Serious piracy problem and its consequences

[Jim]

I've moved to a more Generic place on the board.

I know it's easier said than done, but if I were you, I would try to enjoy the upside of your book, the positive reactions, the huge fan base, etc.

Instead of putting energy in the negative side.

Where there's media being published on the net (music, series, movies, books, etc) there will be piracy. This is probably unavoidable.

By the way; I love the digital versions, because they are easy to bring with me on Holidays, no shipping, etc. But to be clear...I always pay for books!

[Lakop]

I agree that you should maybe contact Lego and see if they can help. In a way you are promoting their products and I would expect it to be in their interests to protect your lego related work (but I could be wrong). As for those copying, they have nothing better to do. In the end it won't work as true lego builders will always go for the official books. Good luck (PS: I have one of your books. Interesting).

H

Edited March 6, 2015 by Horace T

[welfycat]

I absolutely think it's awful that is happening with your books (and your reviews!). I think a lot of time people who pirate things only see it as money that a big company wouldn't even notice rather than from an individual author or creator. I would hope that people within the Lego community would be aware of the amount of time, money, and work you've put into your books and respect that.

I have bought one of your books in electronic format, and I often buy ebooks through humble bundle, and I also have quite a few physical Lego books. While I do enjoy having ebooks for ease of storage, I also like having the physical books for the immediacy and the tactile sensation of having them - particularly with books that rely so much on pictures. I think for many people there are advantages and disadvantages to either format.

I think releasing a book as a physical copy only would make sense in many ways - although as other people have mentioned it won't stop pirates who scan books. You would likely reach a smaller audience but with fewer options for them to pirate it. Lego has the advantage of having a fanbase already as well, so there would be more of an audience for a physical book than for say a physical art book on a less known subject.

I wish you the best.

[Kodan Black]

Maybe delay the ebook version by a year or so?

I was going to suggest this. Given the 7:1 ratio it seems like if you released a physical book with a 6 month later or 1 year later ebook release date it would likely mean you get people to buy the physical book and it also means the pirates are likely to wait to pirate the ebook version rather than bother scanning the physical book. I know that doesn't really solve the pirate issue, but it may prove more beneficial to you.

The reality is that if Adobe Photoshop and software like that which has a billion dollar company backing it can be pirated, your stuff can be also.

[dpkong]

I didn't manage to read all the comments before this but here's my take on the issue.

1. You can never fight piracy and win. The process only goes to enrich those IT people who are more than willing to get you to use/pay for their encryption methods.

2. eBooks are great as it is more convenient than an actual book but it can't beat paper. I do hope you continue with eBooks.

3. I haven't been able to buy or read any of your books but hope to do so when I have more time to read.

[Breakdown]

I'll say at first while our love of lego is pretty much universal that I don't usually cross over into the Technic area of lego many of us will be very "segregated" in that regard. So . . . . unfortunately I cannot appreciate your genius.

So many realities today are universal.

For me my most unique attribute/ability is my abilities outside of lego (which aren't too astonishing), is playing goalie in ball hockey, I'm both blessed and cursed with some interested physical attributes. Those whom I play with/against often tell me that I'm worth paying to watch. I have unhinged my hips to make stops to gain extension - don't ask how. My abilities with my stick are like watching someone with a light sabre on Star Wars, but in the end I'm going to be left old, penniless and with severe knee damage, but having a lot of fun playing on teams and rec, till then.

I think that in the end what you have is a labour of love and to be honest, you've exceeded my successes at leaving a footprint. If a bus hits you tomorrow, you've probably exceeded my impact if a bus hit me.

Labour of love and pride (I read this and simply smiled, I kinda want to meet this man!!)

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/elton-mcdonald-toronto-tunneller-discussed-selling-story-boss-says-1.2983440

The world has changed so, so much with the advent of digital technology. It's so much easier to access people and ideas on line. It's so easy to gain a platform, but as you've discovered it's also so easy to lose your intellectual property.

If digital technology were around in the early 1980's the American market would have demanded the 12V lego trains. We didn't have it and we didn't get them. We couldn't be an organized voice online, and there was a lack of awareness. Adult lego building and collecting in the 1980's would have been on the fringes of society, and there wouldn't have been a push for the current modular sets if we didn't have digital technology as we do today.

I think that the two go hand in hand you can use digital technology to build a brand for yourself. In 1982 if you were the same age everyone would hear about your book and say who the heck is Paul?? Paul is weird, Paul is an adult who wants to play with toys and thinks that we should publish his book. Before you think that this is an insult, I'm playing with lego designed for even younger kids, and proud of it!!

Your take is both refreshing in the fact that the grass isn't always greener on the other side of the fence that you're not full of riches for doing what you love, but depressing to those who want to follow in your footsteps - especially ones that want to drop out of college and focus on Lego.

Engaging the viewing audience is what makes some of the best Youtubers, the best. If you want what I think is a very brilliant suggestion to both up your view counts online and discourage pointless questions. Here's one idea. Throw a timeline in your description (yes there are people who still won't read) state that at:

1:45 - How to connect two inverse bricks.

3:54 - My little cheat to eliminate shaft play.

7:21 - Other uses for this new purple technic piece.

I think that it could broaden your viewer base and cut down your pointless questions and comments.

Reading this will encourage me not to pirate, to be 100% honest, I have checked out some pirated versions of books online, I want the print copy always, but if I don't see it at my local bookstore I want to thumb through the pages and little and see if it's worth spending the money on now, or if it's a book that I'd be more likely to put back on the shelf at Chapters.

[darksheep]

I love your books , but I have only bought the digital version from amazone . I don't like real books , they take space , pages tear and get worn out. So please continue releasing digital books for people like me. Also I can have them with me all the time on my iPad and laptop. :)

[Lasse D]

"The problem is, for some people this dislike alone is a perfect excuse to commit piracy."

You could save a person from a burning house and he would still pirate your book. This is the reality we live in today. Don't go out of your way to be nice to others - you can not expect them to be nice to you too. The only good reason for being nice on Youtube is that it makes LEGO more willing to continue giving you sets for reviews. The work you do for a set, however, is worth much more than the set. I'm glad we have people like you who are willing to spend so many resources on this hobby.

As for pirating. How are people pirating your books? If they use torrents, then chances are they are too lazy to use proxies and VPN, which means that you can read their IP's. If you want to, you can log a lot of this traffic and if you have the resources, go after the people from your own country who pirate this way. Zentropa, a tiny company in Denmark, is very successful at this and I once heard they get half of their profits by making settlements with pirates.

[Milan]

I am on side with the others who said that pirating is bad, and we all know the reasons. Also, I am aware that full control is impossible.

As I see, most of the people in this topic are from well-develop countries, but I would like to ask anyway:

1. Do you use genuine version of MS Windows, MS Word, Adobe After Effects or Vegas Pro, Photoshop...?

2. Did you ever download/watch non-genuine version of any movie?

3. Did you ever download/play non-genuine version of any PC video game or Android game?

4. Did you ever download/listen non-genuine versions of any song?

I am aware that it is not a common subject to speak about, but I am sure many people, from countries where Piracy control is not fully adopted yet, are regularly using non-genuine-pirated software, and therefore also use pirated versions of the EBooks. Nothing new about this, it will happen all the time.

Again, I am all about respecting other peoples work and effort, I dont care so much about ebooks, but I would not like to happen to Movies or Programs.

[Breakdown]

I am on side with the others who said that pirating is bad, and we all know the reasons. Also, I am aware that full control is impossible.

As I see, most of the people in this topic are from well-develop countries, but I would like to ask anyway:

1. Do you use genuine version of MS Windows, MS Word, Adobe After Effects or Vegas Pro, Photoshop...?

2. Did you ever download/watch non-genuine version of any movie?

3. Did you ever download/play non-genuine version of any PC video game or Android game?

4. Did you ever download/listen non-genuine versions of any song?

I am aware that it is not a common subject to speak about, but I am sure many people, from countries where Piracy control is not fully adopted yet, are regularly using non-genuine-pirated software, and therefore also use pirated versions of the EBooks. Nothing new about this, it will happen all the time.

Again, I am all about respecting other peoples work and effort, I dont care so much about ebooks, but I would not like to happen to Movies or Programs.

You might find this weird, since I've said that I'll view a book online and attempt to read it a little.

Books are something that I will not pirate (despite basically admitting to doing so). If I want to read your book cover to cover, I'll buy it, and take it to bed with me (that's where I do my reading). I'm quite serious.

I might be in the minority and I don't think that I am. There are those who like physical books and those who don't. I do. I would be willing to wager that if you have 10,000 people with pirated versions of the book.

Out of the 10,000:

1,000 either ended up buying a digital or physical copy.

8,000 looked at a couple of pages and said "screw it this isn't for me."

1,000 people kept the copy and regularly use it as reference but have no intention to pay for it.

So . . . . on the surface, you look and say: "I just got screwed out of 10,000 sales because of piracy. I would argue that you got screwed out of 1,000 sales or thereabouts. The 8,000 people would have never bought the book anyhow. A small percentage of the 1,000 that ended up buying a copy may have never bought one without first having pirated it (piracy breading sales), and a portion of the 8,000 may not have liked your book enough to buy it for themselves, but talk to a friend (advertising - word of mouth) to others who may have bought your products. Forget about the amount of all of the 10,000 pirateers whom may be injecting Youtube adsense revenue streams in your direction because of the books, etc, etc, etc.

[nerdsforprez]

I was going to suggest this. Given the 7:1 ratio it seems like if you released a physical book with a 6 month later or 1 year later ebook release date it would likely mean you get people to buy the physical book and it also means the pirates are likely to wait to pirate the ebook version rather than bother scanning the physical book. I know that doesn't really solve the pirate issue, but it may prove more beneficial to you.

The reality is that if Adobe Photoshop and software like that which has a billion dollar company backing it can be pirated, your stuff can be also.

WHere did you get your avatar!?? Love it..... +10

[paulincanada]

For what it's worth, I have both books in a paper version, would buy a third if you published it, and could care less about e-books.

Please keep up the good work. I am glad you share so much of your work with everybody!

[Technic-Kobaltz]

Love you books Sariel, good quality content . Lets face it their are not many books out there that cater directly towards Lego Technic so we need to support the quality ones we have. I own both in the ''proper'' format but digital format are always handy for folks on the move or if you have to check out something quickly.

Have you or your publisher ever thought about bundling the digital format with the real books? I for one would appreciate this and I think those that buy the real book should also be able to have access to the digital version as well.

Roll on book number 3, keep up the good work.

[Sariel]

Have you or your publisher ever thought about bundling the digital format with the real books?

Yes, that's now my first book got pirated.

[Technic-Kobaltz]

Yes, but these people have bought the book.

As Jim says Sariel, don't get caught up on the negative, however any digital book is released or any content for that matter it is going to be pirated, and those who use such content, were never going to buy the real deal anyway. You only end up harming your end consumers who buy your books and have to buy them again if they want them in digital format as well.

Unless you buy directly from No Starch Press which isn't an option for many people due to shipping costs.

Edited March 7, 2015 by Technic-Kobaltz

[Balrog]

This is really sad. But I guess there is no chance to prevent this but to omit digital content like books. Though, it has been said before, some people release pirated stuff just to be able to say "first". And digitalizing real books is nothing new, but a lot more work.

I bought both your books in print. I also bought the HumbleBundle, but not for your books, but the other books about LEGO, which I did not yet come around to purchase physically. Unfortunately, the formats are not very optimal to be read on a mobile device. Well, that stems from the original book format. Nothing to worry about. Another thing that you shouldn't worry too much is book sales. While it is bad that the books get pirated, the people that download it probably wouldn't buy the book anyway. On the other hand, the chance is probably bigger that someone who downloaded the book "for free" becomes a fan and buys the next book or even buys the firstly pirated one. There's the optimist talking. Still, content piracy is a crime. And those people "providing" the pirated works of other people should be held responsible for their actions. In your case, as you are doing, through the legal department of NoStarch.

The question now is, how to go on in the future. I'd probably just stop the production of ebooks. In general I like my books on paper. And I personally like my digital stuff DRM-free, like it is distributed through HumbleBundle. I don't want to manage digital content through DRM measures. It's cumbersome and every other company uses different mechanisms. Also you cannot see into the future. Will the company be there in a few years, what happens with purchased content? That is why I don't buy digital music or video content. So, applying DRM to "secure" these ebooks is a no-go for me as well. I like my digital stuff to be always available and ready and free to distribute among my devices without having to handle this additional security shit.

My 2 cents on this.

[S.I]

I know people who translate gardening books and the translated versions are often quickly scanned and uploaded. Some people just want a free ride.

[OneMoreRobot]

Sariel , thanks for all your hard work, passion and dedication, sounds like a holiday on a tropical beach is needed.

I Subscribe to the YouTube and view each one, my particular favourite are the new release reviews, you do TLG a considerable service with these highly crafted films. I Can assure you several viewings and many pauses are required to absorb the invaluable information.

For the comments I would recommend not deleting the critical ones and show the world you have a thick skin or turn comments off, save the time & energy for more constructive endeavours.

I purchased the iTunes version of your first book then bought the hard copy, not a week passes that I don't reference back to it. I Preordered the second book months before release, couldn't wait to read it, I couldn't imagine experiencing the quality of this publication in a digital format. For this content I feel the digital version is less necessary. For Australia order books via Amaz#n & the postage is either free or minimal (and quick).

Finally, since taking up lego as a hobby, my skill sets have expanded far beyond snapping bricks together. Photography & photo editing to showcase my passion, you're tutorial on GIMP has been invaluable, hopefully one day a tutorial on decal creation shall be produced.

Keep the passion & fu#k the pirates.

[Sariel]

Photography & photo editing to showcase my passion, you're tutorial on GIMP has been invaluable, hopefully one day a tutorial on decal creation shall be produced.

Thanks, happy to hear this tutorial comes in handy. I don't really have any specific idea on how to write a decals tutorial because these days I mostly draw mine in Illustrator.

[wakokid23]

sariel,I am a huge fan of your work and especially love your review videos. after reading your post.I immediately went to amazon and purchased your first book,which I had been meaning to do for quite some time(because I want to build my first moc :) ). firstly I'll just say that the book,even in digital version, is impressive, and I feel privileged that someone with your level of knowledge and experience was able to give me the knowledge to get a better understanding of lego technic. even just a few chapters in, I feel like I understand Lego better. It's sad that AFOLs, who are supprting a very expensive hobby(I figure bricks cost about 8 american cents each) can't spend 13 bucks to buy your book on amazon. 13 bucks is about the cost of the 2014 technic 42020 rescue chopper, It's completely unfair that your hard work has to go to waste because of some else's selfishness and laziness.

as for the pirates, you can't really stop them. but I think that a print only version would definitely deter them,at least temporarily. other than that, all I can say is keep up the good work. now that I know how serious of a situation this is for you, I will definitely be buying your next book,print or otherwise,and I hope that you will continue to produce fine works such as these in the future.

[MAB]

First off, pirating is wrong. However, I can understand why some people would believe the books should be / are free (to them). In fact, I have never really understood why authors (or probably the publisher) allows books to be part of the pay what you like Humble bundles. If they do that, someone can buy often 10 books for 1c / 1p. These deals get listed on many deal websites at that value. Sure, the average value paid is higher than that. But once a book is part of a bundle available for a penny, I can understand why people think they should be free. Even if the book was one of the stretch goals. If the publisher has allowed them to be given away once, then why pay?

Again, I think piracy is wrong, just like most here. But I can fully understand why some books are seen as costing nothing to some people.

Edited March 8, 2015 by MAB

[Tclancey]

You have my full support on this. I don't care how much money you have or how popular you are, or even if you're a nice person, if you're taking the time to document things in a way that really helps other people you have my respect. And because of that respect I would never copy books, films or youtubes.

[xxmmwwbb]

What about inserting ADs in the digital book, and make the book free? You can get revenue from AD. So, some books are free with AD, some are only in paper and for sell.

Taking the advantage of your influence, your ideas, and your book.

And keep Lego as a hobby.

[Scubacarrot]

I think it's really too bad people are pirating your book! But. The problem I feel with trying to fight this is that you can't prove that you lost sales with people pirating your book. What I mean with this is that the pirate that got your book without paying you was probably never going to pay for it to begin with it. So perhaps that is something to keep in mind...

I hope if it's popular pirated at least some people that pirate it will end up buying it after all, it's a BS argument a lot of pirates use, but I hope some are actually telling the truth when they say that. And at least it's out there and if people like your book hopefully you will sell more copies in the end!