Five Reasons Why Not to Buy Pirated Books
What are Bootlegged Books and How to Identify Them
Oct 14, 2008
What is book piracy? Bootlegged copies of books are mass produced and illegally printed and distributed copies of publications, i.e., without the consent of the copyright holder, usually the author or publisher, and distributed through unofficial channels. It is also illegal to buy books with stripped covers, galleys (pre-publication copies for evaluation) or reviewers’ advance copies, among others. Needless to say, it is also prohibited to download pirated books.
In a press release on September 10 regarding book piracy in the United States, the Association of American Publishers estimates that U.S. publishers “lost over $500 million in 2007 due to commercial scale photocopying, illegal print runs, unauthorized translations and CD-R burning of text.”
Implications for the Book Publication Cycle
Every sale of a pirated copy cuts into the sales of the actual book. That means
- the author misses out on her or his hard-earned royalties,
- the book publisher loses sales revenue,
- bookstores lose out on commissions and overall sales and
- wholesalers (if any) also do not earn a commission or do not sell as much of their available stock.
In the long run, this will cause the sales figures of a certain book to go down. This has a snowball effect because publishing (apart from bestsellers and textbooks) is a low-margin business. So already slim profits get reduced further. This affects the whole program of a particular publisher because books are not published in a vacuum but as part of a package, usually called publishing lists or publishing programs.
An Example: Travel Books
A travel publisher may have a low-priced pocket guide to backpacking in Europe in its program with a high print run (e.g., 100,000 copies) because it is in demand. On the other end of the spectrum, they might also publish a hardcover, higher priced ornithological guide to Europe with a low print run (e.g., 500 copies) because they want to attract this niche market and offer a wider variety of topics on travel in Europe.
Now, if there are suddenly bootlegged copies of the Europe backpacking guide on the market, this will not only cut into the revenue generated by its sales, but also into the revenue of the whole Europe travel segment because publishers calculate so that bestselling titles support less popular ones (called a combined costing model).
If sales of the popular titles fall artificially because of pirated books (i.e., the demand is still the same but is not satisfied through legal routes), then the publisher is forced to cut down their print runs and stop subsidizing less popular titles, which could result in not publishing them at all.
Implications for the Reader
Why is that bad for the consumer, in this case, the reader? If only titles are published that sell well, the overall product range would get reduced. That means, in the long run, seeing only paperback bestsellers and college textbooks on the bookshelves. No more hardcover books, no more high-quality (i.e., expensive) publications, no more illustrated books, no more niche publications, no more variety.
So, the only people profiting are the hawker and the illegal printer (who could make money in many other legal ways). Sure, buying one bootlegged copy will not collapse a print run but if everyone thinks like that, it would. And finally, for students or anyone else on a tight budget, there are libraries, book clubs, book swap Web sites, book sales and many other ways to borrow or buy books at reduced prices.
In summary, here’s why it does not pay – especially for book lovers – to buy pirated books:
- The paper and printing quality is sub standard.
- Pages might be missing, and who wants to miss out on content?
- Book publishing is a low-margin business, why undermine the process by buying illegal copies?
- Authors, publishers and book sellers miss out on their rightful shares for their services.
- Last but not least, it is illegal. Book content is subject to copyright and book copying laws.
Find out more about World Book and Copyright Day, three excellent online publishing resources and information about the upcoming BookExpo America.
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