"READ A BOOK A DAY" Says TWITTER - "STEAL A BOOK A DAY" says EBAY

Huh? It's "READ A BOOK A DAY" day on TWITTER? As opposed to "PIZZA DAY" or "FRITOS DAY" or the rest of the crap they throw on that idiot site.

Yes, yes.

How noble. Dozens are getting on their soap boxes to proclaim (how controversial) that they LIKE BOOKS.

Some, who aren't quite clever enough to write something original, dig into Bartlett's or some Google site of BRAINY QUOTES, and post some fine words about the joys of cracking open a book.

Meanwhile, in this digital age, EBAY weasels are happily STEALING from authors and publishers.

They offer cheap illegal downloads and make MORE per book than the AUTHORS would in royalties.

Like this:

NUM NUM!

NUM! NUM! GOT MORE?

LOTS MORE.

Slimy Sandro the illegal Kindle/Nook peddler has plenty more.

So do his sneaky conniving pals, like THIS bastard:

NUM NUM! NUM NUM! GOT MORE?

These pricks get lots of NICE comments.

"GREAT SELLER!"

A lot of bidders on eBay figure if something is on the site, it MUST be LEGIT. Neil Gaman and Georgie R.R. and pudgy E.L. James and activist genius Rowling and big hulking freakish Stephen King must ALL be getting royalties on this shit.

But they're not.

NOT only that, piracy hurts bookstores, libraries, and authors. Oh, maybe not THE KING or the fabulous James Patterson, but it sure hurts the mid-list authors. They're the ones who get told by the publishers, "Sorry, we can't give you a big royalty. Dwindling book sales, you know. Uncertain market, you know. PIRACY, you know."

Know what publishers do about PIRACY? You know? Mostly NOTHING.

Publishers do very well for themselves. At best, they'll hire some Web Sheriff-type company to patrol the blogs and forums and knock off bootlegging of their MOST RECENT TITLES. After a month? Nah, not worth it to pay these people to file DMCA's.

EBAY? They hardly bother at all. Ebay is the easiest place to send a DMCA.

How do I know? I rep more than a dozen famous name friends of mine. I'm friends. I don't charge. It takes me a minute.

And yet when I tell publishers they should hire an intern, or have a "report piracy" link that WORKS, or that I can reduce eBay book piracy by at least 50% and will do it FREE...they refuse. They are in control. With their heads up their asses. Or vaginas.

It angers me. A LOT.

As the author of 19 books, it ANGERS ME.

It's bad enough people are getting more illiterate. It's bad enough that various Gutenberg-type sites give away every public domain book (and plenty that aren't). We need blatant piracy on EBAY?

Ebay says "we're just a venue." They say "Yes, it IS illegal to offer books as downloads BUT...we don't patrol the site. YOU have to tell US."

What they've also told me, privately, is that book piracy is such a low piracy that if you do "REPORT LINK" (there's a hot link in every eBay ad for this) they might not get around to it, because "we have so many auctions, and many involve more serious violations of our rules."

They also give idiots like SANDRO CAMARO warnings, and warnings and warnings. Ebay can be very nice to their sellers, even nickel and dime morons like Camaro:

"We stop the auction and give an electronic warning. Then another. Then another. If the seller does not comply, we may restrict the number of auctions. We may then suspend them for a day. Then a week. Then a month. Then, perhaps, permanently."

Meanwhile the seller and EBAY and PAYPAL share the illegal profits. Heh heh.

THE BOTTOM LINE?

THE BEST WAY TO STOP THIS CRAP IS TO EITHER BE A VERO REP OR ASK ONE FOR HELP.

Stephen King, J.K. Rowling, James Patterson and a few others...if they had a friend or a fan send in a DMCA (you don't need to be a lawyer) the pirates would disappear. A formal DMCA carries weight. It gets sellers suspended faster.

I know this because I've been a VERO rep for 15 years (Verified Rights Owner Rep). Violations on my actress friends, my comedian friends, etc., shrink to almost nothing within a week. Maintenance is a couple of minutes a week or a month after that.

If a big publisher like Doubleday-Dell-Penguin-Birdbrain assigned an intern to handle this, the weasels in Sri Lanka, Albania, Canada etc would run away and never come back.

MY STANDING OFFER is I will rep any author being bootlegged on eBay. FREE.

I do this because it doesn't take a lot of time. Call it my "doing something for charity." My "paying it forward." You name the cliche.

I don't tell people who I rep. No strings are attached to this. The copyright or intellectual property owner is free to choose somebody else any time. No contracts.

All I need is a signed letter (snail mail or email) or authorization. And then: NO MORE PIRACY. Usually a fast suspension for the seller who NEVER comes back. If they try, I have records of who they are and where they are, and they are knocked off again. THEN they don't come back. Ebay and Paypal require a fresh credit card, name and address every time. That also helps.

GET VERO PROTECTION. Be your own VERO rep. OR, use me, as I know all the search tricks. Somebody doesn't put EBOOK in the header, and sneaks the words "download" on the photo and not in the text? I find the illiterate weasel anyway.

If you want my help, just send an email to CYKOTTICK at HOTMAIL.COM. Or contact VERO@EBAY.COM to find out more about the program.

The "wild wild Internet" should not include the easily accessible high profile sales on EBAY. This is where people should buy the actual hardcover book. If not, they can get a REAL download at ITunes or Amazon. Or if they can't afford it, go to the library, where every click of the turnstile helps them help others.