I was going to write about something else this morning, but after reading another author’s impassioned email about her books being stolen (epirated–exactly the same thing) I decided to share some tips with you that I shared with her.
If you come across a pirate site,
please go to this link “Authors Against E-piracy” and report the link to
them. They will investigate and shut them down.
Author’s against e-piracy link: http://www.iwofa.net/Epiracy.htm
Here are some other things authors are doing to protect their salaries.
1) If you belong to RWA, report these sites or individuals to them. They are in the process of finding these bastards and taking legal action against them.
2) Report these sites to your publishers. You are not the only one losing money. Some publishers have lawyers on staff (like mine) or have one available for consultation and they can send a cease and desist letter that holds a lot more weight than from an author.
3) In lieu of a lawyer, you can report scams and piracy to this site. abuse@mediafire.com
or directly to the FBI. I include a nicely worded warning on my website’s Books Page, including the FBI site where you can report copyright infringement. Here it is:
E-piracy hurts writers
and is punishable by a $250,000 fine and up
to five years in jail.
Please don’t do
business with e-pirates
for both of our sakes.
http://www.fbi.gov/ipr/
Feel free to copy it and use it on your websites. You have my permission and encouragement to do so.
4) Whenever someone wins a book from you, imprint upon them the legalities by having them sign a waver before sending them your book. Here’s an example offered to any author who wants it:
WAIVER:
To Cheryl’s Book Nook (insert the proper name here)
I, Keta Diablo, do not grant permission for this book to be copied in
any format, sold, or otherwise transferred from your computer to another
through upload to a file sharing peer to peer program or as a prize in
any other contest. This includes other review sites, readers and blogs.
Such action is illegal and in violation of the US Copyright Law.
When you no longer want the book, it must be deleted from your computer.
If you agree to these stipulations, please email me back and I will send
the book to you.
Keta Diablo, Author
www.ketadiablo.com
March 3rd, 2009 at 3:05 pm
Thanks for bringing this to others’ attention. I am astounded at the number of e-piracy sites cropping up all over the internet . . . and I am very disheartened. It has been a main topic of conversation on one of my publisher’s yahoo sites. It seems many piracy sites have downloaded an entire collection of menage books by various authors and are now sharing them with the world. These are books the authors took months to write and put their hearts and souls into. Please, please if you come across these sites report them to the links above. In the words of my granny, “where there is one mouse, there are hundreds.” I know this, but we must attempt to shut them down. If you follow me on twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ketadiablo you will see I often post about this with words such as “slay the pirates”. This is stealing, plain and simple. And while I’m not aware of my books being shared, I am here to support my fellow authors. You worked hard to write that book and you deserve every dime.
Act now!
My best, Keta Diablo
http://www.ketadiablo.com
March 3rd, 2009 at 5:59 pm
Thanks, Keta,
I just signed up for Twitter. I don’t know what I’m doing there yet, so if you have any hints, I’d appreciate them.
Ash