Monday morning I ran across this thread by author Adam Silvera.
There is no apology I will accept for supporting book piracy. Please trust authors when we tell you we are all losing at least tens of thousands of dollars because of book piracy. And these downloads DO NOT count as book sales and can risk our careers. pic.twitter.com/S2DzQjVaAa
— ADAM 🌈 (@AdamSilvera) July 23, 2018
As most of us know, he has written very popular queer fiction such as More Happy Than Not and They Both Die At the End. In this thread, Silvera was talking specifically about book piracy and how wrong it is. How that takes money out of his pocket. In response, I wrote my own thread.
Okay. This morning I saw a post from Adam Silvera about book pirating. I would never take money out of an author’s pocket but I have pirated movies and music in the past. However, I don’t advocate pirating. I know a lot of people suggested libraries.
— BW Reviews (@BWReviewsBlog) July 23, 2018
As the day went on, I saw Silvera getting more and more frustrated with people defending pirating for similar reasons. He acknowledges that some people don’t have access to and/or money for books and they shouldn’t steal them. I agree.
But. This is an international problem that there isn’t much being done about.
I want to do something.
For months now, I’ve had the idea of doing an international lending library. I want to be able to send books to those who can’t afford them and don’t have access to them for free. Now, this is clearly going to be a big project and it’s quite overwhelming honestly, but I personally know how powerful and important books can be.
By no means, is this an attack on Adam or anyone who supports or disagrees with him. I was simply tired of seeing an argument and no solution.
I’m not trying to end book pirating or save the world. I just think books should be accessible for everyone. No matter how much you make, where you live, or any other reason outside your control.
This is why we want to do something to help with whatever small reach we have. To gauge responses, we made a survey to find out some details about your life. It’s completely anonymous! We just want to know if there’s a want or need for this. If there is an interest, we would set up some sort of system to take requests or donations.
But first, please take our survey down below!! We really want to find out what you all think about it. Thank you!
Reading isn’t something that should be reserved for who can afford it.
– Chantel— BW Reviews (@BWReviewsBlog) July 23, 2018
This is a really good idea! Although I have a lot of resources available to me, I would love to donate books to others who may not have access to them 🙂
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Thank you so much!!! Once we have our results, we’re going to set up forms and about donations and that stuff! But thank you for showing your interest!! It makes our hearts warm. Please share this around if possible!
– Caidyn
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Of course!! And I will share it on my Twitter, I would be happy to help in any way I can. It makes my heart warm to see that you have this idea!
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Thank you!!!! ❤ ❤ We're going to blast it around our social media — Twitter, Instagram, and Goodreads — to get a good pool of data.
To be honest, this is more Chantel's idea. I'm just along for the ride! But, seriously, she has wanted to do this for so, so long and Adam Silvera inspired her to finally take a step towards this. It really means so much to her and she's still asleep right now but waking up to this will make her day.
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You’re welcome! I hope you get a good array of responses ☺️ I saw his whole thread on social media, and a lot of people are affected by the issue at hand– more than I realized because I am so sheltered off from it. I hope this makes her happy when she awakes! ❤️
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I’m hoping so, too! I’m a survey kind of guy. Had to make a few in the past.
But, I’m like you. I’ve always had a ton of resources for books. International libraries aren’t always like the US and different libraries in the US don’t have the same resources (aka money). This deficit has never affected me, but I know it affects people. I definitely want to help out and do things because I know how much a book can change your life.
(Oh, trust me. She’ll be super happy. We were really sentimental after making this survey.)
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BTW, this totally made my morning! I really appreciate your support. Even coming from one person it means a lot. Thank you so much. – Chantel
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That would be fantastic! I have so many resources personally available to me and I want to help those who aren’t as fortunate. – Chantel
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I’m adding this in here: If you are on your phone and can’t take the survey, please let us know!! We’d be happy to send or put a direct link to it so everyone can take it. The embedded quiz works best on a computer, so please let us know!
Thank you for showing your interest!
– Caidyn
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This is one of those things where my privilege is clearly visible because I didn’t really know this was a problem. I am surrounded by libraries and it never even occurred to me that others may not be. Ya’ll are wonderful for thinking this up! ❤ ❤
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Aw, thank you! I’m the same way as you are. We just want to help in whatever way we can!
– Caidyn
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I wasn’t aware at first either. I definitely had to take a look and realize that I have easy access to books and everyone else should too. Thanks for the support! It means a lot! – Chantel
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I love you both so much for this! ❤
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Thank you, Melanie! ❤ I know we're both super excited about it and launching it once we get these results done!
– Caidyn
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All the support we’ve gotten so far means everything. Thank you so much! – Chantel
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