My latest work, the Van Helsing Paradox is making its way through various sites for release. I pushed it out a week or so ago through Draft2Digital, Smashwords, Google Play and of course Amazon. After all, it takes time to get the book visible, confirm links, and make sure there is a consistent pricing.
So imagine my surprise, when I learned that Scribd, a subscription based library connected with Draft2Digital, was showing my latest work as a popular download.
That’s great news and I am hoping this trend will continue!
The general perception about pirating is done by younger people. The idea being is that they do not have the means to afford the content. This population group tends to be more attuned to technology and has more time to go through the trouble of pirating it.
A recent study with results shown on torrentfreak.com seems to break that wide open:
47% of those who pirate eBooks are within the 30-44 year old bracket;
70% have post secondary; and
65% make over 60,000$ a year.
In other words, people who are most likely capable of paying for an eBook are those who pirate it.
Now they also state that roughly 25% of pirating is essentially swapping books with friends. This could be a carry over from the print world, were friends/family would often swap books instead of each buying their own copy.
While this article does not talk about, the age bracket may have something to do with people getting older. In the 2000s a lot of people were pirating games, music and other content because they could not afford it. Now they are older and have enough money to afford buying the content, however the habit is ingrained. Its seen as a norm with no ethical or moral ramifications attached to it.
It has been roughly a year since the Portrait was released as an eBook. One of my side projects was to push this novel through CreateSpace in order to create print variant.
With the help of Nutty Nuchtchas I was able to get the cover sorted out. The cover image was tweaked using a higher quality source and a skilled hand was involved for its final inception. It is always a good idea to let a professional handle the finishing touches.
Came across this link on my Google+ feed. Always a good idea to keep an eye out for new tools. This one may be cloud based, but it might have a must-have feature that people would kill for!