Theft of e-books: protecting what is rightfully yours
After several months working on his latest e-book, he breathes a sigh of relief when he finishes editing the last line. Finally, you click on the PDF converter and in seconds you have a formatted e-book.
Since you finished editing the sales page on your website two weeks ago, there is nothing to do but upload your e-book and wait for the huge profits to roll in, right?
Even if your e-book is as promising as your ambitions, someone could still steal your earnings the moment you go online. The theft of digital products continues to skyrocket every year. So unless you securely protect your e-book distribution, those profits could sneak out the back door.
A perfect world
Imagine if Mercedes Benz made someone steal your design drawings. The thief later packaged it up as an e-book and showed how an average person could get another company to build one for just $ 1,500. What company do you think most people would approach for a new Mercedes?
What if your local bank doesn’t have ATMs or security guards, but you leave money on the tables and put up posters on the walls asking customers to transact honestly? Do you think your bank will work for a long time?
As silly as these examples may seem, many writers continue to lose their hard-earned money because they assume that placing a copyright inside their e-books will prevent theft. However, they feel that most customers are sincere and would automatically pay for their books.
Unfortunately, e-book theft is even rampant in countries that have strict copyright laws, and you can forget about those countries where copyright laws are lax or non-existent.
As writers, we must protect our work from hackers, hackers, and other Internet thieves. With the ability to transfer files at the speed of thought over the Internet, you need a secure method to create and deliver your e-books.
Public trust
“For me, it comes down to economics over ethics,” says a Colorado State University sophomore, when asked if she thought it was acceptable to download someone’s e-book without paying for it. “With everything I need to pay for these days, I’m willing to cut corners whenever I can.” She is not alone.
In a recent study conducted by IDC for the Business Software Alliance, “Two-thirds of the college and university students surveyed see nothing unethical in exchanging or downloading copyrighted digital files (software, music, and movies) without paying for them. In addition, more than half (52 percent) think that it is also acceptable behavior in the workplace. “
Internet piracy is not only paralyzing the recording industry, it is also affecting all companies and individuals who sell downloadable products over the Internet. With those staggering numbers, it’s easy to understand how much money an author could lose.
Where the robberies occur
Thefts can start directly from your website. Some hackers may find your e-book download page due to lack of website security. Other places you can look for illegal copies of your e-book:
eBay – Many crooks like to place your item for a quick bid. By starting with a low bid, they are guaranteed to make some quick sales. If you have been selling items on e-Bay regularly, you have the opportunity to sell multiple copies of your e-book at a fixed price. You may want to browse the book categories to see if someone is selling your e-book under the same title, or even a new title.
Online forums and bulletin boards – Some of these sites have more than 100,000 members. These groups exist solely to provide free software, e-books, and scripts to their members. Although some charge a membership fee, most allow unlimited access to files that members upload to sites like rapidshare.de, megaupload.com, usendit.com. In just a few days, thousands of users could download your e-book onto their computers, without paying for them!
Personal websites: there are even those who are not interested in auctioning their book or giving it away in a forum. These people will copy your website, upload it to another server, and then sell your book as their own. The inventives will even change the name of the author, the e-book, and even the links you have inside. Even if you password protect a PDF file against editing and copying, there are software programs that will automatically remove the password protection, allowing anyone to change the author’s name and other information in your e-book.
Friends – Sometimes, it’s just someone who shares their e-books with friends and family. It’s probably similar to a person who rents a DVD from Blockbuster and then allows others to make copies. In the end, it reduces profits.
Prevention
Unlike audio and video CDs, it can protect e-books against 99.9% of theft. Here are some of the security benefits of these top software options:
1. eBook Pro: http://ebookpro.24ex.com/
2. Virtual vault – [http://just-go.to/virtualvault/]
Professional benefits e-book
It connects to an online server the first time users register the software and checks to see if that person has purchased their e-book, preventing a customer from sharing the e-book with other people.
Disable any e-book from inside the software. This is good if you offer a money-back guarantee, as it prevents customers from using the e-book after requesting a refund.
You can prevent users from copying and pasting your information
You can disable the printing functions.
eBook Pro requires Internet Explorer 4.0 (or higher). The cost is $ 197. After registering 1000 e-books, you will have to pay $ 0.10 for each additional registration (this is not a problem if you sell so many e-books).
Benefits of the virtual vault
Provides total protection against all types of thieves and gift seekers.
You can try it for 30 days for only $ 2.95
Lock any PDF file, software application. and .exe e-book: saved as an .exe file
You can prevent users from copying and pasting your information
You can disable the printing functions.
Virtual Vault charges a monthly access fee of $ 24.95. What makes this program so attractive is that it also protects PDF files. Most authors prefer this format because it is easy to compile and works for PC and MAC users.
A misconception of e-book authors is that if you password protect a PDF file against changes or document printing, it is safe from changes. Unfortunately, there are many programs that remove these restrictions in seconds. This allows enterprising thieves to repackage your e-book and sell it as their own.
The only way to prevent changes to PDF files is to password protect both the master password and the user’s password. Therefore, a password is also required to open the document. This automatically locks the PDF password removal tools from removing your settings.
Finally, why go to the trouble of protecting your editing features while still allowing printing? Can you go to a library and ask a librarian to photocopy an entire book? No, because that would be a copyright violation. So why would you allow those privileges to someone downloading your e-book? Yes, many computer users like to print the material because it is more pleasing to the eye. However, if someone uses the “print-to-file” software, their e-book could be downloaded in bulk, for free, in a matter of hours or even minutes.
Even if you password protect a PDF file or an EXE file, it does not prevent people from sharing it with friends or posting it in newsgroups or forums. So if you take pride in your artwork, you must have a way to protect your investment.
Regardless of the program you choose, make sure that you are the one who benefits from your e-book, not the crooks.