A video has gone viral on social media showing an author negotiating for a pirated copy of her book at Connaught Place in Delhi.
Taking to Instagram, writer Radhika Agrawal shared a clip of herself visiting a local street vendor in Connaught Place, where she spotted a pirated copy of her book Red Flags and Rishtas: A Desi Rom Com being openly sold.
In the video, Agrawal asks the seller about the price of the book and he replies that it is expensive $350. Then she asked jokingly: “The author’s discount from Milja?” Before revealing, “This is my book.”
The unexpected moment seems to amuse the seller, who eventually agrees to sell the book to her for it $100, which turns the interaction into a humorous, sarcastic exchange.
Take a look here at the clip:
Viral video highlights hacking concerns
In sharing the video, Agrawal used humor to address serious concerns surrounding piracy in the publishing world. Her comment read: “How would you rate my bargaining skills? Jokes aside, piracy is one of those things that seems harmless until you realize that it threatens the entire publishing industry and harms the author in more ways than you can imagine. It reduces author sales, royalties, and even future book deals. Books are based on numbers, and those numbers matter more than we like to admit.
The clip has since received more than 10 million views, sparking numerous reactions.
The Internet is reacting with humor and concern
Social media users flooded the comments section with a mixture of humour, surprise and support for the author. “No one expected the story to unfold,” one user wrote. Another commented: “Imagine negotiating with the person who actually wrote the book.”
“This is funny but also sad because piracy really hurts creators,” a third user said. Another added: “The seller probably didn’t realize who he was talking to.” “At least I got the author discount,” one comment read, while another user wrote: “People think pirated books are harmless, but this explains the real impact.”
(Disclaimer: This report is based on user-generated content from social media. HT.com has not independently verified the claims and does not endorse them.)
