Pirating is the Lowest Form of Thievery

In a world where every streaming service and software company seems hell-bent on funding fascism and the end of the world at an ever-increasing monthly cost that doesn't permit you to own anything, it's no surprise piracy has taken off. And maybe pirating software and movies directly hurts the corporations—I don't know. I'm not in those industries.

I am in the publishing industry, where I can guarantee all the risk and costs are passed along to the authors, not the companies we have to work with to get our words out. Pirating books steals straight out of an author's pocket, and this is already not a profitable endeavor.

I've heard some pirates justify stealing books by saying the price of books is just too high and that "authors are making reading inaccessible," so it's ethically fine to steal from them. That's batshit bananapants.

Let's have an example. My hardcover for A King's Trust is priced at $29.99. Since launch, I've sold 50 hardcovers. Two were returned. So you know how much money I've made on hardcovers?

-$0.17. I owe Ingram 17 cents for my 50 hardcover sales.

Now, fortunately I've sold a lot more paperbacks and ebooks, where I can make that up. If, say, those ebook purchasers had read it for free instead, I'd be in the hole. This is why there are only a handful of full-time authors. It's simply not economically feasible to write. So if you love books, you know, don't steal them, or writers can't afford to write them.