Finding your book on a pirate site is infuriating. It’s natural to feel angry, violated, and unsure of what to do next. In the rush to protect their work, many authors inadvertently make mistakes that can hinder their efforts or cause unnecessary stress. Understanding these common pitfalls is the first step towards a more effective anti-piracy strategy.
Book piracy is a persistent issue, with estimates suggesting the publishing industry loses hundreds of millions of dollars annually (Authors Guild). While completely eliminating it is impossible, avoiding common mistakes can significantly improve your ability to manage it.
Here are 7 common mistakes authors make when confronting book piracy:
1. Ignoring Piracy Altogether
Some advice suggests authors should simply ignore piracy, arguing it’s unavoidable or even a form of ‘free advertising’ (Self Publishing Advice). While obsessing over every single illegal download isn’t healthy, completely ignoring piracy means potentially significant lost sales and allows infringing sites to proliferate unchecked. Readers who might have purchased your book may opt for the free, illegal version if it’s easily accessible. Furthermore, widespread piracy can devalue your work in the eyes of potential legitimate buyers.
How to Avoid: Develop a balanced approach. Don’t let piracy consume you, but don’t ignore it either. Focus your efforts on major distribution points and sites that rank highly in search results for your book title + “free download”. Use tools or services to help monitor the situation without requiring constant manual effort.
2. Panicking and Sending Aggressive (or Incorrect) Communications
Discovering piracy often triggers an emotional response. Some authors react by firing off angry emails to the pirate site (which are often ignored) or even publicly shaming alleged pirates without concrete proof. Worse, they might send legally flawed takedown notices that don’t meet DMCA requirements, rendering them ineffective.
How to Avoid: Stay calm and professional. Understand the correct procedure for filing a DMCA takedown notice. Ensure your notice contains all legally required elements. Avoid direct, aggressive confrontation with site operators or uploaders, as it’s rarely productive and can sometimes backfire.
3. Failing to Formally Register Copyright
While copyright protection exists automatically the moment you create a work in a tangible form, formal registration with the U.S. Copyright Office (or your country’s equivalent) provides crucial advantages. Without registration before the infringement occurs (or within three months of publication), you generally cannot sue for statutory damages or attorney’s fees in U.S. courts. This significantly limits your leverage if you need to escalate beyond a simple takedown notice.
How to Avoid: Make copyright registration a standard part of your publishing process. It’s a relatively inexpensive and straightforward procedure that provides substantial legal benefits should you ever need to enforce your rights more formally. (https://www.copyright.gov/)
4. Focusing Solely on Takedowns (Playing Whack-a-Mole)
Sending DMCA notices is essential, but it’s often reactive. Pirate sites frequently reappear under new domains, or files pop up on different platforms. Relying only on takedowns can feel like an endless, frustrating game of whack-a-mole.
How to Avoid: Combine takedowns with proactive monitoring and prevention. This is where automated services become invaluable. Solutions like The Piracy Guard don’t just help with takedowns; they continuously scan the web, including dark corners and file-sharing networks, identifying new infringements as they appear. This allows for faster response and a more comprehensive approach than manual searching and reactive takedowns alone.
5. Believing DRM is a Silver Bullet
Digital Rights Management (DRM) is technology used by major retailers (like Amazon Kindle) to restrict copying and sharing of ebooks. While it can deter casual sharing, determined pirates can often strip DRM relatively easily. Relying solely on standard platform DRM provides a false sense of complete security.
How to Avoid: View DRM as one layer of protection, not the only one. Consider additional measures like watermarking (visible or invisible) if distributing ebooks directly. More importantly, focus on making your book easily available and reasonably priced on legitimate platforms, reducing the incentive for readers to seek out pirated copies. Combine technological measures with vigilant monitoring and enforcement.
6. Neglecting International Piracy Landscape
The DMCA is a U.S. law. While many international hosting providers comply with DMCA-style notices voluntarily or due to international agreements, some operate in jurisdictions with weaker copyright enforcement. Sending a standard DMCA notice to a host in certain countries might be ignored.
How to Avoid: Understand that enforcement can be more challenging with sites hosted in certain regions. Prioritize action against sites hosted in DMCA-compliant jurisdictions or those targeting readers in your primary markets. Services specializing in anti-piracy, like thepiracyguard.com, often have experience dealing with international hosts and may employ different strategies or have established contacts to achieve takedowns where individual authors might struggle.
7. Spending Too Much Time and Energy Manually Searching
Authors should be writing, editing, and marketing, not spending hours every week scouring the internet for illegal copies of their books. Manually searching Google, torrent sites, and forums is time-consuming, emotionally draining, and often inefficient, as pirates use tactics to avoid easy detection.
How to Avoid: Leverage technology. Set up basic Google Alerts for your book title + terms like “pdf” or “download” as a starting point. For more robust protection without the time sink, invest in an automated monitoring service. thepiracyguard.com, for example, uses sophisticated scanning technology to find infringing links far more effectively and efficiently than manual searching, freeing up your valuable time to focus on creating your next bestseller.
Conclusion
Dealing with book piracy is an unfortunate aspect of modern authorship, but avoiding these common mistakes can make the process less stressful and more effective. By staying informed, acting strategically, registering your copyright, and leveraging the right tools and services, you can protect your hard work and minimize the impact of piracy on your writing career.
References:
- Self Publishing Advice Center. (2016, November 14). Opinion: What Should Indie Authors Do About Book Pirating?. Alliance of Independent Authors. Retrieved from https://selfpublishingadvice.org/opinion-what-should-indie-authors-do-about-book-pirating-author-jane-davis-shares-her-views/
- U.S. Copyright Office. (n.d.). Copyright Registration. Retrieved from https://www.copyright.gov/registration/
- Jenkins, J. B. (n.d.). 3 Reasons Authors Shouldn’t Worry About Piracy (but How to Protect Yourself Anyway). JerryJenkins.com. Retrieved from https://jerryjenkins.com/3-reasons-authors-shouldnt-worry-piracy-protect-anyway/
(Disclaimer: This guide provides general information and is not legal advice. Consult with a qualified attorney for advice specific to your situation.)