With so much going on, don’t lose sight of what’s happening to your books. Not everyone agrees that having free books going out *freely* is bad for writers, but you at least need to be able to choose. Victoria Strauss again reports on the Internet Archive and its copyright infringement via its “Emergency Library”—now being challenged in court by major publishers. Her post on Writer Beware lists a number of past posts and resources. Check it out.
This long piece from Publishing Perspectives provides detailed information about the debate over whether Internet Archive is within the law to copy or upload copyrighted material and give it away for free. Apparently the site’s latest ploy, an “Emergency Library” triggered by the COVID-19 situation, has attracted the attention of a Congressional committee, so changes may be coming.
Within the Publishing Perspectives article is a link to an Authors Guild piece that contains directions for finding out if your books show up for free on Internet Archive as well as a form takedown notice you can use.
I’ve written before about my travails trying to find and challenge every rogue site that claimed to be selling my books; I came to agree with Neil Gaiman that just maybe, free books equal free publicity. I’d successfully claimed my rights to King of the Roses from IA, but had not searched their site for Blood Lies. This time around, though, I did feel motivated by this rather audacious behavior on IA’s part to search for both books. Couldn’t find either. So for now, I’m safe on that front.
However, each author must make their own decision about whether to leave their books in IA’s hands for the duration. The Publishing Perspectives piece gives you the information you need for your own choice.
Check this post, too, to learn about the Marrakesh Treaty, which governs the provision of materials to people who are print-disabled. I was glad to learn about this. You might find it interesting.
Update me on what you decide, and how your actions work out.
Well, maybe that title is just click-bait. Hope it gets some clicks! 
More accurately, my title should read, Why I’ve Quit Worrying about Book Pirates.
Here are a few links you can check out if you’ve heard horror stories (I sort of have some), and/or if you’re interested in this debate:
My quick take—and my reasons for copping out on the anti-book-piracy crusade: Like some of the responders on Kaye’s post, I tried the beta Blasty service. I found myself on sites where I didn’t have the technical knowledge to identify the site owners (Kaye offers some tools to help with this). No address to which to send my own DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) takedown notice. Some offered their own DMCA form—but every one I completed returned an error notice.
And after I’d spent a whole morning uselessly following Blasty’s leads, I got yet another massive list of all the places where my books could be downloaded for free.
Blasty offered paid services that would send the notices for me. There are other such services; comments on the various articles I’ve linked to above provide some sources, if you want to pursue this route.
But if you read the Guest piece, you may, like me, come away with a sense of “what for?”
“The legal and tech aspects of book piracy prevention are complex and fast-evolving, but those in the know describe it very simply: it’s whack-a-mole. One of the most persistent ebook pirate sites has been taken down multiple times, only to pop back up again under a .com, a .net and a .org domain name. At least 120,000 take-down notices have been issued against it already, involving web crawlers, lawyers, its domain host and the Metropolitan police. But that website is back regardless, complete with some intimidating legal language of its own, addressed to anyone who plans to complain.”
I have read, in more than one place, that many of the “free” sites don’t even have copies of the books they’re selling; they just want people’s credit card info. A lot easier way of taking people’s money than actually scanning books and repackaging them, I suspect.
Who knows? If the big publishers are really losing a lot of money to piracy, maybe they will finally figure out a way to protect their property. And maybe some enterprising soul will pirate their methods and share them with us (in a user-friendly form). Maybe even Amazon will catch on and act. In the meantime, I have other wasteful uses of my time that are a lot more fun than hunting down all those links and filling out a new version of that form ten times a day.
I’m thinking, in fact, about making more of my work (I really do have WsIP!) available for free. The truism Kroese and others offer makes sense to me:
So from one so-far obscure writer to others, I’ve quit worrying about people stealing my books. When you read one you like, just be sure to tell your friends.
Absolutely vital information for readers and authors alike. I found this through Chris the Story Reading Ape, to whom I am ever grateful for all the good posts he shares.
A while back, alerted by various sources, I learned that my books were turning up on “free download” sites.* Some of these sites had their own “takedown” screens, but using those led only to cryptic error messages. Takedown notices I sent independently received no response. In most cases, there were no contact options or claims of ownership. No way to actually assign responsibility for the thefts.
Bottom line: I decided I didn’t have time to hunt down all those thieves.
So, for me, as Suzan Tisdale points out, the burden is on readers and purchasers. Now that you know, beware.**
You might also be doing yourself a favor by avoiding these sites. How often do you click on a link to a dishonest service without just the slightest apprehension that you may be inviting an invasion of your own space?
*I did learn that a legitimate site can, in fact, post your books for free if they do so in formats for readers with access issues. See this thread about the Marrakesh Treaty from last year. These posts will also link you to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) notice disseminated by Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America and shared by Victoria Strauss of Writer Beware. Strauss lays out her own struggles to have pirated books taken down.
**And if you MUST download a free book from a pirate site, at least leave the author a nice review at Goodreads or Amazon!
“How do I know if I’m on a legitimate book site?”
You’d be surprised the number of times I get asked that question. As in at least five times a day. I get asked lots of questions every day as it pertains to books and audiobooks. So, I decided to put together this handy guide for those individuals who are ‘uncertain’ if they’re on a legitimate book site or not.
Q: How can I tell if I’m on a book pirating site?
A: You might be on an illegal ebook downloading site (AKA book pirating site) if all the books are free. That is your first give away. No legitimate book vendor has 100% free books. The only exception is your local library’s website. Other than that, if every book is FREE then you’re not in the right place. You’re in the wrong place. As in ‘you’re on an…
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Paddy and his mom!
Just Can't Help Writing 