can spread beyond just the one person—have you ever sent an ebook or link to download a free ebook to someone else? Those are even more sales the author is missing out on.

• I wouldn’t read their book if I couldn’t download a free pirated version anyway. If a person didn’t download any pirated books, would they truly choose not to buy books elsewhere? What if they got a gift card for their birthday or Christmas? What if the author put that book on sale at a price they could afford, and they bought it then? What about the library? And . . . what if they skipped buying that latte, donut, energy drink, or hot chocolate, and bought an ebook instead? There are so many ways readers can get their hands on books legally, while staying within their budget.

• I can’t afford these books otherwise. There are plenty of places you can get high-quality ebooks for free, WITHOUT pirating them. These are offered for free by the author on an approved platform to introduce readers to their work or to encourage readers to invest further in the series. (We’ll talk about places you can find these free ebooks later.) Of course, more popular books have sales much more rarely (although it’s still possible), but if reading these books is important to you, you can choose to spend less money on other luxuries and support the author’s hard work instead.

• The author makes plenty of money; this won’t hurt them. Actually, very few authors make plenty of money. In fact, most make very little money. The Alliance of Independent Authors reports that the mean income for Independent authors in 2022 is $82,600. However, since the top 1% of authors make 31% of the total revenue, a better number to compare would be the median. The median income for Independent authors is $12,749, which means that 50% of independent authors make LESS than $12,749 a year. A year! After paying editors, book designers, and marketing, that doesn’t leave much profit. And the median income for traditionally published authors is even worse, at $8,600. Some authors are making good money, but most aren’t. And even if an author is making good money, does that make it okay to steal from them? Would you sneak into a well-off neighbor’s house and steal a few items because “they can afford it”?

• At least I’m reading their work; they should be grateful. Would you be grateful if someone stole something you’d poured your heart and soul into creating? Something you need sell to put food on the table? Or even just to recoup the considerable costs (editing, finding an agent, cover design, typesetting, marketing, etc.) that come with publishing a book, whether it is independently or traditionally published?

Reasons to Support Author Sales

So you may agree that pirating books is not okay, but why spend money on books at all? Why not ONLY get legally free ebooks, or visit the library? While these options are definitely good techniques to stay within a book buying budget, there are also reasons to spend money on ebooks:

• Your purchase is (sometimes literally) feeding the author, so they can continue writing more books that you love.

• Most subsequent books in a series do cost money (so the author can afford to keep writing books), so if you want to finish a series, you’ll need to spend some money.

• The more popular books are unlikely to be offered for free (although you may be able to find them at the library!).

• If you own an ebook (rather than borrowing it from the library), you can reread it or reference it whenever you wish, you can take notes that you can reference later, and don’t have to finish the book in a set time period.

Tips for Having Money to Spend on Ebooks

Maybe you want to buy ebooks, but you don’t have the money to do so. Here are a few tips to help you out:

• Do get books from legal, free options (see more on that below), and only spend money on those you really want (like sequels!).

• Set a limit on how many ebooks you buy each month.

• Whenever possible, buy ebooks when they are on sale for a cheaper price rather than at full price. Book Cave is a great place to find heavily discounted ebooks!

• Look at your expenses to find luxury items that you can do without, such as a latte, an energy drink, a candy bar, chips, etc. Instead of buying that item, buy an ebook. Remind yourself, “Do I want ___, or do I want a new book?” (And remember, you are helping an author write more books.)

• Since ebooks are cheaper than print books, spend your book money on ebooks rather than print books so you can buy more books; instead, put the print books you really want on a wishlist for others to buy for you for Christmas—or splurg for one yourself on your birthday.

• Pick up a side hustle so you have more money to spend on books, such as Door Dash, Instacart, Lyft/Uber, taking online surveys, etc.

• Sell items you don’t use anymore on Facebook marketplace or eBay, instead of throwing them out or giving them away (like books, kid’s toys, electronics, furniture, etc.)

• Have a garage sale of odds and ends from your house that you don’t use anymore (a great idea is to combine with another neighbor or two, to share the load of taking care of customers).

Places to Find Free Ebooks

Free ebooks are a great way to grow your ebook library and discover new authors. We love free ebooks, and we’re excited to share the many places you can find free ebooks yourself!

• Physical libraries.

• Online libraries: for example, Libra or Hoopla.

• Directly from authors: many author’s websites offer a free ebook; they may also offer free review copies or ARCs if you email them directly about it. One of our services, Book Cave Direct, also hosts ebooks that authors are offering for free. Keep in mind that these options do require sideloading the ebook onto your device.

• Author/Publisher Promotions: Authors or publishers may periodically offer free ebook promotions to generate interest and attract new readers. They often do this by partnering with sites like Book Cave.

• Public domain books: Project Gutenberg is also a great place to look.

• NetGalley: NetGalley is a platform where publishers and authors offer free ebook copies to readers in exchange for review.

• Amazon Kindle Store: There are so many options for free ebooks on Amazon, although sorting through them can be overwhelming.

Check out this post for even more options to find free ebooks!

What are your thoughts on ebook piracy? Let us know in the comments blow!