PIRACY KILLS ART

Today I have had to contact FIVE different 'file-sharing' sites to have my 'pirated' book files taken down. This is a huge disappointment to me; I like to believe that the human race is essentially decent and yet I am staggered to see how many members and Facebook likes these sites have.

Not only do I NOT expect this kind of cheating and stealing from fellow members of the human race - I am stunned that READERS - yes, beloved, intelligent conscientious READERS, could ever think that this is okay.

If you want my book that badly and can't afford the £0.79p for a book that took me over two years to research and write, then contact me - I'll send you a FREE copy! In fact, if you head on over to my site www.theknighttrilogy.com I am GIVING EVERYBODY a FREE copy.

You see it's not about the money (well, sadly I do need to eat and fund a roof over my head and pay for the girl's school shoes, swimming lessons and ....) but it's the principle. You can have all of my books 1-3 in the trilogy for £2.50 so why would anybody want to cheat me out of that?

Piracy is a betrayal. It's grubby and it's self destructive. People want writers and artists to produce work and yet a frighteningly large proportion of people seem unwilling to pay for it. Newsflash - AN AUTHOR CANNOT INVEST THE TIME TO WRITE  IF THEY CAN'T SUPPORT THEIR FAMILY - they have to go and work at something different, something that will pay! And for every hour they are stuck in an office job, stacking shelves in the supermarket or doing something else, they are NOT writing your beloved stories.

I am an independent writer. I am not rolling in film-deal royalty checks (and it wouldn't matter if I was) The people who download my book on file sharing are AS GOOD AS ROBBING MONEY OUT OF MY POCKET. People who would never dream of sneaking up beside me whilst I'm pushing Betty Boo in her pram, in order to stick  their sticky little paws into my handbag and steal money from my purse, will sit in their homes and happily, without conscience, steal from me. This really, really saddens me - what are we without moral integrity?