Ebook Copyright: How Do You Securing Your Ebook? -

HTML1Updated 5 Oct 2022

It's been a long time, perhaps several years, writing your book. Then you've released it, to great excitement, to the world. The product has earned a few dollars ... although it's not as large as you'd prefer.

Then, a few days later you enter the name of your book hoping you'll find reviews or tweets about the book. Your surprise is that it shows onto websites that offer the book, that allow you to download the book at no cost.

Your ebook is pirated. All your hard work is being sold at no cost on a shady website.

It's an incredibly difficult moment for anybody who writes. Naturally, your first reaction likely to be trying to discover how you can stop the pirates. You might be worried that the listing you've found is only the beginning of the tip of the Iceberg.

What can you do? (And is it even necessary to make any changes at all?) All of this is something you must be aware of in order to protect your manuscript.

What Is Ebook Piracy?

The expression "ebook piracy" is used to describe the situation when your ebook is made available without permission.

This could take a range of different forms:

• A person buys your book After which they distribute it to friends or colleagues. This may be carried out in a manner which is harmless (they do not realize that they shouldn't share the book) and in an deliberate way.
• Your book is now available on the internet for people to download. This is what many authors are thinking of when they think of pirated eBooks. There are many websites available on the web, but (as we'll find out more!) they may often claim to offer an ebook, but they really don't.
• Your book is available for sale by a different user ... without your consent. They're taking all the profits. This is not so common in comparison to other kinds of piracy, but it's certainly been known to happen.

Different Types of Ebook Theft

A different issue is the theft of your work, then using it as their personal. This isn't exactly what people refer to as "piracy" however, it could be extremely damaging. This is also a illegal act since it violates your copyright.

There is also the chance that someone copies a part or even all the content that you've written and integrates the work into their own without permission and also without naming your name as the creator. This is considered an act of plagiarism.

There are legal safeguards. You may find, though that you do not need to take it that much. Simply advising people to cease or threatening legal action could suffice.

The fight against Ebook Piracy With DRM (Digital Rights Management)

So what can you do to combat the piracy of eBooks?

Another choice that's becoming widely used is using DRM (Digital Rights Management) devices for the protection of the files. There are many options to do this for example, by preventing the sharing or sending of the ebook.

This can certainly stop pirates. This is particularly useful as it stops people from buying your ebook and forwarding it on to acquaintances.

The disadvantages of DRM

Sadly, DRM doesn't guarantee absolute security. Some pirates may be capable of evading it in one way or the other. Whatever your eBook's security is, nothing could stop someone from opening it up on one device and retyping identical information on another. It's true that it would take time to complete which is why the majority of pirates do not bother.

One of the major issues with DRM is that it may create a problem for your clients.There are groups that have a problem with DRM because of reasons such as Defective By Design. If you're a legitimate customer, those who've bought your book may be able to have a harder time getting access to and use it in the ways they'd like to. This is not what you'd like because it could make them reluctant to purchase your products in the future.

Hugh Howey, a bestselling self-published author of science fiction, explains his attitude towards DRM by saying:

I was hoping it would be just as simple for other people to use my work. This meant that I could not put DRM on my ebooks. DRM provides protection by digital rights management , which is a hindrance to convert my book and copy them across other sites, etc. I wanted to honor my buyer, rather than worrying about copycats.

Using Social DRM

Social DRM refers to an approach where the client's ebook can be printed or watermarked with details such as the purchaser's email address, day of purchase and the date. It can also be done with PDF documents. It doesn't affect the clients, and could even stop the piracy (as it's obvious who is sharing the file).

How can I ensure the safety of my Work?

An easy way to make piracy harder - again but without impacting your customers in any way is by limiting the ways your book can be allowed to be downloaded by your customers.

This is because people cannot share their download link with other people.

It is suggested to allow users download your book at least three times. If you allow them to download the ebook one time it could cause issues should they don't get their file back that they downloaded, or download it to several devices (instead of copies across).

The best compromise between fulfilling the requirements of the user and stopping piracy is to set the limit to five downloads. This is the default setting that is used when you use .

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What to Do if Someone Pirates Your Ebook

What can you do when an ebook is given awayand you are left without any money?

If you've been victimized by a copycat, you can:

• Contact them (if their website contains contact details). In some cases, simply soliciting the pirate to take down your work could suffice. They may not wish to go through to deal with you for an extended period of time.
• Write a DMCA note to the web hosting provider (you can find the information on whois.net). DMCA can be described as the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. There's no set formula for an DMCA notice that needs to be taken down however, it must comprise certain parts.

You can find examples of email templates inside this Google Doc, to pirates and pirates' contact, as well as for giving notices to pirates as per the DMCA notice.

What to do to determine if your eBook is being copied

Occasionally, authors find out about the pirated book when a worried reader sends an email to notify them of the problem.

However, most pirates won't be revealed to the customer. If you'd like to know if your ebook is being stolen, it is possible to:

1. Discover your book by using Google

Type in the title of the ebook and"download "download" and then go to Google to see what results pop into your browser. You may find websites offering the book - or promise to make - your book available.

Make sure you are careful when clicking, however be sure to use a reputable antivirus program that is in use to guard your computer. Many pirate sites will be packed with fraudulent ads or worse.

2. Set up Google Alerts

You can set up Google Alerts to know what times you or your work are featured online. This is a fantastic way to be up to date with current reviews or discussions of your book - and it may also enable you to find how much of your book is duplicated.

3. Make use of instruments for example Mention.com

Mention.com works as Google Alerts. It includes advanced capabilities, such as the ability to get daily updates as well as the capability to be notified in the event of a sudden influx of mentions to the name of your book or your author.

Commonly Asked Questions

Here are some questions that customers frequently have about book piracy:

Do I need to copyright My Ebook?

No. Most countries recognize the fact that an ebook immediately copyrighted after writing it. You don't need to do anything in order to declare it as copyright. Most people put the warning about copyright at the start or near the at the end of their book, but it's not a necessity.

My ebook is available on the site available for download ... But do they really possess it?

A majority of the times it's not! Many websites provide free eBooks but they don't actually offer these. However, as Dave Chesson clarifies the reason, they're either trying to make people pay for a subscription to their website ... or they're trying to spread malware and viruses.

Do I really need to spend my effort fighting Piracy?

If you're just beginning your journey being an author ... it's likely you won't. You could spend hours trying to solve the issue of piracy, but it may not impact the book's sales in the slightest.

In this piece from the Alliance of Independent Authors offers:

"Chasing down pirates that most likely won't infringe the copyright of your business or reducing the profit margins of your business isn't efficient. The time and energy that could be better used making, editing and refining your marketing writing, then polishing your book's content and a myriad of different tasks that contribute more effectively to your prosperity."

A situation where it makes sense to do something to stop the piracy industry is when it is dominating the results of a search. If websites of pirates have been ranked very highly on Google, in cases like that one in which Tim Grahl is a element of which you're most likely to take action:

"My author friend was in a situation in which the third result of Google in search of the name of the book turned up an international web site where you could download the PDF edition of the book free of cost."

Do I need to be concerned about Ebook Piracy?

Again, if you're not familiar with the world of writing, you're probably not. Obscurity is a much bigger danger for authors in general. If no one knows about your writing, they can't buy them.

Many people believe that pirate markets can help authors as it allows your work into the hands of a wider audience ... certain of whom may become paying users.

If you're an experienced author but you could discover that piracy has a negative effect on sales of your books. YA author Maggie Stiefvater wrote about her experience through her account of Facebook and explained how the printing of her book 3 in her trilogy was much higher than ebooks and also how the pirated book hurt the following book in the series:

After that, the Publisher informed me that they were having to reduce the print run of The Raven King to less than half of the print run in Blue Lily, Lily Blue. It's not a problem, remember I was told by them, but the statistics for Blue Lily did not justify printing additional copies.

Maggie Stiefvater demonstrated the effect of piratey on sales through publishing a false pirated version of the fourth book that was just the four first chapters which were repeated. The book's printing ran out of print and eBook sales increasing rapidly (until actually copies of the ebook began becoming pirated).

The author Elizabeth Lennox related a similar incident that led to a clear reduction in the number of sales

At one point, I saw that my sales had reduced by one-half. I was stunned. It was difficult to figure out what was going on , until my husband informed me that he'd discovered my books on websites that were pirated. After that, we brought in a lawyer to issue removal notices. Following the day, sales began rising again.

At the end of the day, book theft won't go disappearing. It is up to you to decide if it's worth fighting or not. If you're writing your first novel it is sensible to spend in the marketing of your book ... as well in writing the book that follows.

If you're seeing a distinct decline in sales or if the websites that promote piracy are showing up very high on Google in search results for your book or author name, then it's the right time to act. Concerning DMCA notifications are the most effective solution You can download templates for DMCA notices that are simple to use in this Google Doc.

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