Pirating a Book vs. Lending a Book

I just watched a great You Tube video and I've posted it below to give this author Sara Humphreys all the credit she deserves. Watch it, it's worth it.

Anyway, the topic of this video was pirating books vs. letting friends borrow books (she discussed difference with paperbacks). And she hit on a great point. And it might not be a way people have been thinking about it in the past. 

Yes, it is harder to share a great eBook with a friend. I've read some before and wanted to share them. Typically on kindles or nooks you can share them. Though, some pubs turn the lending feature off, which I think is stupid. But, that's a whole other topic. 

Yes, pirated eBooks and sharing one with a friend is different!

How so? If you lend a book to a friend, they read it and hopefully love it. They didn't have to pay for it to love it. That's the key after all to letting someone borrow your book. You loved it so much that they HAVE to read it.

Now for someone who pirates a book on a site, not only one person borrows it, but thousands of people borrow it. 
Do you see the difference? 

Another thing I loved about the video below was how honest the author was on how much money she makes per book. You see, authors aren't rolling in the dough. Big or small, the money you imagine them tossing in the air and rolling on, it isn't there. 

I thought I might break something down as well with price.

The eBook is $2.99 - from Amazon the publisher receives $2.06. The author makes typically 40% of that. The author will get  0.82 per book. 

The same scenario with a 0.99 cents book. From amazon the publisher get 0.35 cents a copy. And the author receives 0.14.

Do you now see where the phrase "Starving Artist" comes from? This isn't a career to get rich quick. So please, take a moment to watch this great youtube video from Sara Humphreys. And consider signing the petition.