by Patricia Bradley, @PTBradley1

For the past month, Twitter and blogs have been burning up the airwaves with news about several pirate sites putting authors books up for free. One site even offered Greg Iles’ new book for free the day it released.

That’s just wrong. And what I’d like to do to them isn’t for family audiences.

On some of the blogs, the writer calculated how much authors were losing because of these sites. Thousands of dollars.

But what’s an author to do?

You could subscribe to sites that promise to search the internet and report back to you which sites have pirated your book, and then you can send these sites a Digital Millinium Copyright Act (DMCA) takedown notice. Every DMCA notice must contain the following:

• That the notice is filed in good faith
• That all information in the notice is accurate
• That under penalty of perjury, the originator is entitled to act on behalf of someone who owns an exclusive right — that is, a copyright — currently being violated.

For samples of DMCA letters, simply Google it. If you are traditionally published, your publisher has a legal department who can send the letter for you. Just let them know when you find your book on a pirated site.

However, just because the pirate site receives a DMCA notice, it doesn’t mean they’ll take your book down. These people are arrogant and think they are above the law. Sometimes it seems like they are since they rarely get reprimanded.

But before you panic, I suggest that first you stop and take a deep breath. It’s not the end of the world. I’m not condoning piracy; in fact, I’d like to see every one of these pirate sites shut down. But I think authors should stop and realize that anyone who buys a book from one of these sites is not going to buy your book the legitimate way. So you haven’t actually lost a sale.

Also realize that every site that offers your book for free doesn’t actually have your book. They’re scammers, besides being pirates. Many of them use your book and others to get unsuspecting buyers to click on a link that has a virus or malware attached to it.   

I really wish these pirates would put as much work into a legitimate enterprise as they do in stealing our books. I hope this has helped in some way.

Photo by Scott Umstattd on Unsplash

JUSTICE DELIVERED

Carly Smith came by her trust issues honestly. A victim of sex trafficking, she’s been at the mercy of merciless men, ignored by law enforcement officers who should have helped her, and seemingly rejected by her family. She can’t even trust herself to do the right thing. Though she escaped her captors and is working hard on building a new life, the past continues to haunt her when she discovers that the man she couldn’t bring herself to report to police for fear of reliving her captivity is still out there, luring vulnerable girls under the guise of being a modeling agent.

When her own niece is kidnapped, Carly must overcome her fears and come forward with the information she has before it’s too late. When that proves to be not enough, she’ll have to go after the perpetrators herself.

Winner of an Inspirational Readers’ Choice Award in Suspense and a 2018 Carol finalist, Patricia Bradley lives in North Mississippi with her rescue kitty, Suzy. Her romantic suspense books include the Logan Point series and the Memphis Cold Case Novels. She also has written sweet romances for Harlequin Heartwarming available as e-books.