Piracy

Listen, I'm for piracy. Stealing from major corporations who continue to price gouge consumers only for them to horde the money while the rest of us scrimp and save just to get through this miserable existence is a crime of the highest level. Okay, that went a lot darker than I expected.

That being said, stealing from authors is stupid!

Do you know how much your every day, run of the mill author makes from selling books? Probably not enough to hire a gang of lawyers to come after those that steal from them. So, at this point the purpose of pirating books comes down to an individual's integrity, and whether they want the author they admire to continue publishing. Because that's what happens when people pirate. Authors, signed and indie authors alike, start feeling like there is no point in publishing if everything they put out is going to be stolen. Why put in so much time, effort, and, yes, money into it if their isn't some sort of return to it? Yes, most authors do it to tell stories, but on top of that, some want to make being an author their main source of income, and that's hard to do when there is thievery afoot.

It's not even like pirates are stealing and then reviewing, which would encourage others into getting the book. No, what they're doing is illegally distributing books, probably haven't even read them, and that's that. Nothing else beyond that. At least when you pirate music or a movie, you can burn it on a disc and give it to someone you like. With a book, one or two people will take it, and then that's it.

Another thing that's so re-donk-ulus about pirating a book is that most authors will give it to you--either for free as part of a review or giveaway; possibly outright--OR, and here is a novel idea, you can get it free from your library. I'm not going to go into it, but it's possible, and there is even a queer library where you can borrow queer books in particular through Libby and OverDrive if you have a US address.

What provoked this? Jae, wonderful person that she is, has been tracking down pirates who've been stealing sapphic fiction and either pirating it outright or plagiarizing it and turning it into fanfic. Mostly K-Pop fics, so do with that what you will.

I have to say that even in my younger days, and I was an active pirate for music, it never dawned on me to pirate a book. Like I even bought Fifty Shade of Grey on audio book because I thought perhaps it would make a better listen than an actual read. I was wrong and that's money I am never getting back, but my point is, book piracy is pointless. The only people you're hurting are the people who want to tell their stories and those that are dedicated readers of them.

People, do y'all want to know something? I fcking finished my second round of edits for Outside The Game. I put out my APB for an editor last week, and I'm proud to announce that I have found one. She'll be getting it sometime in June, and hopefully by the end of July, it will be back to me. She actually edits the manuscript in parts because Word is a jerk, but it's nice for me because I can deal with it in small manageable parts. I'm excited to work with her because she's equally excited/invested in making sure E.J.'s story is told as thoroughly as possible, which make me super stoked.

Now I'm going to finish that fcking reader magnet! I'm actually close to finishing it, and I want you all to know, it's not going to be edited by a professional. I'm going to do my thing with it, and then send it out to you all. It's a newsletter/Ko-Fi exclusive, so you're not going to find it anywhere else. Maybe in your local church bulletin if I can sneak it in there. Oh, the pearl clutching.

Once that is finished, I move on to Grisly Politics. Dax and Eliza have been waiting for their return, and I'm not going to lie, so have I, especially after having read it back in November.

In other news that surprises no one, I've started outlining a story that came to me..in a dream. Like it was an action movie in my head. So, here we are and I don't know what I'm going to do with it. I'm also going to finish up the second book for the IFL Tales, which will be a 2025 or 2026 release depending on how my life is, but I'm going to try and be more consistent.

I had no idea what I was going to put in this month's newsletter, but then I got an idea, and I reached out to a friend of mine who agreed to do an interview. I use that word loosely because I sent him some questions and he answered them.

My ass saving interviewee is Luc Dreamer, who is a fantastic person. I met Luc at last year's GCLS Conference through a mutual friend. He is a trans man who writes sapphic fiction, and other queer fiction, so I feel a bit of kinship with them.

Without further ado, here is my interview with Luc. His responses have been edited for clarity.