In the  previous thread ("open discussion for authors and users regarding sharing ebooks") someone mentioned adding a donation or pay pal button to donate money either to authors or a charity so that we can "give back" to the authors. I would just like to say that I think this is an excellent idea. No, I do not think that it should be mandatory for everyone to donate but I do think that a lot of people would donate (me included). I know that this idea is not the answer to the problem and that no, it would not make the author's feel "ok" with this site but I think it's a start.

I also wonder if there is a way to get more author feedback? As of right now we only have two authors opinions- both of whom appear to be friends and share the same negative opinion of this website. It would be nice to hear what others had to say and if their opinion's differed at all or if they had any ideas/solutions. Any ideas?

In the  previous thread ("open discussion for authors and users regarding sharing ebooks") someone mentioned adding a donation or pay pal button to donate money either to authors or a charity so that we can "give back" to the authors. I would just like to say that I think this is an excellent idea. No, I do not think that it should be mandatory for everyone to donate but I do think that a lot of people would donate (me included). I know that this idea is not the answer to the problem and that no, it would not make the author's feel "ok" with this site but I think it's a start.

I also wonder if there is a way to get more author feedback? As of right now we only have two authors opinions- both of whom appear to be friends and share the same negative opinion of this website. It would be nice to hear what others had to say and if their opinion's differed at all or if they had any ideas/solutions. Any ideas?

Yeah I thought it would be a good idea. That way the users can still have free books but authors can still make money

edit: So I voted don't know simply because I love the idea of free books still while giving the authors money through paypal or special deals for users, but I don't know if it will solve the issue completely since it seems like the few authors willing to talk feel like there is no compromise except to take all the free books down.

As much as I would like to see otherwise, I do not think this solution will work..especially with the self-published authors. the 2 authors that have started this debate are so adament that we are "stealing" their work that they can not see it any other way. I love to share my ebook library that I have bought with my hard earned money and see no harm in it. In my mind it is no different than donating books to a library and having them "rented" out to thousands of other patrons. how is what we do any different. I do not share out of malicious intent, I don't share to earn a buck, I don't claim their work as my own, I simply love to read....

I just want to say that thanks to this site I've actually found many authors/book that I would've never heard of otherwise & purchased many books (mostly indie authors). Most of the books available on here are also available on other sites that receive a much higher amount of traffic/downloads so I don't understand why there is such a big deal being made out of it on here? I would be completely up for the idea of discounts etc. Authors (specifically indie authors) rely on reviews. I don't know if anyone saw the post by Wren Emerson a few weeks back (the post was removed due to another authors book being on it so I don't think you can still see it) where she said that she'd seen her book on here & all she asked was that anyone who had downloaded it could please review it on amazon/goodreads etc as this is a big help to them.

Anyway, I just wanted to say my piece :-)

I live in Egypt if not for book sharing I wont be able to get these books(I wouldn't even have heard of them in the first place.)

Hi all, I firstly would like to say that I would not have a problem with donating to authors for their books in fact I think it is a good idea. I don't want to get into a debate about the legality of it all but in my mind if I buy a book it becomes my property to lend to my friends or not it just feels as if corporations are trying to sqeeze every last cent out of us when they would be much more successful if they reduced the prices of books (carrot vs stick).There are a number of reasons I use this site (besides buying books), firstly to get to know authors insted of buying a pile of rubbish to try them out (which costs a small fortune), secondly as mentioned above a lot of books are not available outside of the USA and if they are they 5x to 10x the cost due to the exchange rates or inflated international prices - so please don't tell me the prices are reasonable.

Another word about PayPal. I notice that readers are talking about the value of donating $1  to authors. Do you know that PayPal has a minimum fee of something like 44c plus a percentage of the actual amount?
 
I've sold my own (written-by-me) ebooks on a legitimate site for .99 and ended up with about .16 profit.

This is the "busker" model. Instead of the traditional method of honoring contracts and paying everyone involved in the production of a book, one puts authors out on the virtual street, and rewards them for their work only at ones whim. While busking may work for some musicians who may or may not play original works in subway stations, it does not work for authors who take six months to ten years to write and polish an original work.

Moreover, if you go with this model, who is to pay the editors and proof readers, photographers and cover artists, formatters etc etc? The begging in the street for donations model only works for self-published authors. When an author has to do her own proofing, formatting, editing, cover art, promo, marketing, book keeping, etc in addition to writing, quality will suffer.

Also, has it occurred to you that PayPal takes a large cut? Authors end up working for PayPal!

Thanks Rowena, but to keep things peaceful, please post in authors thread only, we had a very heated discussion earlier with no conclusion. As replied in the authors thread, this solution might not be suitable for publishing houses.

See even you didn't follow the rules stated in first post of both threads, so easy to break rules sometimes that you don't even realise it .

Another word about PayPal. I notice that readers are talking about the value of donating $1  to authors. Do you know that PayPal has a minimum fee of something like 44c plus a percentage of the actual amount?
 
I've sold my own (written-by-me) ebooks on a legitimate site for .99 and ended up with about .16 profit.

Nobody said it would be $1 donation, it could be more as well, depends on user to user, details can be worked out once both sides agree on a solution.

Hi Admin,

I'd like to thank you for your attempts to engage people in a fair and open manner around this very very touchy subject. Sure it would be easy to say, "this is such a big problem and there can't be a solution because if there was one, someone would have found it already", but if everyone thought like that, no meaningful problems would get solved. :-)

Sure, some authors have come on here and have tried to engage in a level headed and even manner (parkjessica is one that comes to mind), others have taken the opportunity to really rip into this site and its users and really have a chance to vent. I have no problems with that as long as appreciation is also shown to the site admin for actually giving you a place TO vent and even creating threads to discuss and find a compromise. The same goes for also my fellow users who have taken aim at authors.

Tell me another site that would willingly have this debate out in the open, without censure and without forceful removal of comments? I don't think you'd find any other sites who are as genuine about finding a solution that works. Many other site admins would either remove the post, delete the thread and not give it another thought.

I guess my final message is to say thanks for really trying to have an open and constructive discussion with the aim of finding a real solution.

We from the other part of the world who are unable to receive other books are willing to pay for books that we love to read however, please bear in mind (authors) that we are not stealing your work, but only appreciating it in the way that we can.  We thank this guys who selfishly share their books in order for us to get to view the other side of the world.  Do not think that because we get them free here is because we get the advantage of not paying it, but for me nothing can replace the stories from the pages of books that I can touch.  Sure we do not get to pay it but we enjoy reading them but we cannot display them to people to see how proud we are of having a collections of those great stories from great authors.  We are lucky if out of 1 of those 10 books is available here in our area or at least the we get to have the latest printed story of our favorite authors.  If you can distribute them to us in discounted prices we will be very grateful because you know it is a great deal for us to have your stories, to keep them and to share them too, to future generations.