Thursday, March 08, 2007

Anybody heard of eSnips?

There's this new game in town called eSnips. It's a virtual community of like-minded people getting together to share their common interests. Yada, yada, yada...

They are bad, bad, BAD!

Why do I think eSnips is bad? Because, one of the things being "shared" are full-text files of copyrighted books. Think Napster, only with novels instead of music.

This just sucks, people.

Writing isn't easy, and for the majority of writers out there, myself included, it does not pay enough to cover that Benz you've been dreaming of buying (or even the Hyundai you're currently driving). When people start uploading your entire book on websites and making it available for others to download for free, that just cuts into the very small amount an author sees from all of his or her hard work. It's deflating. And frustrating.

I've heard that Romance Writers of America is seeking legal action against eSnips, but what about the other authors out there who do not belong to RWA and have no one to fight for them? Where does that leave them? Do they just sit back and succumb to the piracy?

Like I said, it sucks.