Fifty Shades of Theft

Just a week from the latest Fifty Shades release, and tragedy has struck. British police are investigating after a copy of the book went missing from the publisher‘s. It’s feared Grey might be leaked, whether in part, or in full.

What was that? Oh, sorry, I got a bit distracted. Carry on.

There’s part of me that finds this a little bit funny. The book is such a force, we’re so keen to hear Christian Grey’s side of it, that people are willing to steal it. The book was kept tightly under wraps as it was written, only being recently announced. The security around this would have been tight. Stealing a copy was probably very difficult. Reading about a bit of spanking just got even more illicit.

The flip side is a bit more serious. It’s difficult for writers these days. Fewer people read, fewer again read hard copy books. People are more than willing to try and illegally download popular books.

Hours of work and creativity go into a book. All while the writer has no other income, or has to work another full-time job. No matter what the subject matter is, there’s research involved, and it’s often a hard slog getting to the finish line. Stealing someone’s income is a crappy thing to do, however you try and justify it.

That said, if it leaks, I’m entirely certain plenty of people will want the sneak peak. E L James will surely be upset about it, but at the end of the day, she’ll still have a pile of money to comfort herself with.

Would you be eager enough to get your hands on the book that you would read a leak? Or would you restrain (ha) yourself and wait for the legal release on June 18?