I'm in a predicament....
Added 2024-10-04 22:29:38 +0000 UTCI'd like to get some outside opinions on this situation I find myself in. So, people are selling my books. I have registered copyrights on these books and on the digital files it clearly states that they are not for commercial use. But of course, some people don't care, and they have them produced and sell them. I've taken down 15 different listings on AliExpress so far.
Recently a subscription box included my spell book, without my permission and without any compensation to me. They have told me that they didn't know it was mine and had ordered them from, you guessed it, AliExpress! I'm not sure how to handle that situation.
But the root of the problem is that I offer my books digitally here on Patreon. People pay the small fee to become a member, download all the books, then cancel their membership and go make illegal copies to sell. It's happening so much now I almost feel like I should take the books off of Patreon - but I don't want to do that because the vast majority of you are honest people.
Another option is to lock them until you have been a member for X amount of months. I just don't know.
Any suggestions?!
Comments
I am new to your site and have been enjoying all of your products and tutorials. I know it is difficult to offer something for free and to see others profit off of it. My only suggestion is to try and reach the buyers. If the buyers of the products knew more about you and what your site offers, they would not buy them from third party pirates. I would suggest writing something in the book such as additional copywrite info about you and your website. Maybe a paragraph at the start of the work talking more about the author and how the work was created. I am assuming that the people who are buying the books have no idea about you. I know myself that I looked at books to purchase and had no idea about you. There is a lot of content online for Harry Potter fans. There is no quick solution as I am afraid you will have to play the long game. If the buyers stop buying, then the pirates will move on to something else.
Kelty
2024-10-07 17:39:06 +0000 UTCIs there a way to make people sign an individual contract stating they won't sell for personal use for certain downloads? When confronted they can't say they didn't know. You could also have something in there like an automatic credit card charge or something if it is used. I'm not sure how any of it would work,but something like that maybe?
Laura Warren
2024-10-06 03:13:38 +0000 UTC
