As we mentioned earlier today, book sales are rising somewhat this year, but you wouldn’t know it from the New York Times, which boldly declared this morning that “sales are down this year.” Oops!
(We’re not going to challenge the assertion that “the publishing industry has been under a dark cloud recently,” because that much is true—although it’s worth pointing out that the cloud has possibly been perpetuated as much by a media meta-narrative actively pursuing “drama” as it has by the actual circumstances of our daily existence.)
One reason to be cheerful about publishing’s future, Brad Stone suggests in the Times, is the rapid growth of the electronic book market, catering to a new class of enthusiastic reader… but it turns out that some authors who saw the article this morning went on Twitter to express a negative reaction to the existence of people like the woman who doesn’t actually buy any ebooks herself, but has piggybacked onto some friends’ Kindle accounts.
To which other authors ask: So what? “This is not stealing. It is not cheating. It is not piracy,” says Courtney Milan. “It is the time-honored, all-important act of sharing books with a few trusted friends.” Tessa Dare takes it a step further: “The sharing of books is not only a reader’s right, but an author’s benefit and a public good… Please, share my books with your friends.”
What do you think?