When the ebooks emerged, it transformed the human reading experience. Ebooks are low priced and can be shared or read within a few seconds. Though there exists a question of ebook piracy, which is a serious challenge with such benefits. The piracy of ebooks has been a big issue since the new items have been brought up, and it is constantly getting worse. A majority of the writers and publishers endeavor to come up with good contents. But when some people pirate their books and sell online they lose income which is disadvantageous to business publishing. Though books are more expensive to copy, an electronic paper can be reproduced and shared at nil cost without limits.
In this blog we will learn about the importance of solving the menace of ebook piracy and some of the ways of guarding against it.
The Reasons that Make Ebook Piracy a Rising Issue.
Piracy websites and illegal download sites are growing in number each day. This should be an alarming factor to the writers and more so those who earn money with the sale of ebooks. Statista statistics show that about one-third of the US ebook market is facing the problem of ebook piracy and that this has been causing a loss of an estimated amount of $315 million each year.
Piracy of ebooks means that it hurts the pockets of authors and publishers. It causes a dent in the whole industry. The sales of the best selling writers have fallen down when there are pirated copies of their books in the market. In this way, publishers resort to reducing investments in the future investment in the form of sequels, promotions, and acquiring new authors.
What is the impact of eBook Piracy to all?
The damage done by ebook piracy does not stop by writers and publishers alone. This is the way it is disrupter the entire business of digital books:
- Cut in the Investment in New Content
Without money, the authors and the publishers will be less able to pay to create brand new and innovative fictions. It will imply that new ideas and creative works will not be in the hands of readers anymore.
- Hiking the prices of Ebooks
Publishers raise the cost of their ebooks to cover the various lost revenues. In this way, this increases piracy leaving honest buyers paying more.
- Subpar Reader Experience
The quality of ebooks which are pirated is low. The formatting can be bad, images could be blurry or text can be changed. Others adulterated copies will possess harmful links or malware that are dangerous to the security of the reader.
- Trouble on Libraries
A majority of the readers would use the pirated or free materials as opposed to the books in the libraries. In spite of the fact that libraries have started to carry e-books, they simply can not compete with the constant supply of pirated ebooks over the Internet, which are free and with no parts missing.
- Bookstores’ Struggles
Ebook growth has been a headache to brick-and-mortar bookstores especially the small independent bookstores. Another problem posed by e-book piracy is that it will now be even easier to find free stories instead of buying books in stores, as this goes to ease the readers and interestingly, this makes piracy even at a higher rate.
- False Information on the Market
Such figures are not captured when they are discussing illegal downloaded books. That impedes the capabilities of the publishers to understand what will people read, how they should price their work and what style will be popular.
Is Copyright the Only Solution to the Ebook Piracy?
Though the copyright laws assist in the protection of books, they do not stop ebook piracy every time. Copyright The protection of copyright in the United States is offered automatically once a book is written. Nonetheless, ebook pirates are likely to ignore such laws and enforcement of the copyright laws is getting harder to do.
Your rights in court may be reinforced by registering your copyright at the U.S. Copyright Office. It makes you clearly identify that it belongs to you and allows you to sue in case you are stolen. But catching and suing eBook pirates is not just easy, since prosecution depends on a lot of time and money.
What can you do when your Ebook is stolen.
The digital environment keeps on changing and the ebook pirates methods keep on progressing. Writers and publishers should be keen and protect their publications. The consequences of ebook piracy include profit and future of storytelling.
The following are the things you can do in case you come across your ebook in a pirated site
- Legal Action
Pirated ebooks can be fought by the authors or publishers. This however is costly and time consuming and might never generate profits back.
- DMCA Takedown Notices
You can issue Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) notice to the sites hosting your pirated ebook so that ebook can be removed. Most pirated websites however ignore such requests or their servers are located in countries that are not governed by US laws.
- Social Watermarking and Watermarking
Social DRM writes the information of the purchaser within the file of the ebook. The watermark may be either permanent or temporary. It assists in the tracing of the source of a pirated file. However, computer-savvy pirates are able to clear these messages.
- Expired Links and Folders with Passwords
Certain authors are also trying to limit the distribution of ebooks via email with time-limited download link or password-protected directories. Though this would suppress unauthorized sharing, it also confines the secure download link as well as not the ebook.
- High-level Digital Rights Management (DRM)
Sturdy DRM program, like the protection programs of Bytescare, are much better. DRM will allow more control over the users accessing an ebook, allow stopping copying, screensnaps and unauthorized sharing. It can also limit access of ebooks within a location, by IP or on or after a specific date. It makes sure that your content can be used only by the people who have made payments.
Such actions can be helpful to some extent, but they fail to stop the piracy that already took place. When you are publishing your ebooks online do not leave your sweat on a pirated site. Apply the adequate tools, protect your content and nourish the successful digital publishing business. By engaging Bytescare services, there are appropriate tools that can be applied in ensuring that your ebooks are secured to fight piracy.
Watch Your Life, Watch Your Tales
Ebook piracy deprives the authors of their earnings, pushes the price of those who bought the product in good faith up, and harms the whole industry of books. Bytescare equips one with the necessary resources to counter attack. As a provider of ebooks or writer, protecting your creative future boils down to attaching protection to your ebooks. Bytescare is the best platform to protecting your content as they have watermarks which cannot be seen, encrypted files and the eBooks, and they are constantly monitoring your pages whilst online. Their security software uses a combination of both state of the art and technology to guard ebooks. Bytescare offers DRM program that minimizes unauthorized copying, editing and copying. Bytescare additionally browses the internet searching the unlicensed uploading of the e-books and removes them instantly. Avoid copiers of ebooks and place your ebooks in the possession of truthful readers. Visit Bytescare and beat the ebooks pirates.