Writer Sanctum

Reader's Library => Book Talk [Public] => Topic started by: solo on March 13, 2019, 01:20:33 PM

Title: Piracy sucks
Post by: solo on March 13, 2019, 01:20:33 PM

Hi. Just want to let off some steam.

I was idly browsing through the net, checking out non-Amazon reviews for the very first book I published 16 months ago. And surprise! It was being offered on several pirate sites. I stopped at the sixth - too depressing. I counted more than 100,000 downloads so far (in PDF form). I haven't even started with the rest of the books of the series. And no, I don't want to play Whack-A-Pirate-Site.

One site was kind enough to state: If you have money, we strongly suggest you to buy the _______________ book. With that way, you can support _________________ - the author of this book.

Some sites even have rating systems, though that's the bright side (4.5 to 5 on some sites). But still... And it's not as if the first book is priced high, it's but at USD 1.20, for the mole's sake!

Thanks for reading and letting me vent a little.  :(

Note: Posted this also on the other site which shall not be named.

Title: Re: Piracy sucks
Post by: notthatamanda on March 13, 2019, 11:41:07 PM

A lot of those are malware sites, they may not have a copy of your book at all.  If they do I am truly sorry, scammers of all sorts suck.

Title: Re: Piracy sucks
Post by: angela on March 14, 2019, 02:12:21 AM

Piracy does suck, but we gotta remind ourselves that obscurity sucks worse!

Title: Re: Piracy sucks
Post by: David VanDyke on March 14, 2019, 09:29:18 AM

They also report fake review numbers, fake ratings and rankings, and fake numbers of downloads. If I believed them, there are sites where some of my books have over 3K ratings. The only thing is, all other ebooks supposedly available there have a similar number of rankings, slightly randomized. It's all BS.

Title: Re: Piracy sucks
Post by: Nobody on March 16, 2019, 10:23:31 PM

Report DMCA.

Title: Re: Piracy sucks
Post by: PJ Post on March 17, 2019, 01:25:39 AM

You're not a Real Writer^TM until you've been pirated.   grint

Title: Re: Piracy sucks
Post by: solo on March 26, 2019, 01:58:25 PM

Quote from: PJ Post on March 17, 2019, 01:25:39 AM

You're not a Real Writer^TM until you've been pirated.   grint

LOL.  :banana:

Title: Re: Piracy sucks
Post by: PublishingWithLove.com on May 09, 2019, 07:08:03 AM

Use the good reviews as evidence your book is great next time you apply to bookbub.   :roll:

Title: Re: Piracy sucks
Post by: Simon Haynes on May 09, 2019, 09:17:35 AM

I just ignore it. The people visiting those sites to download ebooks wouldn't buy an ebook even if those sites didn't exist. If those sites didn't exist, the same people would survive on the hundreds of thousands of legitimate free ebooks available from Amazon, Kobo, etc.

The sites only exist for advertising revenue (hence inflating all the figures to make themselves look busy), or to install viruses and trojans onto their visitors' computers.