Free Reads or Rip-Offs?
The internet is full of free material. Some of it legitimate. Some is stolen and pirated. Everyone likes a free read, but the vast majority of readers do not want to rip off authors.
How do you make sure the free reads you pick up are legitimate?
1) Get it from the publisher. Many publishers, like www.loveyoudivine.com offer free reads as teasers and rewards for customers. Free stories picked up from publishing houses are a safe bet. In exchange for the free read, you might hear from the publisher with promotions, but you can always opt out of these.
2) Get free reads direct from the author. Many authors give away examples of their work. They might do so on egroups, during chats, via forums. They might publish short stories on their homepage or blog. Ebooks are sometimes offered as prizes. If a story comes straight from the author, it’s going to be fine, however, ‘free’ does not mean ok to pass on. If you aren’t sure, check! Authors would rather be asked. Check that the name of the person offering is the same as the person who did the writing.
What are the warning signs that a site is offering pirated material?
1) Posters of pirate material are often open about what they are doing. Motives vary. If they you they have a copy of someone’s book to share, it’s not legitimate.
2) If the name of the poster does not at all relate to the name of the author or publisher, be suspicious.
3) If the focus of the site is giving away fiction by multiple authors from multiple publishing houses, be very cautious indeed.
There is a grey, hazy area on blogs and sites where it might not be immediately obvious if you are seeing a legitimate sight that an author has given material to, or a pirate site. If the site links back to author and publisher pages, the odds are it is legitimate. Equally if you got there from an author or publisher site, it’s going to be fine. Is the material offered in a way that supports the author? If it looks like a rip-off, it almost certainly is.
Piracy and book-theft hurts authors. Most writers are not wildly wealthy, but good writing depends on people being able to put it in the time. Authors need to eat too. It’s so easy online to pick up freebies without looking at the source. If you love an author’s work, please help by staying away from the pirate sites, and by letting authors and publishers know when you see them. We can get these sites taken down sometimes, and they only survive because enough people feel it is ok to support them.
There are a number of sites out there who legitimately sell ebooks on behalf of numerous publishers – kindle, ARE, Fictionwise and so forth. If you are in any doubt at all about the legitimacy of a site like this, then any publisher or author represented there would be happy to either reassure you, or thank you for alerting them to a problem – whichever turns out to be the case.
Pirate sites and forums can also be home to hackers. They are places where you run the risk of picking up viruses, spyware and such nasties – downloading a file is an act of trust, and when you take a file from a pirate site, you might well get all kinds of unpleasant things along with it.
And don’t forget to visit loveyoudivine for free and safe reads straight from the publisher.
Tags: ARE, authors, Bryn Colvin, fiction, Fictionwise, Free Reads, freebies, giveaways, kindle, loveyoudivine, piracy, pirate, reader