Send the pirates to Davy Jones Locker

The other day I reported that I was acosted by pirates. At the time, I was filled with rage and righteous indignation. How dare someone steal my work that I slaved over! I reported the thefts to my publishers and sought commisseration on Twitter. And then I calmed down and remembered this is something every published author, indeed every business owner encounters. That doesn't mean theft is acceptable, but it's part of working in retail business. I found the pirate through Google Alerts. I signed up for Google Alerts so I would know when someone mentioned me on their blog or when a new review of one of my books popped up. I didn't know at the time it would be very useful to catch people pirating my books as well. At the time, I had wondered how other authors knew precisely which day I mentioned them on my blog to pop up when they had never visited before. One of them shared this nugget of gold with me. It's time I share it with other authors. Google Alerts is very simple to use. First, I typed in www.google.com. Then I typed into the search bar, "Google Alerts". When the link popped up, I clicked on that. A screen came up to "Create a Google Alert". (Unfortunately, the screen I snagged refuses to show here.) Enter your search terms: i.e. "Ashley Ladd", "Astatalk" Select "type". I chose "Comprehensive". Select from the drop down menu "How often". I chose "Once a day" Enter your email: i.e. youremail@aol.com In the box called "Search terms" place the name or term you wish to track. Authors would want to watch for their pen names. They may also wish to put the name(s) of their book(s). You can also put the name of known pirate sites. After your information is entered, click on the "Create Alert" button. This message will come up: You must click on the verification link Google Alerts sends to your email to activate this program. Congratulations! You will begin receiving Google Alerts. Finding the pirates is only the first part of the job. Next you must convince them to stop violating your copyright. Many publishers, perhaps all, have a designated person at their company who deals with ebook pirates. Find out the process with your publisher and use it to report the pirate. At Total-E-Bound, there is a copyright abuse report form linked from every page of the sight. At Ellora's Cave there's a specific person to email the report. In addition to reporting the violation to your publisher, you should send a polite cease and desist notice to the site hosting your books without permission. Sometimes the site is only the host of a link from the actual pirate, so give them sufficient time to remove the link. Also, you may have to dig deeper to find the person who is giving away free downloads of your books without your consent and petition them to cease and desist their objectionable activity. Many sites post their procedure for reporting abuse so it is proper to follow that in addition to reporting the violation to your publisher(s). If all else fails after sufficient time has been granted, legal counsel and representation should be sought. Good luck. Hopefully none of your books will be pirated, but if they are, I hope these steps help. Ashley

Damned Pirates?!?

I love Captain Jack Sparrow and Will Turner. Those are some super sexy pirates who can steal me away into their lair anytime. I doN'T love ebook pirates like the people who wrote this "policy" below. Ebook piracy affects all of you who are authors and hopeful authors. They adversely affect you as readers, too. How? If this happens enough, writers may give up writing and go into other lines of work. Your favorite author may be one of them. Publishers may very likely have to increase prices to cover the legal costs of combating pirates, etc. Why should any one work for free? Slavery was outlawed years ago and deemed unethical and unlawful. Robbery's also illegal. If someone were to come into your home and steal your television and all your electronics, you'd be upset and think the robber to be the lowest form of pond scum. You'd a police report and possibly other legal action. Copyright infringement is also stealing. Since when do the robbers have the legal or moral right to say they'll return stolen goods at their discretion? When caught, that is. The complaints and abuse policy by the company in question, is below in red. To me, it looks as if they get to decide whether or not to take down copyrighted material they don't own. They've got BIG, IRON balls. Legally, I think my attorneys and the legal system really has the final authority. At least I hope so. What do you think? For complaints or abuse by (blank).com customers.

To make sure we will investigate abuse reports effectively, we need you to give us sufficient information. If you have gathered the necessary information, you can send it using the form below.

Required information

Below you will find details of the information that is required in order to investigate abuse.

Please note that it will not always be possible to send a personalised request for more information if the required information is not provided.

All information should preferably be sent in normal text format (plain text).

Depending on the seriousness of the case, we may decide to cease our services to the user concerned. In cases where services are not ceased, we may decide, at our own discretion, (blank).com’s General Terms & Conditions.

Copyright infringement

To file a copyright infringement notification with us, you will need to send a written communication to us with all of the following information in it:

• your statement telling us that you have found data on our site which you believe infringes your copyrights, or any other right;
• detailed information about your (copy)right;
• the title of the content concerned and the full URL for its page;
• a detailed explanation about how the content infringes your (copy)right;
• your contact information, so that we can get in touch with you (email address is preferred).

We reserve the right to ignore your complaint, if you provide us with insufficient information. Ugh!!! The last line "We reserve the right to ignore your complaint" is what galls me! I've reported them to my publishers involved and my publisher confirmed this is definitely a pirate site. I just sent a cease and desist order to the pirate site and a formal notice to my publisher. If they persist, I will have my attorney from the day job pursue them and he is very very good, and this is not a threat but a promise. The pirates don't have to worry that I will not have the money to pursue them as legal representation is one of my free perks. I just found this comment that really sickens me by someone who obviously knows this is an illegal act. "Unfortunately, nowhere is safe as long as the author can sniff you out. What worries me most is how easy this website comes up during Google search. Just type the title of the book, for example." Thanks you very much Google Alerts for leading me to these pirates.

You'll also want to see what Amarinda Jones, Anika Hamilton, Anny Cook,
Barbara Huffert, Brynn Paulin, Bronwyn Green, Dakota Rebel, Kelly Kirch,
Molly Daniels, Sandra Cox, Regina Carlysle, and Cindy Spencer Pape
are up to, so make sure to visit them also. :)