Authors spend many lonely months scribbling into a notepad, pounding the keyboard, staring at the computer screen until the eyes are raw, and finally get to see their novel published. It’s a major milestone and something to be justifiably proud about. Once the initial euphoria wears off, there is follow-up work to be done: marketing, promotions, guest posts, checking your royalties and hoping for lots of sales. The euphoria might start to wear thin when the author Googles his name and finds his book listed on strange sites like Torrent. So, what’s going on?

Checking the site, the author is chagrined to see his book available as a free download. Outraged, the author comes to a grim realization that his book was pirated and he is losing royalties. Torrent and its derivative names is merely one site where pirated books can be downloaded. Checking all the Google listings, the author will come across others. Some of those sites can be vicious, containing viruses and trojans designed to infect your computer when opened. First they steal your book, then they ambush you. Not very friendly.

The first reaction by the author is to write to these sites asking them to remove his book from the list, or write to Google. The author won’t get much traction from a pirate site, but Google will delete these pages on submission of a DMCA – Digital Millennium Copyright Act – complaint letter. Several sites provide submission templates.

http://support.scribd.com/entries/22980-DMCA-copyright-infringement-takedown-notification-email-template

Following the submission, the author will be gratified to see the download site(s) removed. Success – until he makes another Google listing down the track and, to his horror, finds his book on different sites. Indignant, the author makes another DMCA complaint. You can see where this is leading to. Our author is spending time constantly checking search engine listings for pirate sites, which is a no-win game solution. What to do?

There is nothing much that can be done. Book piracy is merely another symptom of electronic media. Illegal music and movie downloads happen all the time, and I am sure our author might very well be guilty of helping himself to a free movie. Unfortunately, that’s how the world works these days. Some governments have enacted legislation to stop the practice, but it’s a finger in a sieve. Still, the situation isn’t as bad as it sounds if looked at positively. Sure, people can download the book, but it will usually be in plain text format and not very easy to read. Today, most use tablets and view books through Kindle or other related software. The other factor to consider, even though the author isn’t getting any royalties from pirated downloads, he can be gratified that these downloads increase his visibility. If his books are good, the offender might be tempted to actually buy his books legally and talk to friends about them. It’s a consolation prize, but like germs, regardless of how much disinfectant you use, they are always there.