The website freakbits.com, which delivers news from the popular file-sharing site BitTorrent, has released a list of BitTorrent's 10 most downloaded books of 2009. The Kama Sutra tops the list of illicit downloads, which is dominated by sex and self-help guides, plus computer and home project manuals.
Only one bestselling fiction author - Stephenie Meyer, for the Twilight Series - made the top ten, suggesting that those able to spend the money for an e-reader or wishing to read a book on their PC are downloading illicit e-books not just because they're free, but also for the convenience and relative anonymity.
All e-books in the top ten list were reportedly downloaded between 100,000 and 250,000 times.
10 most pirated books of 2009:
1. Kama Sutra
2. Photoshop Secrets
3. The Complete Idiot's Guide to Amazing Sex
4. The Lost Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci
5. Solar House: A Guide for the Solar Designer
6. Before Pornography: Erotic Writing In Early Modern England
7. Twilight: Complete Series
8. How To Get Anyone To Say YES: The Science Of Influence
9. Nude Photography: The Art And The Craft
10. Fix It: How To Do All Those Little Repair Jobs Around The Home
According to FreakBits, other bestselling authors to make the top 25 were Dan Brown, Stephen King, and JK Rowling, partially due to authors' and publishers' approaches to the e-book market. For example, the publishers of Stephen King's Under the Dome delayed the novel's e-book release by several weeks in an attempt to bolster hardcover sales, leading those with e-readers to download the novel illegally. And JK Rowling has refused to make her Harry Potter series available electronically, meaning many readers revert to piracy to obtain the books in digital form.
from: The Independent
No comments:
Post a Comment