{"id":13249,"date":"2015-11-16T05:30:56","date_gmt":"2015-11-16T10:30:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lisatener.local\/?p=13249"},"modified":"2024-09-30T08:58:43","modified_gmt":"2024-09-30T12:58:43","slug":"7-things-you-can-do-about-book-piracy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jodieburdette.net\/lisatener\/2015\/11\/7-things-you-can-do-about-book-piracy\/","title":{"rendered":"7+ Things You Can Do About Book Piracy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"bookToday, an author I worked with\u00a0who had gotten a 6-figure book deal from a major publisher and whose book has won awards and been featured on Oprah’s Book Club 2.0 told me that free downloads of pirated versions of his book have had a major impact on sales of his book as well as recent books by other authors\u00a0in his field.<\/p>\n

While current industry-wide data is scarce, according to Publisher’s Weekly<\/a>, a 2012\u00a0report from\u00a0the Association of American Publishers estimated that\u00a0“U.S. publishers across all categories lose $80 million to $100 million annually to piracy.” An earlier article from\u00a02010 on The Millions, Confessions of a Book Pirate<\/a>, pointed to a study by Attributor estimating the cost of book piracy as much higher: nearly $3 billion, or over 10% of revenue.<\/p>\n

Whatever the losses, they certainly matter. And book piracy trends seem to\u00a0vary geographically, based on cultural norms and values, as well as people’s ability to acquire certain books where they live. While book and ebook piracy may be modest in the UK, according to the UK Guardian<\/a><\/em>, the Guardian<\/em> implies that piracy is worse this side of the Atlantic. And this New York Times<\/em> article reveals\u00a0Google Play’s growing role\u00a0as a new avenue for book pirates<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, garnering significant\u00a0media attention–as happened with my client–can also make a\u00a0book more vulnerable to book piracy.<\/p>\n

One may wonder who these people are who scan a book, re-edit it and then offer it for free downloads, when it harms authors and eats into their book sales–and is actually a somewhat time consuming process! But rather than ponder the inscrutable\u00a0(and you can read The Millions post above for some hunches, as well as this post on an investigation into\u00a0book piracy<\/a> from Melville House books) I’d like to explore what you can do about book piracy. For, in fact, there are some very specific things you can do to protect yourself–and you can even find \u00a0a way for piracy to benefit you!<\/p>\n

[bctt tweet=”The main thing you can do to combat book piracy is to focus on sales of physical books.”]<\/p>\n

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  1. Public Speaking<\/strong>: Speak at conferences and corporations where your book will be sold in the on site “bookstore” or book sales can be included in your speaking fees \/ contract. Also arrange for an author book signing as part of the event, if you can. People are more apt to buy your book when they’ve connected with you and they’re turned on by the ideas you’ve shared. Without being salesy, do let them know that they can go deeper with the book, mention additional information or benefits they’ll find in the book: “We only have time for one brief exercise, but you’ll find more\u00a0great ways to improve your energy in Chapters 8 and 9 in Wag Your Tail and Other<\/em>\u00a0Energy Tips from My Dog<\/em>.”<\/li>\n
  2. Workshops, Webinars and Teleseminars<\/strong>: Include the cost of the book in the fees for your online and in-person classes. Make the book part of the syllabus.<\/li>\n
  3. Organizations, Associations, Websites and Groups of People<\/strong>: It’s ideal to reach people in person, where they are likely to want a physical copy of the book. However, you can also partner with relevant organizations to post the book \u00a0on their website or in their newsletter\u00a0with\u00a0a link to buy. When there is an actual link to buy, you are at least making it easy to buy on Amazon or the publisher’s website vs. seeking out a pirated version.<\/li>\n
  4. Price Your Download Version Competitively<\/strong>. Of course, if your book is traditionally published, your publisher calls the shots. However, perhaps a competitive\u00a0price of the ebook is something your agent can negotiate. In addition, if you self publish, you may want to a) start with a free download of the ebook (this helps boost Amazon sales even once you raise the price) b) move to a very competitively priced book so that it’s not worth the hassle, guilt or potential legal risk of pirating (yes, this may sound naive, but if you read the article from the Millions, you’ll find that the book pirate interviewed felt that a low price (below $10 for a new, popular book) would likely curb his pirating efforts).<\/li>\n
  5. Develop a Relationship with Your Readers<\/strong>. When pirates tell themselves\u00a0they are just cheating a faceless corporation (the publisher) and that authors don’t get paid much by the publisher anyway (what’s a dollar?), it’s easier for them to pirate. When someone has a relationship with you, it’s much harder for them to rationalize this behavior. If you create a loyal community–write useful blog posts, respond to their questions on your blog, offer free, helpful tip lists, offer free live webinars where you deliver powerful information and transformative experiences, answer their emails, and find other ways to be of service, they are much more likely to feel great about spending money on your book. So great–compared to the potential guilt–that it outweighs any leanings toward hyper-frugality.<\/li>\n
  6. Report the book pirate\u00a0to the copyright officer if this site is not a pirating site<\/strong>. This wikihow article tells you how to combat book piracy<\/a> on a legitimate site (i.e. a site that is not purposely flouting the law).<\/li>\n
  7. I also came across a\u00a02014 Publisher’s Weekly<\/a> article that offered several technical solutions to the problem of book piracy, though as technology continues to change, some of these options may have become obsolete, while others are still valid.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    The big bonus is possibly the best thing you can do about book piracy:\u00a0take advantage of book pirates by re-employing them as your unpaid\u00a0marketing team<\/strong>. If you use your book as a marketing tool to attract new customers, clients or opportunities, you may actually make significant money from pirates. This means\u00a0that right in the text of the book you offer readers ways to take a next step with you–from offering a free quick that requires they share their email address to reminding them in on the final page that they can book you as a speaker through your website: www.Ilovetospeak.com.<\/p>\n

    \"theHere’s an example:\u00a0while I did not, nor will I ever, buy a pirated version of a book, I did recently borrow a book from the North Kingstown Public Library called The Healing Code<\/a><\/em>. The book promises the ability to heal any illness–and\u00a0the authors claim to have healed both Lou Gerig’s disease in one co-author and the long-term depression of the other co-author’s wife.<\/p>\n

    Intrigued, I followed through on the book’s invitation to visit\u00a0the book\u00a0website and download the free additional tools and take the\u00a0quiz. In addition to the resources downloaded, I then received an email offering me the next resource up from the book, which offered\u00a0to teach me a system\u00a0that took things a step further–for $97.<\/p>\n

    I may well spend the dough\u00a0for step 2. I’m still working through the book and seeing how it goes, but I’d say there’s a 40% chance they will have a customer. So even though they have not yet made money on my reading the book, yet, since it came from the library, they may actually make quite a bit more.<\/p>\n

    Now, if this sounds manipulative, I’d like to point out a few things:<\/p>\n