...to generally be against stealing books?

[MasterBeth]

I didn't want to derail another thread on a serious subject (domestic abuse) but someone' s advice on that conversation amounted to "you'll get loads of helpful advice in this book. Google "Title of Book free PDF"

So, rather than pay for something that someone has used their talent and expertise to write, you should just get a pirated copy for nothing, should you? Not buy it, or borrow it from the library. Just nick it?

It's exactly the same as buying dodgy Amazon Fire sticks in a pub or online to get pirated Sky or Netflix subscriptions.

It's just stealing. It's not OK.

If it is available as a free PDF it is usually because the author has made it available in that format.

Well, I went to the author's website and the link to the book goes to Amazon so... I don't think so.

Amazon do 'Hourly Histories' every week and they are free if you have a Kindle.

https://hourlyhistory.com/

Yeah, the question is not "do free books exist?" I know free books exist. (And they look suspiciously AI-written...)

The question is "should you steal proper books that a real person has written?"

(Also, that site has nothing to do with Amazon.)

Piracy websites are a huge problem in books, authors normally use epub to give away books as free downloads, not pdfs unless it's something really small or connected to another book like an extra chapter/epilogue etc.

Lots are uploaded from people getting free advanced copies for promotional use/blogger/reviewers. If you find it outside the author's website and normal retailer and looks unusual (advance copies often have wording about it on the cover - it's mostly pirated.

If an author has their books in Kindle Unlimited and Amazon gets wind of free downloads - piracy or not, the KU is cancelled and it takes ages, lawyers and paperwork to get Amazon to reinstate it.

Yes it's stealing and it's a problem, just like copying CDs and pirating films is a problem. Some people think it doesn't matter because they're only taking from a large company but there's a creator at the beginning of the process and that creator will lose royalties if the end user skips the buying stage. So yes it does matter.