Thread by @seananmcguire

Dear person who decided to upload an e-ARC of THE GIRL IN THE GREEN SILK GOWN to an illegal download site more than a week pre-publication:

I am so sorry you disliked my book as much as you obviously did.

I mean, there's no other reason you would have done this, right? Usually when I speak up about illegal downloads, I get a certain number of people saying "books are expensive" or "it's not available in my country."

And I have genuine sympathy for those people! I grew up poor: I know what it's like to have to choose between books and food. For a long time, I was so poor I couldn't even use libraries, because even the smallest late fee was insurmountable.

Like, I do get it, at least to a certain degree, and while I--as an author who needs to pay my bills, feed my cats, and eat--am never going to say "you're right, what was I thinking, please steal my work," I can have empathy.

But this? The book IS NOT OUT YET. No one is unable to afford it, because no one is supposed to be buying it. The book is not out in any country. No one is being prevented from reading it by regional restrictions.

So obviously, you've only put this book up for illegal download because you disliked it so much that you want to make sure my publisher doesn't buy a sequel. And for that, I am genuinely sorry.

Does it help to know that I spent the better part of a year researching the folklore and mythology that underpins the story? Or that I cried at several points when writing, because I needed things to fit together JUST SO, and couldn't quite get there?

How about the labor of all the people who weren't me? The editors and typesetters and copyeditors, the cover designer and marketing team who struggled to make this book into something special?

If you can't respect my work--and again, I am so, so sorry that I wasted your time by writing a book you hated SO MUCH that you had to try to damage its first week sales--maybe you can respect theirs?

I'm never going to be Team Illegal Downloads. I can't. This is my life. This is my livelihood. I sometimes get shit on for acting like art is about money, but until I transcend this crude flesh and become a being of moonlight and shadow, art has to be about money.

I have to be able to eat, and keep my lights on, and pay my vet bills, and pay my mortgage. If I'm too busy panicking about those things to think, I'm not making art. Fear and panic and pain are not the wellsprings of creativity.

But there's a big difference between an illegal download when the book is already out in the world, and an illegal download before the book has a chance to show what it can do.

Reading a book takes time, and we're all limited budgets, and most people will prioritize buying the book they haven't already read. Releasing books early like this hurts sales, hurts authors, and hurts the chances of future books.

If that's not enough...it also hurts book bloggers and reviewers, because the e-ARC is still a new, fragile thing. It makes it possible to open the gates a little wider, but moments like this are what may those gates slammed shut and locked forever.

Whenever there's a publisher decision to watermark e-ARCs or free reading copies (like the ones in the Hugo voting packet), there's a hue and cry about "oh they think we're all thieves." Moments like this one? That's why.

So I am so, so sorry, person who uploaded my unreleased book to an illegal download site. I am sorry to have wasted your time. But you're hurting more than just me, and I wish you'd stop to think about that.

That's all. I need to go shovel broken glass out of my oven now, which is why I worry about money. I bet you worry for similar reasons.

I hope you have a nice day, all best,
Me.