Thread by @AlexandraErin

95% of what I write is free to read. When I publish my work for sale, I leave off any DRM the platform doesn't require.

Still don't condone book piracy. It hurts authors, hurts my friends and colleagues.

If you think you have an exception that justifies it, keep it to yourself.

Right now Seanan McGuire is getting hammered for having explained what piracy does to books and comics.

Some of it is righteousness trolls or jerks waiting for a target.

But I think a lot of it is people feeling guilty and wanting to justify themselves and receive absolution.

Nobody likes not being able to afford a book. Nobody likes feeling guilty for hurting a creator whose work they enjoy. So they turn it around, make the person who pointed it out the bad guy.

I know, I know! You couldn't afford the book so it wasn't a lost sale. In your head, you have personally done no harm.

But the fact of book piracy hurts book sales. It's not an industry where "try before you buy" leads to better sales, statistically.

Libraries, though? They generate sales. Directly when they buy books, indirectly through exposure. Library circulation is trackable. Libraries buy more copies of what gets read.

The reality of writing is, even when you have a big name publisher behind you it's not a big money business, and success is something that can come crashing down at any time.

If you are sure in your heart that you are a righteous book torrenter who has a great case for why it's okay when you do it... the least you can do is not encourage other downloads. It should be enough for *you* to now you're righteous. You don't need to prove it to the world.