Ebook Piratey: How Do You Protect Your Ebook? -

 The last update was October 5, 2022

It's been a few months, perhaps many years working on the ebook. Then you've released it, to great excitement, to the world. You've made some revenue ... although maybe not as many as you'd like.

Then, one day, you search your ebook's title, hoping that you will find reviews or tweets about it. However, to your surprise there are websites that offer your book at no cost.

Your ebook has been pirated. All your hard labor is given away at no cost on a shady site.

It's an upsetting moment for every author. Your first response, understandably will be to find out ways to shut down the pirates. It's possible you're worried about the fact that the information you've obtained is only the beginning of the Iceberg.

But what do you need to do about it? (And is it even necessary to do anything?) The following information will help you be aware of to safeguard your eBook.

What is Ebook Piracy?

Piracy of your book is released without your authorization.

It can come in a variety of types:

• A person purchases your book Then they share it with friends or acquaintances. This may be done innocently (they aren't aware that they should not share it) or even deliberately.
• The ebook you've created is uploaded to an online platform for others to download. This is what most authors think about when they think of pirated ebooks. There are many websites out there - though (as we'll find out further!) they may often claim to have an ebook available when they aren't.
• Your ebook is being distributed by another person ... without the permission of you. They're taking all the money from it. It's not as common as the other forms of piracy, however it's been reported to happen.

Other types of Ebook Theft

A related problem is people taking your work, then passing it off as their personal. This isn't what most people refer to as "piracy" however it could cause a lot of damage. It's also against the law as it is a violation of your copyright.

Another possibility is that someone copies a part of your work and incorporates it into his own, without your permission and not recognizing you as the source. This constitutes plagiarism.

In any the above scenarios there are legal protections. You may find it, however that you do not need to take it that to the extent. simply warning people to stop or threatening legal action could be enough.

Fight Ebook Piracy With DRM (Digital Rights Management)

So what can you do to stop the piracy of ebooks?

A popular option is to employ DRM (Digital Rights Management) devices to secure your files. There are many options to do this for example, by preventing people from sharing or forwarding the ebook.

It can definitely deter pirates. It is especially effective at preventing individuals from purchasing your book and forwarding it on to friends.

The drawbacks of DRM

Sadly, DRM isn't bulletproof. Determined pirates will be able to circumvent it in one manner or the other. Whatever your eBook's security can be, nothing could stop someone from opening it up on one device , then transferring it onto another. It's true that it could be time-consuming - so most pirates simply wouldn't be bothered.

A further issue associated with DRM is that it can create a lot of difficulties for your customersThere are organizations that oppose DRM for reasons like Defective By Design. Legitimate customers who've paid for your ebook may find it difficult to download and read it as they would like to. This is not what you'd like to happen since it may turn them off from buying from you in the future.

Hugh Howey, a bestselling self-published science-fiction author, discusses his views on DRM in this way:

I would like it to be simple as hell for other people to access my books. This meant that I would never put DRM on my electronic books. DRM is the digital rights management protection which makes it hard to change my books' content or copy them to another format, all that stuff. I was hoping to give a reward to the buyer rather than worry about pirates.

Utilizing DRM for Social DRM

Social DRM is a process where the customer's ebook is marked or watermarked with information including the buyer's email address, date of purchase. This is possible for PDF files. It won't affect negatively customers, and could discourage the piracy (as it will be clear who used the file).

How Can I Safeguard My Job?

A simple way to reduce the risk of piracy - and again and without impacting your customers in any way is to restrict how often your ebook may be downloaded by customers.

This prevents people from sharing their download links with anyone else.

It's best practice to allow individuals to download your ebook at minimum three times. If you let them download the ebook once, it could cause problems if they delete the downloaded file, or even if they wish to download it to multiple devices (instead of simply copying it across).

An ideal compromise between meeting the reader's requirements and stopping the spread of piracy is setting a limit of 5 Downloads. This is the default setting when using .

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What Should You Do If someone steals your Ebook

So what can you do if someone's giving the ebook away, depriving you of any revenue?

If someone pirates your work If someone copies your work, you are liable:

• Get in touch with them (if their site has contact information). In some situations, soliciting the pirate to take down your ebook could be sufficient. They may not want any hassle with you in the future.
• Issue  Issue a DMCA note to the web hosting service (you can find this through whois.net). DMCA is also known as the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. There's no formula that's standard for the creation of a DMCA takedown notice, but it does need to include certain elements.

It is possible to find email templates to use in this Google Doc, to both contact pirates themselves, and for creating an DMCA notice.

What to do to determine if your Ebook is Being Pirated

Sometimes, authors learn about a pirated ebook because the concerned user contacts them to let them know.

But most piracy won't be reported to you. If you want to know if your ebook is being pirated, you could:

1. Search for your book on Google

Type the title of your publication along with the word "download" to Google and check what pops on the screen. You may find sites which have - or claim to have! - your book available.

Make sure you are aware of what you click on, though be sure to use a reliable anti-virus program and in use to safeguard your computer. A lot of pirate websites will be packed with questionable ads or worse.

2. Set up Google Alerts

You can set up Google Alerts to find out what times you or your book appear on websites. This is a fantastic way to be up to date with recent reviews or discussion of your book. It could also allow you to find out whether your book is being pirated.

3. Utilize tools such as Mention.com

Mention.com works like Google Alerts. It has advanced features like the ability to get daily recaps as well as be notified when there's an abrupt increase in references to your name or book title.

Commonly Asked Questions

Here are some questions that customers often ask regarding book piratey:

Do I have to copyright My Ebook?

No. Most countries recognize that your ebook is automatically copyright after you've finished writing the book. You don't need to take any steps to make it copyright. Most people put the copyright warning at the start or end of their ebook, but there's no requirement for this.

There is a website that lists my ebook for downloading ... but do they actually offer it?

In most cases, probably no! There are many websites that provide free eBooks, but they don't really have the books. Instead, as Dave Chesson explains that they're trying to make people sign up for subscriptions on their site ... as well they're trying to spread malware and viruses.

Is it Worth Spending My Moment fighting Piracy?

If you're a brand new author ... it's likely that you aren't. You could spend a huge amount of time fighting piracy, even though it might not be affecting the sales of your books in any way.

In this piece from the Alliance of Independent Authors provides:

"Chasing down pirates that most likely don't violate the copyright of your business or affecting the sales of your book is a waste. It's time and money better spent on creating, editing, and refining your marketing, polishing the book's descriptions or a hundred other activities that add in a effective way to your success."

The one time when it does make sense to tackle the pirated books is when they are dominating search results. If the pirates' websites are ranking very prominently on Google such as that one Tim Grahl has shared, then you'll want to do something about it:

"My writer friend was in a situation in which the third result of Google for the name of the book was a foreign site where you could get the pdf of the book at no cost."

Should I Be Worried About Ebook Piracy?

Also, if you're not an aspiring author, most likely not. Obscurity is a much bigger danger for many authors. If readers don't even know that the existence of your book, they can't buy them.

Some people even think that piracy can be helpful to authors because it puts your work into the hands of greater numbers of people ... certain of whom may become paying customers.

If you're a seasoned author however, you might be noticing that piracy could hurt your book sales. YA author Maggie Stiefvater wrote about her experience with the issue through her facebook page, explaining how the print sales of the third book in her trilogy did much better than the ebook salesand the way the pirated book hurt the following installment in the series.

The publisher then informed me they had cut the printing run for The Raven King to less than half the run that was printed for Blue Lily, Lily Blue. Don't be upset, they said I was told by them, they just felt that the demand of Blue Lily didn't justify printing additional copies.

Maggie Stiefvater was able show that the pirated copies were hurting sales through publishing a fake pirated edition of the fourth book, which was just the first four chapters repeated. The printed edition has sold out and the book sales exploding (until authentic copies of the ebook began getting pirated).

Author Elizabeth Lennox related a similar story which resulted an obvious decline in sales

In one instance I realized that my sales were cut in half. I was shocked. We couldn't figure out what was going on until my husband informed me that he'd discovered my book in pirated sites. We then engaged a lawyer to issue takedown notices, and the next day the sales started increasing.

Ultimately, book piracy isn't going out of fashion. It's up to you to determine if you're willing to fight it or not. For most first time authors, it's going to make more sense to focus of marketing your book ... or creating the next.

If you're experiencing a significant decrease in sales it's not clear if the piracy sites are ranking very highly in Google when searching for the name of your book or the name of your author Then it's the right time to act. Sending out DMCA Notices are the best solution to the problem: remember, you can get templates that are easy to use in this Google Doc.