For those who may be unaware, last week a major news story rocked the literary world. Meta, parent company of Facebook, had used an online database of pirated literature to teach its artificial intelligence how to write. The database in question, called LibGen, contains millions of pieces of written work, all provided free of charge without the rights or consent of the authors. The Atlantic provided a helpful search tool, allowing writers to see if any of their work was part of the theft. I was hesitant at first, but eventually I visited the article and searched my name.

As it turns out, my unpublished first novel Wide Horizon is on LibGen.

Put simply, Meta stole my work.

For those who may simply be readers here, it’s worth noting that WordPress allows writers to track the origins of every view they receive. Thus, several years ago I began noticing an uptick in unusual traffic on my site. Several particular pieces I’ve posted began racking up large numbers of views, many from Asia, which seemed odd as I write solely in English. Long before the revelation about NaNoWriMo allowing work uploaded by writers to be accessed by pirates, I’d noticed a cover I’d hastily thrown together for a past NaNo project was being regularly downloaded, even though I never actually displayed it on my site. At that point, I began to suspect I’d been the victim of piracy. Now, unfortunately, I have confirmation.

To be fair, I didn’t write Wide Horizon with the expectation, or even intention, of becoming a best-selling author. I wrote it to prove to myself that I could write a novel. Personally don’t think it’s anywhere near my best work. Seen in that light, the idea of someone simply stealing it seems…petty.

But to many authors, this isn’t petty. While my goal has always been traditional publication, there are many self-pub authors out there who function solely as independents. They depend on their online book sales to fuel their writing. For them, this theft represents a betrayal. It’s cruel and unfair.

Since the initial revelation, we’ve learned that Meta initially considered approaching authors and compensating them for the use of their work, asking for the rights to use it. In the end, they determined it was “cheaper and easier” to just steal it. And to be fair, yeah, stealing something is always cheaper than paying for it. And given the current attitude in the writing community toward AI, heck, some of them might have said “No”. Better to just not ask, right?

To be clear, I thought long and hard about this post. I considered not writing it at all; after all, as I’ve said, this didn’t have a significant impact on me. To me this represents, at worst, a moderate annoyance. But the more I thought about it, the more I felt that was exactly why I needed to speak out. Because to someone removed from the situation, it could be too easy to dismiss the words of a prolific self-pub author as whining. But while I may not be one of those people, I know many of them. And they’re not whining. They feel hurt and betrayed.

I’ve written posts before about AI, and what it could mean for the future of the literary industry. So instead, I’d like to talk about online piracy. And in the end, there’s one big thing everyone should know:

There is No Good Reason to Steal a Book

…contrary to what Abbie Hoffman might have you believe. Most ebooks are pretty cheap; it’s easy to find plenty of good literature from indie authors for around 99 cents per copy. If that’s too much for you, or if you’re looking for the sort of more established work that will cost more, then I have good news for you: we have libraries.

Every city and town has a public library, within its limits or nearby. Public libraries offer a wide range of literature, all free of charge. If you actually don’t live close to a library, or your local library is small, there are apps you can use to access a wide range of electronic literature, all with your local library card.

No one has an excuse to steal a book. If you’re accessing pirated literature online, for any purpose, you’re not making some political statement. You’re not “sticking it to the man”. You’re taking money from a hard-working author who’s willing to share their ideas with the world. If you think those writers shouldn’t be trying to make money off their work, ask yourself how you’d feel if someone came into your place of work and demanded that you work for them for free. And if you are, in fact, trying to use their work to train an AI, consider the ramifications of what you’re doing. You’re using their work to try to train a computer to reproduce what they create, making it harder for them to make money. And you’re starting by taking away what they already have.

And even if you’re only consuming free, readily-available work like you might find here on WordPress, it’s important to understand the potential long-term effects of online piracy.

Online Piracy Threatens the Literary Market

As I mentioned on this week’s “Writer’s Desk”, amid these revelations I decided against resuming my weekly flash fiction posts. The fear of piracy (which turned out to be well-founded) was part of my motivation to stop posting free short fiction on my site. Whenever I post, even if I’m just posting nonfiction articles (like my popular “Science in Fiction” series), I accept the risk that someone will steal work I’ve provided freely and try to profit off of it. I can include all the disclaimers I want on my site, can put it right there on the homepage in size one hundred font, bold in bright neon, and it won’t matter if whoever’s reading it just doesn’t care. If they feel entitled to my work. If they think I’m greedy for wanting to maintain ownership of my intellectual property, though apparently it’s not greedy for them to try and profit off it themselves.

And I doubt that I’m alone. Little by little, this practice threatens to reduce the availability of new, independent, and/or free literature. And this is partly because:

Publishing a Book is Expensive

…no matter how you look at it. I’ve long prided myself on not putting any more money into my work than I get out of it. I use Google Docs to write and store my files. I don’t pay for advertising. I use the free version of Canva to create my own art, pitches, and banners. But that’s easy for me to do; I’ve always planned to pursue traditional publishing. Big publishing houses have significantly more resources at their disposal for advertising. But they’re also a lot more selective, because they have to be. Because even for them, publishing a book is expensive.

To truly succeed as a self-pub author, you have to put in a lot of time, money, and work. For most self-pub authors (the vast majority, in fact), writing isn’t their day job. They’re doing it because they enjoy it, and they want to share their stories with the world. But if they can’t make money because their work is just being stolen and given away, or sold by someone else, sooner or later they’ll give up. Not because they’re greedy and it’s all about making money, but because they have to. Because they just can’t afford to keep pouring money into something that offers nothing in return. Eventually they’ll be forced to quit. And when they do, a valuable literary voice will be lost forever.

If you’re reading this, I really hope it bothers you. It should. I hope it makes you want to do something about it. And that’s a good idea. There are plenty of things you can do. Just for starters:

Support Indie Authors

They’re everywhere. They love to talk to readers. They’re a hard-working, fun-loving bunch. Buy their work. Most of it’s cheap, and I guarantee their books are the most fun you can have for less than ten bucks.

Support Your Local Library

…even if all you do is get a library card. There’s nothing wrong with going to the library. Over the past year, I’ve been reading the Expanse series. I’ve purchased several of the books, and will probably purchase them all eventually, if only for posterity. But most of them I checked out from my local library. And it didn’t cost me any more than a trip to the nearest branch.

Avoid AI Writing Tools, or Books Produced by AI

To be fair, this is getting harder to do, and it’ll only get harder. But most reputable booksellers, online or otherwise, will make it clear when a work has been generated by AI, in part or in full. Amazon, the largest online book retailer, asks would-be authors to certify that no AI was used to produce any part of their work. Similar disclaimers are required by all reputable literary magazines, including venerable sci-fi pubs like Clarkesworld, Asimov’s, and Analog.

Avoiding the use of AI writing tools can be even harder, especially if you’re sitting there right now thinking “Hey, but I can’t write!”

You’re wrong. And it’s okay to be wrong. But I promise you, if you just try to write on your own, the results will be far more meaningful than anything produced by a computer. And if you’re not willing to commit even the time required for that, then frankly you shouldn’t be writing.

And lastly,

Speak Out

Talk about this. Look into it. Bug your friends and family about it. Because online piracy and AI are not going away any time soon. Make it clear that no one has the right to steal a book; not when most of them are so cheap, not when there are so many legal ways to acquire one for free.

And now that I’ve ranted for a bit, for the record, if you’re a longtime reader I’d like to thank you. If you’ve followed my blog, if you’ve enjoyed my free short fiction. Everyone who publishes a book wants to make money. I want to make money from this. But that’s not the point. Writing isn’t a get rich quick scheme. It’s more of a “Support Yourself Eventually As Long As You Work Really Really Hard” scheme.

On behalf of all writers and authors, I’d just like to say this to readers everywhere: we don’t do this to get your money. We do it because we love it, and we’re hoping you’ll love it, too. But it’s hard. It takes money, energy, and lots of time. It’s punishing. It’s demoralizing. But we’re doing it anyway. So please remember that behind every book you’ve ever read was a tired, scared, hopeful writer, who just wants to know that you liked it. – MK