The goal of Black March is to not purchase any media–no movies, no books, no cds, no digital music, no magazines–for the entire month of March as a way to punish those lobbying against SOPA, PIPA, and it’s related laws. And on the surface, it seems to make sense. Don’t put one more penny into the coffers of companies lobbying to reduce your right to free speech. I don’t think any of us disagree with that. But have you thought about…?

• The janitor working for a major media corporation who stands with us against SOPA who might lose his job because profits are down.
• Authors, Artists, Musicians, Filmmakers, who agree with us, but who happen to utilize one of the major media companies to distribute their work
• Small presses, small music labels, or small movie studios who are against SOPA and did not lobby for it

How are you going to support individuals like these, who stand with us? Because a boycott would reduce the money going to these big companies, but it would also have collateral damage that I don’t think anyone intends.

If you do go ahead with the boycott, think about this…

Make sure you DO support small and independent authors, artists, musicians, filmmakers, etc who do support SOPA.

How do you do this?

Buy author direct! An author offering autographed copies thorugh his or her website? Buy there!

Buy publisher direct! Purchase directly from a small or midsize publisher directly through their website.

Buy indie direct! Get your music directly from the artist when you can.

Visit sites and consume your media/news/information from the sites which DID in one form or another support the boycott.

Make your voices heard, but also understand that the action you take, could also negatively impact your favorite author/artist/musician/actor/etc., too.