There's been a lot of debate about copyright protection on the Internet lately. Well, I got an expensive lesson about intellectual property theft today.
My agent just informed me that pirated editions of the Spanish book club translations of my novels have been widely distributed at free download sites. The direct cost to me: likely cancellation of contracts that would have brought books three and four to Spanish bookstores, loss of thousands of dollars, and extreme disruption in one of my most important markets.
Note to pirates: I'm not Sony or Disney. This is not stealing from "faceless" corporations. This is stealing from a real person who's just trying to make a living in a very tough business.
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