The Challenge With Most Books is Getting Anyone to Read Them

August 18, 2021 8:05 AM

For years, a mysterious figure has been stealing books before their release. Is it espionage? Revenge? Or a complete waste of time? ... “If you try to find financial and economic gain, it’s of course hard to see,” said Daniel Sandstrom, the literary director of a Swedish publisher hit many times by the thief. “But if the game is psychological, a kind of mastery or feeling of superiority, it’s easier to visualize. This is a business full of resentment as well, and in that sense, it becomes a good story.” from The Spine Collector by Reeves Wiedeman
posted by chavenet (15 comments total)

For me, the most interesting part is this aside: "The thief wasn’t the only one who wanted me to stop. Two of this magazine’s editors sat me down and said that I couldn’t spend all year investigating a crime with no real victims."

I'm super curious how much time and money was spent on this very long article, which (spoiler alert!) doesn't have any real payoff.
posted by roger ackroyd at 8:40 AM on August 18, 2021 [2 favorites]

I was really hoping that the big reveal at the end would be that the article's author was the thief.
posted by RandlePatrickMcMurphy at 9:13 AM on August 18, 2021 [6 favorites]

I was really hoping that the big reveal at the end would be that the article's reader was the thief.
posted by GenjiandProust at 9:15 AM on August 18, 2021 [9 favorites]

Maybe the true thief is the friends they made along the way?
posted by chavenet at 9:17 AM on August 18, 2021 [14 favorites]

This should be the next season of FARGO.
posted by bleep at 9:20 AM on August 18, 2021 [2 favorites]

Previously.

My money is still on "this isn't about money".
posted by justkevin at 10:01 AM on August 18, 2021 [3 favorites]

The author hired the wrong hackers. What you do is get a manuscript as bait and encrypt the PDF so it has to be viewed in your custom publisher viewer app. That app is downloaded form the fake secure site setup with the manuscript files. The app contains some useful spyware that lets you grab everything from their documents and photos, and uses location services to get the GPS coordinates.

Alternatively you have a gmail address linked to this conspiracy to steal trade secrets get one of the authors or publishers to get a Court order that will force Google to reveal the information they have on the individual who setup the account.
posted by interogative mood at 10:14 AM on August 18, 2021 [3 favorites]

Interogative, you'd never download the nasty viewer software yourself. You post the PDF or ebook on a forum with a bounty, and someone else decrypts it and posts the plaintext.

You might expect the bounty would be paid in bitcoin, but since these sites started long ago, the bounty is just internet points that the members trade on the site.

(yes, this is a real thing, no hamburger)
posted by ryanrs at 10:35 AM on August 18, 2021 [8 favorites]

Anyone has a non paywalled link? I used up my nymag allotment on an article on breakthrough covid cases that depressed me.
posted by subdee at 11:56 AM on August 18, 2021 [2 favorites]

a non-paywalled link to an article on book thievery? Perish the thought, subdee.

Maybe the big reveal is that the magazine editors are the thieves: The thief wasn’t the only one who wanted me to stop. Two of this magazine’s editors sat me down and said that I couldn’t spend all year investigating a crime with no real victims.

"The Spine Collector" = my new wrestling name.
posted by Iris Gambol at 12:37 PM on August 18, 2021 [9 favorites]

Thank you Iris!!!

Hmm after reading the whole thing, I think I like "it's a training program for hackers bc the stakes are low and the victims aren't tech-savvy" the best out of all of the speculative explanations.

And the weirdo who was an early suspect has my sympathies, harmless weirdos unite. I hope it's not him.
posted by subdee at 1:47 PM on August 18, 2021 [6 favorites]

After the training program explanation, I like the idea that this is a social club, like a group of digital gentlemen thieves. The more prestigious the MS you can nab, the more social cache you gain in the group. They have a handbook of rules you need to follow to avoid getting caught or giving the group away. The more irate emails are sent by new members who are afraid they'll have to leave. Eventually we'll find out about it due to intragroup social friction and a falling out between the founding members. Hollywood you can call me now.
posted by subdee at 1:51 PM on August 18, 2021 [4 favorites]

That kind of social club is basically what the piracy scene is on the inside. The only thing not pointing at the pirate scene is that none of the books seem to have reached the public sites.
posted by joeyh at 4:40 PM on August 18, 2021 [3 favorites]

Metafilter: I used up my nymag allotment on an article on breakthrough covid cases that depressed me.
posted by Joe in Australia at 4:48 PM on August 18, 2021 [7 favorites]

I know the Icelandic author who was targeted. In international terms he’s super-obscure, and has barely been translated, but he did live in New York for a couple of years, and took part in some readings there, so that could be how the thief came across him. That does support the New York theory.
posted by Kattullus at 4:22 AM on August 19, 2021 [2 favorites]