Serious piracy problem and its consequences

[D3K]

That sucks..

Unfortunately there is practically nothing you can do about it though, once it's out there, it's out there,,, I'd say go for publishing in purely physical form for your third book

[swintendo]

The comments on youtube are a sinkhole of idiocy. Can't help em all either! Just stick to answers they can't find by clicking the description link or watching the video again, you're not obliged to answer.

Now piracy. You can't stop it. People will pirate your e-book. People will download the rip and none of those people will give a crap. It's not a felony to them cause what are you gonna do about it? They pirate your stuff because it's easy and free, both these reasons make the pirated version better than the alternative. Just know that these people don't care about you or your hard work in the slightest. They won't stop doing it either. Hell, if you 'fight' it with DRM and other such nonsense, people will look at you like you're Prince or Microsoft and see you as a greedy money wolf. Don't even look for logic in that, it's not there but that's what happens.

The only way you can beat or limit piracy is to do a better job. And that sounds harsher than it should but it's the truth. I'd stick to printed copies. You can use your popularity and authority (i hope you realize you have some) to wriggle some kind of deal with a lego affiliated store or website. They can provide you with a goodie that you can put with each printed copy of your book, like a coupon or a code or whatever. Slap a banner on the back in return for something. These things can't get pirated and it gives your official printed book a big advantage over a pirated version. And if it gets scanned and pirated in pdf? Free advertisement for your website and whatever websites or stores you put in there. I mean if your book is known enough to be floating around in the pirate sea, that means a lot of people are seeing it. Use that to your advantage.

[aol000xw]

IMHO your book isn't meant to be enjoyed on an screen, go physical only.

[Sariel]

Thanks again. I don't think I can engage Lego in any capacity here. First of all they have absolutely no reason to be affiliated with any of my books, and if they wanted to, I can only imagine how many limitations it would put on me as a writer. Secondly, keep in mind that for all the lawyers Lego has, they haven't really been able to succeed against physical piracy of their product (take all bootleg minifigs, for example) so I doubt they would succeed against a virtual one.

[Cumulonimbus]

First of all, I would like to say that I really appreciate your work: Your MOCs, reviews and books are always an inspiration and help me in my development as an AFOL. Thank you for that.

Second, piracy sucks but, unfortunately, it appears to be a sign of our times. The availability of information which has been created by the internet, makes it very easy for lazy people the make a quick profit on someone else's hard work. I guess that most pirates are very short sighted about any consequences and are detached from the work of the original creator. It can also be done very anonymously and I can imagine they feel very safe in their own room. Face to face most of them wouldn't be so arrogant (I hope).

As discussed before in relation to stealing/selling MOCs, all creative efforts, professional or other, seem to suffer from this. I work as a designer/engineer for a manufacturer of agricultural equipment and every single creative step forward has to be protected with patents, copyrights and similar measures, backed up with a internal legal department. And even then, once and a while, competitors really push and even cross the boundaries of what is allowed and legal. I'm not sure that you could get legal support from TLG, since these infringements are not really affecting their finances, brand image, patents or copyrights. My best guess is to try to get support from your publisher, since they are directly involved.

Personally, I have bought all your books as paperbacks and loved every one of them. We all operate in very small niche here and I'm very thankful your books even exist. Do you have an idea what the ratio is between the sales of the physical books and the digital ones? Would you and the publisher lose any revenues if it would no longer be available as an e-book?

Anyway, keep up the good work! I wish you all the best.

[Sariel]

Do you have an idea what the ratio is between the sales of the physical books and the digital ones? Would you and the publisher lose any revenues if it would no longer be available as an e-book?

Thanks. The ratio appears to be roughly 7 printed books sold per every single ebook. I'm not concerned about revenue here as much as I am about inconveniencing people who prefer ebook version over printed one. I love printed versions like every bookworm does, but let's remember than ebooks come with plenty of advantages, such as being available in an instant and with zero shipping costs.

[Jay Psi]

The 'real' lego AFOLs out there, those who spend hundreds of $$$/Euros would most likely not go for a 'free' e-book. What's $10? It's less than a 'Pick-A-Brick cup for Heaven's sake ...

So if I bought the ebook where does that put me on the Lego AFOL scale?

But more seriously, there are valid reasons to prefer a digital to a physical copy (for me it's accessibility - I always have a pdf-capable device with me so when I'm on the road I can easily grab a few minutes to read some more). However, if the choice is print-only or no book at all, I'll accept that in order to see the next book produced. I'm not naive enough to think that the piracy would disappear with a physical copy, but the lack of a digital copy to start with should discourage all but the most ardent "sceners". Yes, it does make me less likely to buy the book at all but at least I still have the opportunity to purchase it.

Thanks. The ratio appears to be roughly 7 printed books sold per every single ebook. I'm not concerned about revenue here as much as I am about inconveniencing people who prefer ebook version over printed one. I love printed versions like every bookworm does, but let's remember than ebooks come with plenty of advantages, such as being available in an instant and with zero shipping costs.

Thanks for thinking about us (I seem to be the only ebooker in this thread!), but ultimately I would suggest that you go with the numbers. I expected the print copy to outsell the ebook but not by that much. What's the split in digital sales from the Humble Bundle and through other online stores? Honestly it sounds like the exposure from the Humble Bundle has done more harm than good, I realize it's not easy to find out but do you have any idea of how prevalent the piracy was before and after the bundle went live? Did NoStarch have any previous business with the Hubmle Bundle or similar outlets, because if they did I would expect them to have given you good warning about exactly this situation - I know this isn't the first book-only bundle they have sold.

Also I seem to remember you mentioning anti-piracy measures before releasing Incredible Lego Technic. If I'm right, what came of that?

However I am pretty shocked to hear how low your compensation is. Basically you do all the work, they (publisher) takes some risk, but come on... 1 euro from a 16 euro digital version, that is robbery!

I remember hearing that big-name artists got less than £1 from every CD they sold back when single-disc albums cost £12-15, so if you factor in economies of scale and the size of the market 1/16 of the revenue sounds about right to me. Think of it as a measure of just how much work (and money) goes into making and distributing a high-quality product for a niche audience.

Edited March 6, 2015 by Jay Psi

[OzShan]

Unfortunately the better you are at something, the more others will want from you.... All I can say is that you contribute an enormous amount and have no obligation to please everyone. Go paper copy, make it harder for the oxygen thieves.

[brunojj1]

That´s a shame - these guys are so stupid, untalented lazy pirate junkies! I´m one of the humble "masters" given the honour to display a MOC in this book. I don´t earn 1 penny for my insignificant contribution there and it´s OK for me, but the writers and publishers shouldn´t lose their jobs because of this threat!

Many artists died in deep poverty, sad history. If somebody on this planet is called "artist" - he deserves to get some revenue of his work, shouldn´t he? If he performs well high above the average standards in any field of arts, why shouldn´t he become well paid or let´s say so - rich?? Sariel is definitely the guy who besides his talents, puts the most work into sharing his hobby.

I think you'll have to take legal action against the party involved. If he is in a different country, it may get complicated and expensive.

Maybe we need an association like the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America). Perhaps MBA (MOC Builders Association) to fight intellectual property violations.

This is a strong idea. Another issue I´m thiniking about was bespoken by Sariel too in some thread here: Piracy of MOC building instructions. The first goal always should be to keep a friendly and creative spirit amongst the builders. They are the people (including myself) who run the so called "market", buy books, instructions, parts, new sets to build the MOC of their dreams, don´t forget about it! If they are willing to share their work, know their intellectual property beeing respected and not misused, they will keep on doing. An Association which is only fighting against invisible pirates will lose the fight and its existence finally.

[Nick Barrett]

It's already been said, but you and your work are valued and respected hugely by AFOLs everywhere. Please don't be discouraged, maybe it'll be better to go print-only (I was surprised at the 1:7 ratio; makes it a no-brainer for me). AND DON'T LET THE BASTARDS GRIND YOU DOWN! They are beneath your attention.

[Freekysch]

IMHO your book isn't meant to be enjoyed on an screen, go physical only.

I second that ! Books should printed on paper, not an "screens". But maybe I am old-fashioned.

On the other hand I admire you for your work and I am sorry you are going through this.

[Jeroen Ottens]

Don't let the morons get you down, keep up the good work you're doing

Edited March 7, 2015 by Jeroen Ottens

[MajorAlvega]

Sariel, you've been doing a great and admirable work.

Two years ago, when I returned form my dark age, I got excited with all the great things one can do with Technic and I found some great books at No Starch Press. I bought Isogawa's Idea Books and your Unofficial LEGO Technic Builders Guide. And it was great to see a digital version option so I bought both, I still carry those PDF's with me on my laptop wherever I go and my older kid enjoys to see the paper version.

I'm a computer guy in a country where everybody considers natural to use pirated software and download music and movies, etc. I started using Linux because I couldn't afford all the software I needed and I didn't want to be a pirate myself.

I understand your pain. But please, if possible, keep releasing digital versions of your work. I'll keep buying it. There will always be pirates and most of them would never buy anything at all by nature (not a great excuse, I know).

[Lucio Switch]

Forgive me if I'm cynical, but more popular you are, more views, more appreciations, more satisfaction you get, but there is the other face of the coin, then the various problems also increase.

That's the game and if you will participate, that's what is waiting for you. It's fair? Absolutely no! But that is.

What I mean is that there are big companies (such LEGO itself) that fight piracy and they lose, maybe they win a battle but not the war.

I'm just saying this why I doubt that you can completely solve this issues and I don't want that this problems do grow in you the idea to quit. It would be a big loss for the AFOL community.

Try to live this situation calmly and continue your great works. It's inspirational for a lot of us. I know that is not a great consolation, but you've definitely left your mark not only in the AFOL community.

[rocklego]

I fully support you, Sariel.

All the hard work you have done and time you have spend are extremely valuable to this community.

I bought two books of your work.

I enjoyed every time I read and got inspired .

I am expecting your third book in print.

[__________________________]

Thank you for all your support and your kind words. Just to make it clear, it's not my intention to advertise my books here and make you buy them. It's about the bigger picture: our part of the books market. I wanted to make it clear what piracy is and how it affects this market. I don't care much for my revenue, but I care for having chance to make another book. And I'm not the only person putting days, weeks and months of work into it - people's jobs depend on the books market condition. I was hoping to discourage at least a couple of folks from downloading the pirated copy, because every person counts given how very niche our hobby is.

Look, Stephen King sells millions of books. But books on Lego? I don't know about others, but mine usually get 20,000 copies printed in first printing. 20,000 copies of English edition sold worldwide. That's how small our part of the market is. So trust me, it really doesn't take much to put a publisher out of business.

20,000 sounds pretty big to me

[miguev]

I'm sorry to hear you're going through this! And disgusted about people even making profit out of it

This may earn me disrespect / hate from this community, but I'm coming out of the wardrobe: I read your first book from a PDF without paying. Can't recall where it came from.

At the time, I had little (if any) clue about who you were or what you did. I can't remeber whether I knew about your YouTube channel before reading the book, but I certainly wasn't following you on YouTube. Yours may well be the first channel I ever subscribed to, and quite a few other things followed from reading your book. I've been meaning to get it in print ever since, but been putting it off for too long... eventually felt like crap when reading about your experience, and ordered it now. I still feel bad for what I did, and I'm sorry.

Yet, at the same time, I'm kinda happy about the effect it had on me. I learned about you and your work, which got me hooked back into LEGO Technic, which led me to crave for more on YouTube and eventually find this forum... and I haven't loved a forum as much in well over a decade (since I found my local Linux User Group). All this started with your eBook because, at the time, my only time for leisure reading was my short daily commute on train / bus / walking and my only read on a 7" tablet (same now). I could have arrived to the same by simply searching on YouTube, but it was your book that prompted the searching in the first place. I'm unsure that would have happened without your book, at least for the next several years (small kids, busy work, etc.).

Does that mean you need eBooks to reach more audience? Kind of, but maybe you can take a benefitial intermediate approach: preview-only eBooks. Amazon has been doing this for years and I've found it very useful many times. Sometimes it helps me confirm I want to read that book, sometimes it helps me realize that's not the book I'm looking for. Looking back at your first book, a long preview (TOC, chapters 1, 2, 3, 10, a few pages from 14 and 15) would surely have hooked me up, and very likely made me buy the printed book back then. Shorter previews may do the trick, but I find the typical "chapter 1 only" previews pretty useless, I'm always left just as clueless as to whether I want to read the whole book.

I totally agree that Incredible LEGO Technic is a book for enjoying on good-quality paper, not on a screen. I wouldn't say the same about your first book though, it's more of a text book, full of text to read and lessons to learn. If you're working on another Work of Stunning Beauty, definitely ditch the eBook format. I'd only consider it again for a more text-book-like book.

I'd be sorry for the people who really use Ebooks a lot because they wouldn't carry the paper book around. Been there, done that. I'm not even past page 46 of Incredible LEGO Technic and it's precisely because I don't carry it around. But if releasing eBooks is impacting your chances to continue this wonderful work (regardless of why), I'd be totally supportive of dropping them. In the end, you want to create great content and we want to enjoy it AND support you to create more.

[Lipko]

20,000 sounds pretty big to me

20,000 minus taxes, for a 6 month creative work (meaning not every people is able to do the job) is not that big. In many countries you earn that with a regular job (meaning any people is able to do the job).

As for stupid comments, questions and requests, I would maybe disable the comments. You are an awesome writer, Sariel, you can explain on your site, in a video, whatever, why you don't answer all the time.

Anyhoo, I'm sorry about the situation, but I fell envious as well. I can never hope for that popularity, or even some recognition.

Edited March 6, 2015 by Lipko

[Sariel]

20,000 sounds pretty big to me

20,000 copies having been printed does not mean $20,000 on my account. I get royalties for books sold, not printed. And it may take a few years to actually sell all 20,000.

Miguev, I'm happy my book had such an effect on you, regardless of where it came from. Again, I want to stress that my primary concern isn't self-pity or getting more people to buy the book - I'm just worried about the publisher. I wouldn't mind piracy so much if it didn't threaten to put the publisher out of the business, and the business is not doing well as it is. Take a look at this: http://outthinkgroup.com/the-10-awful-truths-about-book-publishing

One quote: "The average U.S. nonfiction book is now selling less than 250 copies per year and less than 3,000 copies over its lifetime."

So, I just want to discourage people from using and sharing pirated copies. With numbers as low as these, every person counts. It's eventually up to us and only us whether there will be more books or Lego or not.

Edited March 6, 2015 by Sariel

[RohanBeckett]

Maybe delay the ebook version by a year or so?

I bought your first book (physical), but I haven't bought any more (yours, or other nostarch ones) - mainly due to shipping costs... I wish they could be cheaper - compared to places like abebooks/etc

shipping to Australia is often half the value of the book itself!

RB

[Sariel]

shipping to Australia is often half the value of the book itself!

Did you try BookDepository? They're pretty solid and they're promising free delivery worldwide: http://www.bookdepository.com/Incredible-LEGO-Technic-Pawel-sariel-Kmiec/9781593275877

[RohanBeckett]

ok.. that's a lot more reasonable.. :)

bit annoyed I missed out on the humble bundle deal - out of interest, do you make any money off it? or is it all to charity?

RB

Edited March 6, 2015 by RohanBeckett

[Sariel]

bit annoyed I missed out on the humble bundle deal - out of interest, do you make any money off it? or is it all to charity?

I think most of it went to charity, as it was up to buyer to decide who gets his money. But I can't tell for sure - this deal is so recent, it will be a while before I get a report from the publisher.

[nerdsforprez]

I truly am saddened by this post. As I mentioned in the original post regarding the release of your book, those who are interested in our hobby should be not only willing but jumping to the front of the line to PAY for your books. Anyone who builds, let alone publishes their builds and those of others, can only imagine the amount of work that goes into your books and builds. I personally would be very sad if your work were to stop. I gladly will pay for any work you produce. I only hope that there is enough continued interest to keep your work, and the work of others alive and well. I agree also with what others have said. I think your books are to be experienced in tangible, paper copy. I have no problem doing away with electronic format.

I am excited for your upcoming book and would even pay double the release-price for it. I think that hobbies are just important in life as work and other things. It is important to keep them alive and well. Best to you Sariel and please do not be dissuade by a few scoundrels when the majority are happy willing customers willing to pay for your work.

[miguev]

BookDepository FTW! I had no idea, now I feel even more of an idiot: ordered direct from nostarch.com at $5 more and, to avoid a shipping charge nearly as expensive as the book, shipped to a friend in the US, so won't have the book until Summer, at best. I'd appreciated BookDepository being highlighted in your videos ;)