Regarding the Bootlegger

For all my friends and colleagues in RWA: many of you have written and I do know about the bootlegged copies of my novels that were posted on MediaFire.com. I notified my publisher this morning and asked the folks at MediaFire.com to take down the illegal copies. Evidently they have complied, because the files are no longer accessible.

For the bootlegger, who I'm told also links to PBW and hangs out here: I would have contacted you directly and asked you to take down the files, but there was no e-mail address listed for you. I'm not going to enable comments on this post because I don't want to turn this into an attack on you or a flame war or anything like that. I just want to talk to you, because if you do come here, then maybe I'm someone you will listen to.

I give away a lot of my work for free. That doesn't mean you get to do the same thing without my permission. I know you aren't profiting from the bootleg copies you're posting on the internet, but giving someone a stolen book rather than selling it to them does not make it any better. It's still a stolen book.

Obviously you know what you're doing is illegal, or you wouldn't be using an anonymous handle, hiding the download links and protecting your blog the way you have. But the fact remains that you are using and distributing my work without* the right to do so or my permission. That's why I had the files deleted. You gave me no choice when you posted them.

The people who may really come after you are the publishers. They have a lot of time, money and great attorneys. The publishing industry loses billions every year to bootleggers, and if you keep doing this you might just be the one they decide to take to court. So please, stop. Delete the illegal files you've posted for all the books you've bootlegged before you get into more trouble.

*Corrected, and thanks to lxz for catching my typo. That was not meant to be with.