Please Don't Steal

For all of my readers and readers everywhere.

Technology is an incredible medium. We can read, draw, learn, speak and see so much thanks to the advances of modern technology. The basic computer and keyboard. However, in the intance of authors, it's also becoming a means to lose our very livelihood. We write, and those written words are being stolen. By the billions, if not trillions, of words. This has been happening for years and is a growing concern. A hugely growing concern.

There is no excuse for theft, yet pirate sites are appearing out of the blue like any other source of information. They may be innocuous to start, but once the first book is posted, uploaded, downloaded, read, it is done. That author has lost revenue. And not just the author, but every person in the production chain. Just because it is on a site does not make it legal. Car theft, identity theft, downloading copyrighted material. They are equal. They are all theft. (Public domain books [Shakespeare etc.] are a different explanation.)

Please purchase books only through reputable stores and sites. If you see any book from any author on a forum, a database, or a sharing site, please do not download that book. Report the site to the author directly. Most authors have free reads, full books, chapters, all sorts of reading material readily available to the public. Many run contests, or give away free reads. Almost any book can be found in a library, a bookstore or through a used bookstore.

Theft is still theft, no matter the excuse. Respect any author's right to earn a living.

(Thanks to Diana Castilleja for allowing me to repost.)