Thank you

In response to yesterday’s copyright post:

Thank you for the lively discussion. This is my page and I expect a certain level of behaviour here. I ask that you be kind and respectful. I retain the right to shut down discussion when needed, like if I have way too much to do to monitor the discussion.

Thank you for all the words of encouragement and for the private messages of support. Thank you to those who shared my post widely, especially other designers and authors, as we all experience this.

Thank you to all who call out this behaviour when you see it. I am incredibly grateful for you standing up for those of us who this affects directly. I am grateful that you can see that it affects our industry as a whole, because there is more than one designer who has ceased trading because of copyright breaches. I know that most people do not breach copyright, and I am grateful for that.

I want to state plainly that there are NO places on the internet where my books can be legally downloaded. If you come across any of my books for download, they are illegally put there by someone with no right to do so. Whether it is free to download or costs you money to download, it is illegal. If you have paid money in the past for this, that money does not come to me in any shape or form. The only format that my books can be purchased in legally, is real, hold-them-in-your-hands books. Anything else is illegal.

I also want to state plainly that copyright breaches are not an unusual occurrence. It happens to ALL designers, ALL authors, ALL the time. Yesterday was just a day where I felt disgusted enough to post about it. It is constant, and I could spend all my working hours trying to get my illegally posted intellectual property removed from the internet. It’s been a huge problem for a very long time.

Thank you to those of you who stand up for what is right. Thank you for refusing to copy that chart, project or knitting pattern for the person in your craft/FB/friendship group who asks for a copy. Thank you for saying why you won’t. As JK Rowling says via Dumbledore, “It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends.”