Here is a cautionary tale for all new authors using the internet. It goes like this:
I have a brand new book that I had published. I was so thrilled with myself. It was about then the other shoe fell and I realized, no one knew I had a new book and I was going to have to promote it. Not knowing the first thing about the internet and promoting, I got started. The first thing I did was set up Google Alerts on my book title. (You can do this by going to http://www.google.com/alerts ) I know this sounds like the responsible thing to do, but I can't take the crediit, it was just the first thing I ssw to do.
I was very careful not to send out copies of my book to people who were not what I thought were responsible. So I am so happy that my book is out there and guess what? I got an email about my book. I was thrilled someone was talking about my book. When I opened the google alert I almost died. There was my book on some advertising site. It was being given away in ebook form to anyone who completed their requirements.
Now I know I did not give my book to them and started to track them down. It took lots of research to even find a place to contact them on the website. It was one of those hidden contact forms. I notified them and told them they did not have my permission to use my book. After about three days they finally responded. Turns out they were based on a site in Nevade. They sent me an email saying they didn't own the site, some other advertier did. So I contacted the other site and told them they didn't have permission to use my book. It took them a couple of days for them to contact me.
When they finally contacted me they said they were not in charge of the site I mentioned, but would check on it. They did, it turns out they said they would have it removed. I checked a coulple of days later and it was still there. I had to send them the exact address and wait another three days . They said they would check on it. I looked a couple of days later and it was finally gone. It took almost two weeks to get it cleared up, but I finally did. It took lots of emails and double checking, but it was finally removed completely. I would have been completely oblivious to this act of piracy had I not put a google alert on my book. Turns out , that was one thing I had actually done right. Morale
I have a brand new book that I had published. I was so thrilled with myself. It was about then the other shoe fell and I realized, no one knew I had a new book and I was going to have to promote it. Not knowing the first thing about the internet and promoting, I got started. The first thing I did was set up Google Alerts on my book title. (You can do this by going to http://www.google.com/alerts ) I know this sounds like the responsible thing to do, but I can't take the crediit, it was just the first thing I ssw to do.
I was very careful not to send out copies of my book to people who were not what I thought were responsible. So I am so happy that my book is out there and guess what? I got an email about my book. I was thrilled someone was talking about my book. When I opened the google alert I almost died. There was my book on some advertising site. It was being given away in ebook form to anyone who completed their requirements.
Now I know I did not give my book to them and started to track them down. It took lots of research to even find a place to contact them on the website. It was one of those hidden contact forms. I notified them and told them they did not have my permission to use my book. After about three days they finally responded. Turns out they were based on a site in Nevade. They sent me an email saying they didn't own the site, some other advertier did. So I contacted the other site and told them they didn't have permission to use my book. It took them a couple of days for them to contact me.
When they finally contacted me they said they were not in charge of the site I mentioned, but would check on it. They did, it turns out they said they would have it removed. I checked a coulple of days later and it was still there. I had to send them the exact address and wait another three days . They said they would check on it. I looked a couple of days later and it was finally gone. It took almost two weeks to get it cleared up, but I finally did. It took lots of emails and double checking, but it was finally removed completely. I would have been completely oblivious to this act of piracy had I not put a google alert on my book. Turns out , that was one thing I had actually done right. Morale
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