neil gaiman philip pullman kazuo ishiguro and many other authors signed a letter asking their government to fight online book piracythe society of authors is a trade union for all types of writers illustrators and literary translators at all stages of their careers according to their website they have written a letter to greg clark the secretary of state for business energy and industrial strategy in england on online book piracythe letter reads we are concerned that websites offering illegal downloads of books are becoming increasingly prevalent research by the intellectual property office found that a sixth of ebooks read online in the uk in 2017 around four million books were pirated we do not want to give any of these sites publicity by naming them here but they can easily be foundthe letter goes on to explain that this is a serious crime because writers barely earnauthors earnings are in decline and many are struggling financially a survey carried out by the authors licensing and collecting society alcs in 2018 found that the median earnings of a uk author from their writing was just 10500 per annum they informed and went on to detail how that would impact literature as a whole if authors can no longer afford to write the supply of new writing will inevitably dry up it could also cause further damage to our library service which does pay authors both for the purchase of books and through plr every time a book is lent at a time when libraries are already facing cuts and closures across the countryphillip pullman the author of the famoushis dark materials trilogy has always been outspoken about the easy availability of pirated books online he is also the president of the society of authors and the first signee on the letter he believes online piracy of books music and other expressions of the human spirit needs to be properly understood its an offence against moral justice its the very opposite of freedom of speech because it acts to prevent those who create beauty knowledge consolation or delight from earning even a modest living from their efforts the law of copyright is one of the bastions of civilized living but the acid rain of online piracy is slowly dissolving something we thought was set in stone surely it should be a fundamental duty of any decent government to defend the rights of those who help to create what civilization is32 other members also signed the letter and spoke about how piracy affects creative industries joanne harris author of chocolat said in a world in which most authors earn less than a living wage book piracy threatens authors livelihoods as well as threatening diversity small publishers and libraries and limiting choice for readers other authors who have signed antony beevormalorie blackmantracy chevalierwendy copelindsey davismargaret drabblemaureen duffyclare francisantonia frasermaureen freelyneil gaimanvictoria glendinningphilip grossdaniel hahnjoanne harristom hollandwilliam horwoodkazuo ishigurosteve jonespenelope livelyhilary manteldeborah moggachben okriderek parkerian rankinpiers paul readgillian reynoldsanne sebbatom stoppardjoanna trollopesarah