We welcome to Book Smart suspense author, Kathryn Jane, who wrote the following heartfelt piece about the cost of book piracy.  For another riveting account of how even best selling authors can end up being plagiarized by other best selling authors and the wild wild west rules of the book world, also see this piece by Nora Roberts by clicking HERE.

Thieves … plagiarists and scammers

by Kathryn Jane

by Kathryn Jane Yesterday was my day to blog, and I tried, really tried to write about the recent blowup in the writing world. I wrote and deleted two long, wordy attempts to address the horrors of people stealing a writer’s hard work, and how thieves and the dirty underbelly of the writing world affected me personally…then I gave up and put it away for the night.

Here instead, a day late, is the simple version.

Around a week ago, a plagiarist was caught stealing the work of over thirty writers. Bringing this to light also exposed other scammers and thieves preying on readers and writers, and the entire situation was mind-boggling enough… and then I discovered my books being offered for free on a pirate site.

And I started to wonder whether this writing gig was worth what it was costing me–literally, and figuratively.

Is it worth my time to try and compete for readers in a world where scammers hit bestseller lists with fake books? Where book stuffers collect thousands of dollars while real authors barely scrape by? Where readers have been conditioned to search for free or 99 cent books and don’t care if they are stolen?

And what about the dollars? Each book I publish costs me at least $2000 (CONTINUE READING BY CLICKING  HERE)

Order Kathryn Jane’s wonderful Intrepid Woman series by clicking HERE

via Thieves… plagiarists and scammers — sisterhood of suspense