E-Pirates: Tides They are A-Changin

I have long had thoughts about piracy of any kind and following along with a new blog, terribleminds by Chuck Wendig, that I have recently become fond of I have decided to post as he has asked his readers. Now the picture above pokes a bit of fun and the post Chuck Wendig has here gives a fair view of both sides. Although the topic there is about e-books mainly he points out it can happen with just about anything these days. I would some day like to have others read my writing and I have asked myself where I stand on this issue, and this gives me a pretty good opportunity to put what I have come to out for others to ridicule.

This is supposed to be for #25 International ‘Please Don’t Pirate My Book’ Day. So, this is me saying please don’t pirate things. After that here are my feeling on the matter.

Inside my mind there are two options;

1. My Way

I will only ever write because I love to tell stories. If I can make money off of it good on us all. I, of course, would love to make a million bucks on a story and live in a fairy tale blah blah blah but really I probably have an equal chance of winning the freaking lottery. If I tell you a story and you like it then I am happy and hope that you will toss some coin in my hat. However, once I release my words they no longer ‘belong’ to me they are now community property. If I enjoy doing it and do it well people will gravitate toward me, show appreciation, and maybe ask for(err demand) more.  After I have a sufficient following monetary compensation can be gained for appearances, endorsements, donations, and commissions (much like other artists). If I don’t ever get there well at least I did what made me happy.

2. A Change in Ways

An alternate take uses television as an example. You pay for your service but a show itself is ‘free’. You pay for individual shows by watching ads, and if you don’t want to watch adds you can pay a little more to have ways to skip them. You can also buy a physical copy of many shows so you can watch it any time any where. I do believe other forms of media need to pay attention to this model. Radio already has with services like Slacker Radio and Spotify. In this way everyone makes money and the consumer is happy. In this day and age it is all about instant gratification. If you don’t please the consumer someone else will.

So there it is its Love vs. Gratification

P.S. This isn’t supposed to be until tomorrow, but I will forget, so here it is.