Discussion posts are some of my favourite posts to read. New ideas get shared that way, or old ideas are revisited and given a new spin. And of course, I get to be my opinionated self as I hoist my views upon others, while pretending to be objective. Or maybe not. I do welcome alternate views and I’d love to hear from you in the comments!
When was the last time you downloaded a PDF of a book you wanted for free? When was the last time you torrented an epub version of a book? And when was the last time you walked out of a store with a book you didn’t pay for?
Wait, what?! I would never steal a book from a bookstore! Yet once in a while the very same person with that response has no qualms about pirating digital books. Why pay for something I can get for free? they ask.
Just because digitised books are easy to come by without needing to spend a cent, doesn’t make it right. Books are the product of intensive labour and rightfully belong to their authors (or publishers, depending on the licensing agreements etc). Either way, whoever distributes them for illegal downloads doesn’t have these rights and neither do those who download them.
Some might argue that the reason they download ebooks illegally is because they’re otherwise not available to them. Tough luck. There are four books on my TBR list that I want to read but can’t find anywhere to purchase or to borrow. That doesn’t give me an excuse to go the illegal route. I’ll have to keep looking until I find them through means that support their authors. If I’m really desperate, I might email those authors one day and ask them how I can get hold of their books.
Bottom line is, the format of a book does not matter when it comes to stealing. Piracy is stealing too and there are no ifs and buts about it. If you’re reading this and didn’t realise it before, downloading ebooks via torrents and the likes is illegal and is the same as stealing, no matter the motivation behind these acts.
Instead of turning my post into a full-on lecture though, I’ve decided to list ways to obtain books and ebooks legally. Some of these sources are not available in all countries but I’m sure at least a few of these suggestions should be available to most.
- Bookstores – Buying books from bookstores is the most obvious way to obtain books. No elaboration needed.
- Second-hand bookstores – Preloved books come at reduced prices in these stores, so if your wallet’s thinner than you’d like it to be, consider buying books second-hand.
- Online bookstores – Same concept as with physical bookstores, except if time is an issue for you, then ordering online saves you the time on travelling to a bookstore. The books you order will be delivered directly to your home.
- Public libraries – Also another obvious place; borrow books to take home or read on site. Some libraries provide free memberships to citizens or local residents. Others require a minimal fee. If your library requires a fee that you can’t afford, you can still access the books within the library for free, so long as you read within the compound. That’s as free as books can be for readers.
- Overdrive – Many libraries have a subscription to Overdrive, through which they’re able to offer ebooks to their members for loan. Check with your local library if they have an Overdrive subscription. If not, you can look for states or cities in your country that do, then ask if they allow non-residents to sign up for a library membership because access to Overdrive is usually tied to one.
- School/ university libraries – If you’re a student who can’t afford to buy books or a library membership with your public library, check out your school or university library. Even if it’s not stocked with the latest releases, there are bound to be some great books that interest you. Otherwise, talk to your librarian. If there are funds, there’s a possibility you can request that particular titles be added to the catalogue.
- Project Gutenberg – More than 45,000 ebooks are available through them for free public consumption. These books are out of copyright, and so are available for free to anyone to read. It’s perfect if you want to read classics.
- Digital libraries – Sites like Scribd and Oyster allow subscribers to read as many books as they want from their catalogues. Sort of like Hulu or Netflix for books.
- Google Books – Books that are out of copyright can be read in their entirety, while books that still are subject to copyright are available in excerpts if their publishers allow it. Purchase links are provided as well.
- Wattpad – This is a great resource for free stories/ books that writers upload themselves for others to read. Both indie authors and authors under publishing houses occasionally upload books as well. Sometimes they upload excerpts, and sometimes they offer full-length works. If you’re into reading fan-fiction, Wattpad also is a wonderful resource.
- Deals and coupons – If you simply want to save money on buying books, look out for deals and coupons. Amazon offers daily deals as well as monthly deals. There also is Kobo for which coupons can often be found online. Once in a while Kobo also sends coupons via email to Kobo account holders.
While the list I have provided is by no means exhaustive, it does cover a lot of bases. Talking to my own friends, I’ve learnt that many of them aren’t aware of half these means to obtain books. One friend was incredulous when I told her about Overdrive. She couldn’t believe that ebooks are also available for loan, so it was quite the discovery for her. This is why I believe it’s important to tell people about ways they can legally obtain books, so as to eradicate the problem of piracy.
Where do you obtain books to read? Are there any other resources that I missed through which books are legally available, especially at reduced costs or even for free?
The fact that people are downloading books for free is awful. But so is downloading music and movies and TV shows. Which is why I never do it. I like to support the industries and people that produce these amazing art forms and if they are putting their time and effort and hard work into them, they should reap the rewards, as well.
I hope that perhaps if a previous ebook downloader has read this post they have changed their ways and found new avenues by which to obtain wonderful books.
In answer to your question I buy my books from department stores where they are usually lower in price than bookstores, bookstores, online bookstores, a Kindle/Kobo ebook if I don’t want to fork out for the physical copy, and of course my public library.
There are so many ways to obtain books, and piracy is not one of them!
Definitely awful! Most of the people I know primarily torrent the TV shows and movies they watch. And those who don’t know how to borrow the HDDs from people who do. For all my tech savviness, I made a conscious decision not to learn how to torrent, so that nobody can ever ask me how to do it because a lot of times my friends come to me for help. Like this friend recently who needed me to go through all the steps with her on how to set up her Kindle. She asked me for free ways to get ebooks, I pointed her to Overdrive. Not exactly what she had in mind but I specifically told her it’s a legal way.
Yeah, I hope so too. That’s why I put in the extra effort to compile that list.
I don’t think department stores here sell books, and bookstores keep closing down :( When I had an interview last year for an internship position with a local publisher, my interviewer said this one local bookstore was probably writing its epilogue. Indeed, that bookstore closed three months later =/
As frustrating as it is not be able to find books – I’d rather get the books in a legal way. I don’t want to rip off the authors I love by contributing to all of this.
My favourite way to get books – lending and borrowing from like minded friends. I often go book shopping with one of my friends and we each buy a book that we’re both interesting in. That way when we’ve finished we can swap.
Interesting post and I’ve found a few new ways of obtaining books I didn’t know about before :)
That actually is a splendid idea! More bang for the buck yet you each have the satisfaction of adding a book to your personal libraries :D
And I’m glad you found new book sources through my blog post :)
Great post, Josephine! I think as book bloggers and others who are more closely linked to the book industry, we have a good understanding of how much effort goes into a book, and that it’s important we support them. A lot of people don’t even realise the damage free downloading can cause!
I agree with you that this with closer ties to the book industry understand this issue a lot better but the problem with piracy has been exacerbated with everything that has gone digital. I think it’s important for everyone to respect the product and the producers, regardless of product type. Trouble is, like you said, people don’t realize the damage, and that’s mostly because pixels aren’t tangible, so they forget the work that goes into actually producing the content.
YES! I have read so many discussion posts and angry comments on this topic, but each new one is important because you can never have too many reminders. I love your intro paragraph, and you make a great point – it’s funny that so many people who would never steal a physical book would download an illegal ebook because it doesn’t feel like stealing.
I am lucky enough to have access to a fantastic library system that has all the books I want to read, so I’ve never been tempted to download a book illegally. While I can imagine the frustration of not being able to find a copy of a book I want, I hope that even if I were in such a situation, I wouldn’t resort to piracy. Not only is it bad for the authors, but it’s bad for the readers – there’s no guarantee that the book you get will be the full, edited, and polished version!
Thanks for the wonderfully written reminder that piracy is, in fact, stealing! I hope someone who is thinking about downloading a book illegally sees this post!
I agree with you. As long as this is a problem, there cannot be enough voices deriding such practices. And yeah, the easier and the more convenient it is to pirate content, the less guilty people feel about it because they don’t see the problem with it.
Like you, I’m able to access books in every form and from most sources, so I’ve never been in want of books to read. Sure, I’ve wanted particular titles on occasion that I couldn’t obtain but aside from those, most any book I wanted, I could get.
That’s a good point about pirated versions not necessarily being complete. I didn’t think about that since I don’t download pirated ebooks but I’ve heard that that’s the case with pirated VCDs and DVDs, so I guess that’s bound to be a downfall of pirated ebooks as well.
I doubt anyone who pirates knowing fully well it’s wrong will care about what I’ve had to say but there might be ignorant readers and they’re the ones who I especially hope will turn to legal means of obtaining books if they read this post.
This is a great post – I especially like how you started it. Reading, and enjoying a good book, isn’t just about the reader, it’s also about supporting the author who worked very hard to produce such work. I think some people forget about that when things are digital.
Also, I learnt some new sources for ebooks – typically I just buy them from Amazon. I’ve never heard of subscription type digital libraries. Thanks for sharing!
:-)
Precisely! People need to look past format and look at the content itself.
I’m glad you’ve found new book sources this way :)
This is an issue that’s very rampant in the Philippines. Sometimes I hear people saying that they loved this book, then someone askes them about it and then they reply that they just downloaded it. And then I wonder if that’s really showing love for the author, because maybe enjoying the book is enough for you, but if you really loved it, what’s sopping you from supporting the author?
And I’m actually happy to have joined an online selling group on Facebook, in some way. Lots of unnecessary things on my wall, but there are some certain cheap gems. They’re also much more obsessed with the signings so I can get facts from them, and I think people should look around for online selling groups in their country.
Yeah, I came across a few book bloggers who even provided download links to pirated ebooks. Media piracy’s generally rampant in Southeast Asia, be it online or offline. Moving from DVDs to online content makes it so much easier, it’s sad. Plus with music piracy so rampant, it’s inevitable that ebook piracy would follow suit.
I’ve never come across online selling groups but I’ll see if I can find any local ones. I think that’s a very good suggestion from you, Shannelle! :)