The history of book piracy dates all the way back to 600 AD when Saint Columba copied a manuscript from Saint Finnian. It has been happening ever since and is more rampant than ever in today’s technologically advanced age. Just a few years ago, publishers didn’t offer digital copies of most popular books and people made their own versions.
Nowadays, almost every major title is available digitally, but given the fact that they are just as expensive as their physical counterparts, millions of people are now turning to piracy to get their digital books for free. Many readers are wondering why the price tag for ebooks isn’t significantly lower, considering there are no costs for distributors, warehouses and paper.
The publishing industry is now losing up to $600 million a year from online book piracy and analyzers are beginning to wonder whether or not the industry will collapse from this fastly growing issue.
Years ago, publishing was about creating an engaging story in a paper format. Things have changed now because people desire an amazing and interactive experience at an affordable price.
Industries Influenced By Piracy
The Japan Book Publishers Association is facing great problems as popular manga series like Naruto and One Piece are being pirated and posted online long before they ever hit stores. .Between 2007 and 2011, sales of comic books actually dropped from $4.3 billion to $2.9 billion.
Text Books Available Online
A British company named Netnames found that out of the 50 most popular textbooks used by English students, 76% of them were available online. Research conducted over three months revealed that more than 400 million digital files were pirated in the United Kingdom and that around 20% of children accessed pirated copies of games, movies, music or books regularly.
Playster Condemns Online Book Piracy
Playster is a web and mobile application that provides a variety of media streaming in one service. Subscribers get unlimited access to Playster’s library of ebooks, audiobooks, TV shows, music, and movies. The platform offers millions of titles and the app is extremely user-friendly.
There you can find content from the most popular publishers in the world, such as Hachette Book Group, MacMillan Publishers, Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster and HarperCollins. Recently, they’ve also signed huge deals with Warner Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment, Paramount, Starz and The Orchard to round out their all-inclusive entertainment offering.
Playster may be a digital company, but it supports the rights of authors and publishers and condemns online piracy. Although some websites have stated that the company is distributing unauthorised content, Playster would never allow such content on the platform as it is against their terms of service.
We checked for a variety of books that these websites claimed were being featured on Playster illegally, but none of them appeared in the catalog. If you would like to see first-hand which books and audiobooks are and aren’t available on Playster’s platform, all you have to do is visit their site and type the title in the search bar — it’s that simple.
In order to protect themselves, writers must learn their rights and how to deal with pirates most effectively. Your work is considered copyrighted and when you see it leaked to the public, you can register the offense with a copyright office, which can give you legal protection. This means that you can sue other individuals using your work without paying you!
Article by Vishal
Meet Vishal Gaikar, the tech wizard hailing from Pune, India, who's on a mission to decode the digital universe one blog post at a time. When he's not tinkering with gadgets or diving deep into the digital realm, you can find him concocting the perfect cup of chai or plotting his next adventure. Follow his tech escapades on Twitter and buckle up for a wild ride through the world of innovation and geekery!
