Debra - Piracy is a dirty word.

Okay, I'm taking a stand. Stealing the work of writers and posting books on file sharing sites is evil. I'm not good-natured about this anymore. I'm tired of people telling me, "Well, there is a school of thought which says piracy builds readers."

No. It doesn't. What it does is steal money from the author and the publisher. In the last two days I've had ONE file-sharing site take down files with over 500 downloads for ONE of our titles - BITE ME by Parker Blue.

What did that mean to her in real dollars? A lot. You can assume that not every scumbag who downloaded the free book would have bought a copy, but this is still a lot of money the author has lost, and from just one of these file sharing sites.

Large publishers and their authors suffer just as much.

When did it become okay to steal?

I checked this same site (there are dozens to work through) and found other books of ours. For EACH violation I have to fill out a separate form to request the file be pulled. www.4shared.com has quickly taken down the files, but WE (the publisher and the author) are required to find these violations. The process is a continual one. Get to the end of the file sharing sites and start again. Why? Because new files had been posted within 24 hours of having the first files removed from 4Shared.

How about the authors on this blog?

Christie? Probably a 1000 downloads from 15 files.

Cindy Gerard - tons of files, many foreign editions

Michele Hauf - yep, her books were there and not just the free one from Harlequin

Lois Greiman - 106 downloads from 2 books, 3 files.

Kathleen Eagle - yep. Looks like mostly foreign editions.

I bet Helen and Kylie's work was there. My work wasn't on the site. Neither was Betina's or Susie's. But there are many other sites. Dozens.

Some folks say book publishing better take a lesson from music file sharing and get the price down. What they don't realize is the printing cost is nothing. Not if you're a large publisher printing thousands of units at once. Books can't be divided into discrete units in the same way that music can. Kindle lets you download a nice sample for free as do most of the ebook sites. Can't get much fairer than that. When wholesalers and booksellers expect discounts of 40-55% off the cover price of the book, there isn't much room for maneuvering on price. No one works for free.

If the authors can't make a living, maybe they'll go back to Corporate America, to the farm or simply retire. Then where would we be without that next great book from our favorite author?

Romance Writers of America has compiled an extensive list of file sharing sites. I see this as a never-ending battle, but I'm going to make the effort to treat this like the crime it is. I'm not going to ignore this.

Am I over-reacting? Is stealing a basic human right that stems from our survival instincts? Have we missed the boat in teaching some of these concepts to our children? Please don't tell me to bend over, close my eyes and think of England!

GUEST - Deborah Smith

From Debra Dixon: Soooo long ago when I was trying to decide what I wanted to be when I "grew up" as a writer, I decided I wanted to be the love child of Stephen Hunter, Deborah Smith and Tami Hoag. All I knew of Deborah Smith was that she could sling words that were so deeply human and true that her books piled up on my keeper shelves. Then in a twist of fate, Bantam bought a book of mine and I found myself at a fancy restaurant. Eating dinner with Tami Hoag, Deborah Smith, Iris Johansen. I said nothing and just smiled. Terrified.

Halfway through desert, Deborah Smith "yipped" (she yips) and said, "OMG. Who's desert coffee is this?" It was my coffee but I was too scared to say anything when she stole it from the waitress, who--I'm sure--thought Deb would hand it to me.

That was the beginning. Today she's the dearest of friends and I scramble to keep up with her mind. I hope you'll all join her in a rousing discussion. She loves to wrestle with ideas. So, you chime right in with your thoughts!

I have seen the future of books, and they will have a lot in common with my great grandpa's wooden-framed writing slate. He toted his slate (which I've inherited) every day of his boyhood to a one-room schoolhouse in the mountains above Atlanta, circa 1870. Great-grandpa Robert, who was named after Confederate General Robert E. Lee, (my great-great grandpa Kimbrough, Robert's father, was an infantry sharpshooter under Lee's command) could chalk no more than a few words or perform simple arithmetic ciphers on his little five-by-seven rectangle of smooth gray slate. And then, with a simple movement of his hand, those images could be erased.

You could say it was the original beta tester for an ebook reader.

A few minutes ago, as I started to write this blog on an entirely different subject, Jeff Bezos, head of Amazon.com, sat down on the TV screen across from my coffee-table-propped feet to be interviewed by Jon Stewart on The Daily Show.

And he handed Stewart the new Kindle.

I gaped at it. I'd never seen one in the flesh before, meaning on TV, not a still photo. So there it was. The size of great grandpa's boyhood writing slate. A screen inside a delicate white frame, at most one-half-inch thick (I bet I could slide it under a closed door) and small enough to tuck inside most purses, fanny packs, or the average Bible, if you wanted to secretly download the Sunday comics during church.

"You can download an entire book in sixty seconds," Bezos told Jon.

Jeff Bezos wasn't what I expected as the big kahuna of the massive online bookstore that's re-defining how we shop and read. He looks like a cross between Howie Mandel, Peewee Herman and a barista at a really trendy coffee bar: Slight, bald, hip, in slender pants, a black pullover and a simple jacket, but with a big, disturbingly confident laugh. He guffawed at least once every fifteen seconds at Jon's jokes. His laugh sounded so happy and boyish. Is he Satan in slick threads or an adorably successful elf?

I was still recovering from the "download a book in sixty seconds" announcement as Bezos went on to say that the Amazon Kindle books are all 9.95 (cheaper than most print books, he pointed out) and the latest Kindle model will hold fifteen hundred books.

The Kindle is wireless (and Amazon doesn't charge users for the wifi connection,) its battery will last up to two weeks without re-charging, and it will read aloud to you. "Is it like one of those robot voices?" Jon asked, to which a chortling Bezos admitted it was -- for now. Neither Jon nor Bezos mentioned the Authors Guild's recent challenge of Amazon's ability to, in essence, create audiobooks without paying the authors or the publishers for those rights.

But Jon did note, "Uh, publishers are worried about people being able to pirate books with this."

Bezos breezily dismissed that concern. Publishers have the option of encrypti ng their books to protect them, he said, not mentioning that Digital Rights Management is considered the clunky Frankenstein of the ebook world and is fading away quickly. In other words, readers want NO hindrance to their ability to transfer their Kindle books to other readers or share them with friends. And Bezos surely knows that.

"We're finding that people are buying more books because of the Kindle," Bezos said. "They're buying more books and they're reading more." I assume he said that to reassure us book industry worrywarts that just because Kindle is lowering the value of the content authors create, *and* making it easier for readers to steal that content, *and* preparing to undercut the value of audio rights for books, that we'll make up the losses in volume sales.

"But I like the feel of a book on my chest when I fall asleep in bed," Jon pointed out. (Warning: paraphrase alert in effect.)

"You can do that with the Kindle," Bezos told him. "And you only need one hand to hold it."

The audience hooted and Jon moaned lecherously, "Ohhhhh, The Great Gatsby."

Then Bezos told him the Kindle's retail price. $359.

Jon stared at him. "And on top of that I still have to pay for the books I download?"

"Yeah," Bezos chortled.

Jon flipped the Kindle at him with comic disgust.

Okay, so . . . cute interview. But serious subject. The experts think we really are on the cusp of "Ebook Nation," a time when the always-a-bridesmaid-never-a-bride digital book finally catches the eye of the mainstream audience. Good news or bad news or both for the book world?

Readers are clamoring to remove all encryptions that hamper their use of the files. Pirated copies are zooming all over the world in increasing numbers. A whole bunch of "new media" gurus are calling for ebooks to be sold at a fraction of the price of print books, and there's even a respected school of thought that says ALL digital content -- books, articles, music, etc. should be free. Absolutely free.

I'm not sure how that rationale works. The "free for all" folks merrily insist we publishers and authors can come up with some nifty new ways to make money off our content other than charging people for the privilege of reading our stories. But so far none of the "Free the Books" crowd has displayed even a remotely accurate understanding of the costs of publishing -- costs that will remain whether the book is digital or print -- and so far, the suggestions for how to make money without asking readers to pay for anything have amounted to vague and ridiculously naive ideas based on the belief that, Golly gee, most people will be happy to contribute money to authors if authors are really really nice to them.

So I'm thinking about my great grandpa's writing slate some more. Maybe I'll go get it out of the display cabinet next to Grandma's wire-framed glasses and Great Aunt Ruby's hat pin.

Maybe I can stand on street corners, a tin can for tips at my feet, holding up my antique ebook with these words chalked on it.

WILL PUBLISH FOR SPARE CHANGE.

Guest- DARA EDMONDSON -- SALON SENSE

Debra here!

I'd like to welcome Dara Edmondson who's a new face in publishing. She gave up a career in marketing three years ago to follow a dream of writing fiction. She's currently with a small press--Wild Rose-- and has both print and ebooks. Her first print book was The Kitten Club which was out in May and snagged some good reviews.

She writes about "women in their forties, aged to perfection and ready for whatever life throws at them, from cheating husbands to problems with adult children to starting a new relationship or career." Don't you love that "aged to perfection" part??

Dara's a hoot and I thought the riders would enjoy her as much as I did the first time I met her at a workshop. So here she is to knock some salon sense into us!

First, a big thank you to Deb Dixon for inviting me to guest blog today. It's a pleasure to be in the convertible with such amazing ladies. I write contemporary romance for The Wild Rose Press but what I'd like to dish about today is the salon experience. We're all familiar with it – we confide all sorts of stuff in the person who does our hair or nails.

I got an up close look at the Salon Phenomenon (yes – I've named it!) when I owned a tanning and nail salon in the eighties and nineties in Orlando. I was a nail tech for many years and worked on clients so diverse it boggles my mind. Everyone from heiresses to prostitutes to housewives. I even rubbed elbows with a Saudi princess once, but that's a post for another day.

The Salon Phenomenon occurs when a beauty worker has very close contact with a patron (i.e. – touching hand or head). Something amazing happens. The patron reveals deep, sometimes dark secrets to the worker. And it's not the usual we're-friends-and-have-similar-disclosure-levels thing. No. The hairdresser/nail tech might reveal only her name, but the client, nonetheless often tells all.

Countless women revealed details of clandestine affairs, shady business practices or family secrets. They told me of long-ago sexual abuse and ongoing physical abuse, of friend and family betrayals. But why did they trust me when most knew very little about me? Not only was I touching them – a barrier most people don’t allow others to cross – but I faced them, one-on-one, on a weekly or biweekly basis. I listened and remembered details of the continuing sagas of their lives. They had an hour of my undivided attention and an assumption of confidentiality.

All the stories I heard, misery and joy I was privy to, turned out to be excellent fodder for my ideas file years later when I took up fiction writing. I changed names and details, but some of the situations I come up with are based in fact. Some were way too strange to become believable fiction. I got to play amateur psychologist to so many women – many who even told me I was their shrink with the benefits of having gorgeous nails when the session ended. But when I write their stories, they come out the way I wish they'd turned out for the clients. Some did, of course, have happy endings, but not all.

These days I often find myself missing that salon experience, hearing the inner workings of relationships and the adventures of women with exciting lives. When I do, I think about the worlds I can create on paper, the ones with Happily-Ever-Afters and loose ends neatly tied. There's a lot of job satisfaction in that. Where I couldn't fix things in real life for the women, I can in a book. I owe so much to those ladies, I dedicated my last book, The Kitten Club to them. Many were so touched, they actually cried when they read the dedication.

What about you? Do you value the salon relationship as sacred? Have you confided in your hair dresser or manicurist lately?