Author Mary Roach shared a funny and timely story on Twitter recently, forgiving a reformed book pirate in a post.
She wrote: “This is a first: Guy mailed a fan letter, a $10 bill, and apologies for having downloaded a pirated copy of Packing for Mars. Forgiven.”
The post spawned a wide ranging conversation about book piracy on Reddit as different readers confessed to piracy. One reader explained: “I’ve actually bought books and then downloaded pirated copies because I prefer to read them on my computer.” Another reader added: “I’d be far more happy directly sending the author the money as opposed to giving it to a publishing house.”