I have noticed people commenting how I usually am not “on the attack” like I was with Lena Matthews. Well I sorta understand but I can explain how I am thinking and feeling for that matter.
First let’s check how her good friend Roslyn Holcomb describes their attitude towards the Romance Community…
You can find the whole thing here: Mrs. Giggles
I am just going to skip past the patented justification “sob story” part and the whole petulant “you can’t make me” attitude and get to the good part where she gets down to brass tacks and sums up her and Lena’s behavior towards everyone…
I think I’ve already made the argument of my belief that what Lena is doing WON’T alienate her fans. Will it alienate Romancelandia? Sure probably but so what? Depending on which way the trade winds are blowing Romancelandia can get their panties in a bunch over pretty much anything. Besides, we’ve never been a part of that anyway. But the people who actually buy our books either won’t know, or they won’t care.
Remember my first post about Lars Ulrich and how he started treating his fans like dumb bunnies over his actions towards people he felt were wronging him?
Yeah, he did not give a shit about anyone or their opinion either. He was Metallica baby! That is what my whole point was people. It’s not about being right it’s about…
Ego gone mad!
Roslyn Holcomb and Lena Matthews in essence do not give a shit about the real issues involved of disgruntled Romance Readers or the long term careers of other Romance Authors. They are doing all this for themselves, their kicks, and their bottom line. To quote: “What’s wrong with cathartic satisfaction?” What type of professional response is that? They do not hold themselves accountable legal or otherwise because they feel they can pack their little bags up any old time and fuck Romance folks and fuck the reputation and integrity of other Romance Authors and Romance ePublishers and Romance Readers and well fuck everyone else.
That! That! Is what I see when I look at the random arbitrary “judge and jury” tactics being used over on that fucked up website, Making examples of folks who have no way to fight back because they have no clue they are getting their rights trampled on in the first place all wrapped up in a pseudo public service announcement. No proper use of DCMA for Lena and friends and a process that provides a buffer for everyone’s rights. No innocent before proven… they just slam straight into guilty as charged and post the pictures with name calling thrown in for good measure.
Just a bunch of public bashing and trashing with no real legal investigation or further explanation needed or given. No they are better than you or me and how we (The Romance Community) might want or expect to be treated and in the end what you or I might think about how they treat others. They are not going to listen to me or anyone and they never were because they actually believe their pain and their anger is far more important and that is why they always start any explanation of their actions with the patented “sob story”… it’s a gimmick! I saw that immediately reading the website and I am very sure it’s in response to many intelligent people who told them not to do that shit. There is a huge difference between a debate and a choreographed show.
It’s a religion at it’s most disgusting… They preach at you. They get their choir to sing for you. They attack people “they say” are sinners. And there is not a single word you could say that would shake the belief they hold dear.
Well you know what I say and what I did say and what I will continue to say…
Fuck Roslyn Holcomb and Fuck Lena Matthews.
Their actions speak louder than any patented “sob story” or other unprofessional tricks.
So that is why I am acting the way I am.
Tags: eBook Commentary
Vaughn R. Demont wrote,
Ah, piracy. The one minefield in writing that’s deadlier than religion, politics, and the necessity of the BCS combined.
I can hardly speak for the “romance community”, so here’s the take from a singular gay writer:
It sucks. But what are you going to do?
I figure there’s not a lot of point in being eloquent, you know?
It happens to every writer, and we all go through our little phases and quirks when it happens to us. Some of us shrug and move on, some try to see it as a rite of passage (“My work’s being stolen! I’m somebody now!”), some rage and rave, some spend hours and days sending out DMCA notices, and some go a little over the edge. And I’m certainly not going to be the one to say which method is the right one. All I can offer is my own experience, and a canister of Morton’s to take it with in regards to e-piracy.
There really isn’t anything you can do. One of the glories and travesties of the internet is its near absolute anonymity. There’s no way to know who these people are, what there motives are, if they are true “fans” (whatever today’s criteria are for that term) or just looking to bundle your stuff up with 2000 other eBooks and auction off the .ZIP file for $3.99. I’ve sent out DMCA notices and seen the files replaced in hours, if not minutes, by what’s likely the same user. Let’s face it, these people knowing beyond any shadow of a doubt that they’re stealing and breaking the law, they just know they’ll never get caught. Plain and simple. How do you fight that?
Well, some people make emotional pleas or trot out the tragic and usually only slightly exaggerated stories of their lives. Let’s face it, it sucks to be a writer, especially in the beginning. Until you break big you’ll count yourself lucky if you’re making 50 percent of the poverty line. But you know what? Pirates, fans or not, don’t read your blog. They read your books. And the only people you’ll get responding to your blog entries about it (very truthfully) sucks to get your books pirated are fervent fans, and trolls. Judge Judy is not going to be calling you. Same goes for Nancy Grace. Even if you *did* hear from one of the people pirating you, what would you say?
Because pirates, let face it, don’t care about your personal life anymore than you honestly care about theirs. These are people who live behind a wall of rationalizations that you are never going to penetrate. They have ready-made arguments to enforce their sense of entitlement, and a bunch of words on a screen, no matter how angry or righteous or forthright (or accurate), are not going to defeat them. Hell, they’ve even got a Neil Gaiman interview to trot out on their shield now. How do you compete with that? Seriously, how?
Even removing the anonymity can’t bring that wall down. A friend of mine admitted to me once that he’d pirated a copy of my book. My book. He could’ve sent me an e-mail and I gladly would’ve sent him an author copy. Hell, I could’ve walked a flash-drive three blocks and *handed it to him*, but he pirated it anyway, why? Same reason pirates don’t e-mail publishers or authors asking for review copies: they want it now. Pirates do not give a shit about garnering the respect of the publishing community by becoming a go-to reviewer. If they did, they wouldn’t be pirating in the first place. Why e-mail and wait four days for a response, much less a free e-book, when they can just steal it now? With the previously mentioned friend (who surprisingly enough, wants to stay anonymous), I argued about the ethics of e-piracy, and I heard every ready-made argument a pirate brings out to defend themselves. This was face to face, at my house, where I didn’t have to exaggerate the dire financial circumstances and I *still* couldn’t get through to him. That’s how well they’ve rationalized it. How do you beat that? Seriously, how?
So eventually, every writer, when faced with this towering colossus of frustration, has to make a choice how they’ll handle it. And I’m hardly the one to profess that there’s a right way of handling it. Me personally? I play Gears of War and pretend the Locust are e-pirates, and then I write not because my fans (pirates or not) are eagerly waiting, but because it’s my job, and all the sturm und drang in the world isn’t going to get the next chapter started. It doesn’t really solve anything regarding pirates, but I think I made it clear how I feel about situation:
It sucks. It sucks *hard*.
But what are you going to do?
Link | October 21st, 2011 at 11:25 am
TeddyPig wrote,
Do what you can do.
Never stop acting like a human being with respect to others.
I believe you should always use the powers of a good lawyer when needed but lashing out…
No not good ever.
Link | October 21st, 2011 at 11:29 am
Vaughn R. Demont wrote,
“Never stop acting like a human being with respect to others.”
Gladly. I sincerely hope some of them will someday return the favor.
“I believe you should always use the powers of a good lawyer when needed”
An excellent point, but lawyers tend to be expensive, especially for the niche writers who are often pirated. Often, you’ll be told to use the DMCA notices, or given some good advice on how to draft a complaint, and if you’re really lucky, they’ll write a strongly worded letter for you. Unfortunately it really only deals with one instance at a time, and a lot of the servers that the files are hosted on aren’t subject to US copyright law. Even an author’s publisher can’t do much for them. You can send a link, and they’ll get their lawyer to send an angry letter, but it only gets the files down until the pirates feel it’s cooled off enough to upload again, or they’ll just direct people to a new hosting service. Telling the FBI only results in being told you’re not a priority. It’s mostly an exercise in frustration that cuts into an author’s writing time, and a lot of them just give up and chalk it up to “c’est la vie”.
For both sides of this conflict, there’s no compromise, only unconditional surrender, and since it’ll be fought with words on a screen, it’ll likely never end.
“Do what you can do.”
Pretty much did the only thing I could do: I del’ed all the music I downloaded in college so I wouldn’t feel like a hypocrite, and I’m slowly rebuilding my collection buying used CDs off eBay or buying MP3s from Amazon. You can never count on guilt getting a pirate to actually buy the stuff they’ve stolen like they claim they’re going to “someday”, but I figured I could at least make the effort.
Link | October 21st, 2011 at 11:43 am
TeddyPig wrote,
The DCMA takedown notice stuff got stuck on the writers to do as part of their job.
I agree it sucks and no I have not seen that there is an organization or service you could use to get that out of your hair.
I understand it is inconvenient and frustrating but so many people share that same problem I am amazed there is not a service you can get that would do that for you. It’s one of those things where I think it is simply a frustation of the job though that needs to be addressed obviously.
Link | October 21st, 2011 at 11:48 am
Vaughn R. Demont wrote,
It is, indeed, a very frustrating part of the job, but it’s Friday, and that means it’s Gears night, so I’ll be chainsawing some Locust in Horde with my rainbow-skinned Lancer, or as I like to call it, my “takedown notice.” :)
Link | October 21st, 2011 at 11:54 am
TeddyPig wrote,
Jason wants the new Batman game. From what he says it looks rockin!
Link | October 21st, 2011 at 11:59 am
S.L. Armstrong wrote,
“I understand it is inconvenient and frustrating but so many people share that same problem I am amazed there is not a service you can get that would do that for you.”
Oh, there are services that will do all the work for you, but when I priced them for my own needs, they quoted me $2,000 a month. They would do all the searches, send all the notifications, and escalate the action if they notifications were ignored, but I don’t know how many authors or truly small publishers can afford a $2,000 bill every month just to track down pirates.
I’ve accepted pirates will always exist. I, however, don’t go batshit on the net in front of other authors, publishers, and readers. I send my DMCA notices. I seethe a bit when Demonoid ignores me *yet again*. And then I shrug it off and write. :) If I become a rabid anti-pirate author, then the pirates win, and I won’t let them win.
Link | October 22nd, 2011 at 7:31 pm
TeddyPig wrote,
Well the small publishers no but some of the bigger ones probably could.
I am sure if authors knew that if they worked with a certain publisher that DCMA actions on the books they published there would get done for them… it might be a HUGE draw.
I mean you have to admit ePubs pop up like mushrooms.
It’s the ones that like actually provide all the right services like editing for content and not just run some spell check and punctuation software on a rough draft and slap a cover on it (I call those Candy Wrapper ePubs and they are many) or have some clue about the genre they are selling that are rare.
Something like a DCMA service for their authors might make them even more attractive and successful. Not to mention maybe it might keep the “author goes rabid on the net” problem down to a low roar. Watch out don’t let her screen grab you!
What does Lena think is gonna happen if mommy and daddy catch her slapping up pictures of their little underage timmy or suzy for her name calling “examples”? It will be a very very ugly end for her… disclaimer notices and all. I don’t think they will bother with any type of debate as they haul her ass off to jail for a nice little dose of reality because little suzy said crazy lady was bullying her.
I mean it guys WHO does she think is most likely attracted to sexually racy books but cannot legally buy them? Underage kids. Mega DUH! moment courtesy of the pig. I notice it’s kids mostly who are really blatant about the whole piracy thing because they are kids damn it.
They may be “anonymous pirates” online but the law tends to protect children and their rights in real life over irate authors as a rule of thumb. (I am not a lawyer just a general comment on principal.) Those “offender lists” are nasty if you do something stupid to get put on one of them and the laws change state to state but those lists get passed around anyway. What would I know being a system admin and all that?
Talking about lists I am down to like 7 top ePubs. 7… it’s pitiful.
Link | October 23rd, 2011 at 2:33 am