This is mostly just to vent, but I self-published my first book about 2-1/2 months ago and already found it posted up on a piracy site. I knew it was inevitable that this was going to happen eventually, but the fact I haven't even recouped my direct out-of-pocket costs in royalties yet makes it hurt that much more. I already asked them to remove it but I know it's ultimately a losing battle.
Posted Jul 14, 2021, 9:09 PM UTC
I feel like being on the pirate sites means you're on the right track, because someone bothered to upload your work there. It means you're visible!
In the days of ebooks, piracy is inevitable. It used to happen to music, movies, PC games... and now books, too.
If a pirate likes one of my works and spreads a positive opinion about it, potentially influencing someone else to buy it... heck, I won't even be mad that the guy pirated it. Maybe he's from a poor country where buying books just isn't an option.
Yea that's actually well said. Truth be told I knew going in that it wasn't going to be a money-maker anyway and a good part of my motivation was just to get the ideas out there (it's a niche programming book). So you're right in that it's not all downside.
I'm not in it for the money either, that's just a bonus. I don't mind pirates as long as they actually read my stuff... it's expanding my audience, in a way. Not my preferred way, but hey.
I advise you to file a DMCA notice with the hosting provider, not the organization stealing the story. They will be able to act on it far more than anyone else. Afterwards, file a DMCA report to Google, to get any search results delisted.
I already thought about the hosting provider (Cloudflare in this case), but didn't think about the Google listing. Thanks!
Are you sure? I wasn't aware Cloudflare did hosting themselves.
You can't stop it, but the people who download the book can be customers too. Reach out on the site and leave a comment and say if they liked the book maybe they might buy it and help the author. This has worked in the past for others. Some people are just poor and they might just remember you later. Be positive.
People do this, and it can work wonders if you are polite about it. Something like, ‘Hey there. I’m the author of this. If you like what you read please consider buying a copy. The support will help me produce more work’
You want to come across as polite and calm while drawing attention to the possibility that someone can actually opt to pay. A surprising number of people use piracy sites as a ‘try before buy’ sort of thing. It can work out in your favour, weirdly enough.
As much as it irks me at the moment, mostly because I'm still in the process of recouping the upfront costs of putting it out there, that's kind of my attitude on it too.
Yes. It sucks, but if you can find a silver lining then you might as well. It’s about all you can do sometimes...
I have a small text on the second or third page of my epubs, asking readers to buy the book if they found it for free and enjoyed it, as purchasing it allows me to write more. I see them as potential customers, if not for the pirated book, then for future ones.
That's a great idea!
I write about the dark web, so my books are pirated through the roof. It is just something I deal with, though I don't know if the pirates understand just how much it hurts us. I think people see a successful author and assume "millionaire" when nothing could be further from the truth.
The worst one recently was that someone pirated my most popular book and put it on Audible (Amazon don't have very robust checks and balances on that sort of thing) with the worst voice. That was far worse than books going up on the pirate sites, because it was a huge blow to my credibility (because the narration was so horrible). My publisher notified Amazon, but it is taking a while for it to be removed.
You can try to dmca it. But honestly it's not worth it. Pirates will never become paying customers so you aren't really losing on sales if you think about it. It put the same effort and cost into marketing you have a greater chance of attracting paying fans who want to support you.
Only problem is. If the book is in the Kindle Unlimited program and Amazon bots pick up on the fact there is a free copy floating on the net. Amazon will e-mail demanding it to be removed from the sites. It is a automatic process and it can get books pulled off Amazon.
So having proof that they tried to DMCA it, would be needed for Amazon at that point.
Edit: Oh wait. From below it seems to not be a KU book.
It's on Amazon as a Kindle book though not KU.
I have it up on Leanpub as an epub because I know not everyone wants Kindle. I'm sure that's where the pirated source came from, but I feel it's still worth having it there. I wanted to provide alternatives and make it easy for those willing to pay for it to get it, even if it also made it easier to pirate.
I've seen my LeanPub book on a pirate site also. It was not a US or EU site, so I figured that there was not much I can do. I had not thought of sending a DMCA request to Google.
Yea, and I knew that going into it. And I'm not going to obsess about it - after today :)
I’d like to point out that I was a Pirate and bought several movies/games because I liked them so much.
As someone else said, a lot of piracy can be a try before you buy thing. Or there are issues with distribution in their country
There isn't a damn thing you can do about it so stop worrying. Anyone who is going to pirate your book isn't going to buy it in the first place. They are not your customers. Focus on the people who are.
As harsh as this is to hear, I think it’s pretty sound advice. There are a few things you can do but honestly the people that want to get something for free ultimately will. Try not to think of it as lost revenue (even though it technically is) because it was never coming anyway.
Reality isn't kind. People need to deal with the reality they live in, not the fantasy work in their heads. These people were never going to pay you no matter what you do. You're just wasting your time trying to stop it.
There are groups out there that take pride in pirating. It doesn't matter what, just that they did it. These people hoover up everything . Take solace in the fact you probably weren't targeted, you were just caught in the haul for this week.
It's not something i would worry about. There's not much you can do and the people pirating weren't going to buy your book anyway. It's something I wouldn't let effect you and realize it's something that will always be around, at least for the foreseeable future.
Are people downloading it there? Just because it is downloadable for free doesn't mean people are actually dl'ing it.
Well the whole site is dedicated to doing just that so if it hasn't yet it will be. I will say that in addition to a having a direct download link for the ebook for free, they were at least nice enough to provide a link to buy the book on Amazon as well.
It's a small consolation, but just be aware that whilst there are a LOT of actual piracy sites, with books especially there are a very large number of sites that LOOK like piracy sites but actually aren't because they never give the pirate/reader the book, they just string them along, run them through a series of links that go to ad-filled pages and use various "black hat" techniques to extract money from people visiting the site looking to download a certain book for free, it's extrememly common with college textbooks.
They "scrape" large booksellers like amazon etc and grab the blurbs and cover pictures etc but never get the actual book because they don't need it because they aren't actually giving anything away they are just screwing people over.
On the site I found, I tested the download and it has my original content. The good news is that I just checked again and they apparently honored my take-down request from yesterday. I don't see it there anymore.
I'll never understand why this bothers people so much. If I publish a book I'm going to encourage people to pirate it so that I can get in front of as many eyes as possible.
In the first few pages I'd allude to this and explain I have no issue with it especially if they can't afford it. I'd then go on to add that if what follows brings some sort of value to their life that I encourage them to leave a donation. Then leave the link to my personal website.
Free content is where the money really is.
I sure hope so, and like others have said I hope they recommend your book and possibly even BUY the next one gasp
I’m so sorry this happened to you. The first time I found one of my books pirated it had been downloaded 18k times before I was able to get it removed. I was super annoyed. But honestly it made zero difference one way or the other. It didn’t hurt my sales or help sales on subsequent books. I do now watermark my ARCs since, for me, this ended up being where the pirated copies came from.
Expecting this, I posted my novel for free on Archive.org (splashing it with "free version" & some commentary on it in the dedication) while also selling it on Amazon & B&N. I have had more sales than free downloads. Though, I have no idea how many people, if any, have also downloaded it via Torrent. Going by the number of downloads, I may have lost about $200... though, it's also possible those people wouldn't have bought my novel anyway.
ultimately a losing battle.
Exactly. At this point, it's part of "doing business." It sucks, especially for those who are losing big money because of it, but fighting it doesn't seem to do much but give one headaches.
Was it an ebook, or was it hard copy?
It's the ebook. I put it out in epub and mobi formats. And even though I know it's desired by some, I did not put the PDF version out that I use for the print version. With that it would take very little for someone to do their own POD with it, which I've heard from other authors apparently happens quite a bit.
Oh my god, I know we should expect this, but it still feels shocking to hear it. This is a big reason why I always feel wary to sharing my poetry on social media - never know who is going to just swipe it. I suppose it doesn't matter to big name authors , but it really rankles with me.
I'm willing to accept that piracy happens and there's nothing not much you can do about it, but will do whatever I can to stop someone from stealing the content and presenting it as their own. That's a whole different thing.
Agreed
At one point I was planning on distributing educational DVDs in China. In China, you can be pretty sure that your work will be immediately pirated. I pondered this and then decided to view the DVD as advertising, and let the piracy provide free widespread advertising, and then make money from other things (like in-person training).
This meant, of course, that each frame of the images on the DVD had to include the brand name, but that wasn’t so hard.
I finally pursued other things, but I think it is possible to find ways for piracy to work for you.
I'm so sorry that this happened to you, but also HECK YEA your book is good enough to steal?! 😂
If I'm lucky maybe they'll at least leave good reviews for me :)
This is why I am not making an electronic version of my book available.
Mine may appear in a slightly unusual format, for this very reason.
It's in Klingon.
Well, the translation is good, but no one has bio-pack decrypters yet.
These humans have only just now discovered bio-chirality life-signs detection.
Ok, so I'll release it in Vulcan logisygil.
It’s a crappy thing, but the people who actually care about your work and want to support you won’t be the ones using the pirated version, so in a way, you’re weeding out those who don’t care about your career and just want free stuff.
However, if someone comes across the pirated version and enjoys it, it might entice them to search you and follow you for future content.
It’s best not to pay attention to that stuff and just keep doing you.
Thanks, I appreciate that :)
I firmly believe that the ones who pirate have a valid reason to do so and you can't change their minds or situations they are in.
Just as a theoretical exercise, one poor student likes your stuff and recommends your work to 10 people he knows and two or three of them are in a different situation as him and they'll buy your stuff and so forth. It's basically a free giveaway without you putting in any extra work in.
People do that on Amazon all the time and are fine with it,too.
Agree!
In some points, it might become as your lead generator to get more audience :)