I am so upset. I found out that someone has been pirating books from a Lutheran author! At least two of her books, one fiction and one non-fiction, have been affected in this way.
It makes me feel quite naïve, frankly, so I asked her for some tips and thought I’d share:
There are multiple different book file types, like mobi, pdf, ePub, etc. There are certain ones I hardly ever give out, and the one uploaded to the piracy site I gave a single one of that file type. Piracy is often unavoidable as eventually somebody will figure out a way to get it out there. It’s not something to worry too much over. I always copyright my manuscripts before they go to anyone else and so I have paperwork proof that I own the file that was used. I can use that paperwork to file a DMCA and ask the site to take it down. Sometimes they will, sometimes they won’t. Sometimes they’ll take it down until they think you’re not looking and put it back up. Playing whack a mole with piracy sites can be time consuming . . .
In this most recent case, she even knows who did it: someone from an Advanced Reading group (an ARC copy, as some would say). How frustrating!
Yes, we have to do our best to find reviewers. But pirating books is stealing.
Please don’t pirate books. Don’t go to pirating book sites either since they’re pretty notorious for hosting viruses, too. Sigh. And review books like you so authors aren’t tempted by people who are really out to steal someone else’s work.
🙁
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