*Note* I have amended some information in this post after a recent update. I’ll discuss the details of the amendment in another forthcoming post.

If you are an author, at some point in your career, you may unfortunately become victim of book theft. In this post, I’m referring to finished books, not copyright theft – though that may well be a subject to broach in another post.

When someone steals a book from an author, the author does not get paid. On the one hand, it might be easy to view a stolen book as a compliment; clearly, someone enjoyed it enough to steal it. I have had books stolen on a few occasions, in different circumstances. One of my poetry books was stolen from a cafe in Cambridge, to the embarrassment of management who had agreed to stock copies for purchase by customers. On another occasion, digital ARC copies of one of my novels ended up becoming distributed widely, for free, against my wishes. I have since learned to only distribute epub or paperback ARCs to people I have a working relationship with (i.e. not strangers).

In my humble opinion, I consider book theft to be an insult to an author and not a compliment. If such an unscrupulous type steals work from an author, they are making a statement that said author is unworthy of or undeserving of compensation for their art. Bear in mind that I speak as an author who has been on the receiving end of theft; of course I feel passionately outraged about such an act. So, let me finish by asking you cool-headed impartial folks out there – what do you think? Compliment or insult? I would welcome your thoughts.

Posted by on October 11, 2023 in Reading, Resources and tagged , , , , , .

3 Comments

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About Leilanie Stewart

Leilanie Stewart is an award-winning author and poet from Belfast, Northern Ireland. She writes ghost and psychological horror, as well as experimental poetry. Her writing confronts the nature of self; her novels feature main characters on a dark psychological journey who have a crisis and create a new sense of identity. She began writing for publication while working as an English teacher in Japan, a career pathway that has influenced themes in her writing. Her former career as an Archaeologist has also inspired her writing and she has incorporated elements of archaeology and mythology into both her fiction and poetry. In addition to promoting her own work, Leilanie runs Bindweed Anthologies, a creative writing publication with her writer husband, Joseph Robert. Aside from publishing pursuits, Leilanie enjoys spending time with her husband and their lively literary lad, a voracious reader of sea monster books.

3 responses »

  1. Paula R.C. Readman's avatar Paula R.C. Readman says:
    October 12, 2023 at 9:00 AM

    I find it strange when the person is borrowing it for free. Maybe it hasn’t been returned. Maybe in the distant future the book might be returned. Such a puzzle.

    Reply
    • Leilanie Stewart's avatar Leilanie Stewart says:
      October 12, 2023 at 9:58 AM

      They’ve had it for about 8 months, so I think whoever borrowed it is keeping it. Libraries over here abolished late fees after COVID, and sadly it was in the news recently about funding cuts for NI libraries too, so I think the poor library staff can’t chase things up as much. Hopefully it will be returned but in the meantime, other borrowers are missing out, as am I from the cost of the book and the page read payments. Oh well!

      Reply

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