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| A scam: don't fall for it! |
Let’s keep this simple.
Everyone likes to get things for free. (Whether they value
them is another matter; mostly, they don’t.)
Say you want free books. There are good ways to get them.
Libraries, for certain. If they don’t have the book you’re looking for, ask
them to order it.
If you like e-books, there are thousands and thousands of free
ones available through legitimate online vendors (Amazon, Barnes & Noble,
Kobo, Smashwords, etc.). True, a lot of them aren’t that great, but if you
search, you’ll find some gems, one being the Alaska Sampler that David Marusek and I put out each year. There
are also legitimate e-newsletters like BookBub that will match your reading
interests with time-sensitive offers for free and discounted books.
If you’re a book blogger and/or reviewer, you can be
swimming in free books, via NetGalley and/or having a following that will
attract the attention of authors and publicists.
Another great way to get free books is to follow an author
via her website or on Goodreads. Authors and publishers often arrange giveaways—drawings
for free books. And authors sometimes seek out beta readers and early
reviewers, with whom they share e-books for free. Authors who have control of their
book pricing will generally be happy to let you know about sales and such—a
newsletter or email alert function on the author’s website will keep you in the
know.
The bad way to get free books is piracy. It used to be that authors
worried (if they worried at all) about plagiarism. Now, pirates steal whole
books, making money either directly or indirectly off the backs of authors who
work hard and earn little, statistically speaking.
Piracy of intellectual property, like everything else in the
economic realm, is fundamentally about value.
A Starbucks latte has value.
A McDonald’s Big Mac meal has value.
A novel in which I poured my soul—not to mention three years
of my life—has value.
I know, we all make our choices. All I’m saying is that when
you consider all the legitimate ways to get a book for free, there’s no reason to
pirate it, and there are ample reasons not to.
Which brings me to the ugly. A lot of those free book
download sites are straight-up scams, using books as bait to lure in the
unsuspecting. They post fake conversations about the books, including review
language they lift from legitimate sites and even—get this—fake “good cop” admonitions
against pirating, along with “bad cops” who offer links to the pirating sites.
When you click through to the “free download” button, you’ll
be asked to input your credit card information, so the scammers will have it “on
file,” in case you want to buy a book later.
Guess what’s next? Fraudulent credit card charges. Nasty
malware installed from what you thought was a legitimate website. (The malware
is as clever as the fake discussion boards about the book: it tries the
password out on your email account and uses it to send emails to your contacts,
ostensibly from you, encouraging your friend to click on the link that will
load malware onto his or her device.)
Don’t risk it. Get your books the way everyone else does.
Authors rarely get rich. But your small contribution to our efforts is much
appreciated!
Mark your calendars: Deb
has a legitimate free book offer coming up. On Feb. 26 and 27, the e-book version of What Every Author Should Know will be
available for free through Amazon. Thanks to author David Marusek for research
and links for this post.