Both authors and publishers are losing A LOT OF MONEY to jerks like THIS:
Bidders think the LIES in this ad are TRUTH. Ebay shrugs and says "We don't know if he's lying or not. And we're "just a venue" and U.S. laws are WEAK, so WE DON'T HAVE TO ASK HIM TO SHOW US HIS LICENSING AGREEMENTS.
This seller DARES to say:
"I am an Authorized Reseller of this product and also have resale rights to this eBook. Full Resell Rights are granted by the copyright owners to sell these E-books with Resell Rights. This ad is in compliance with all eBay rules and regulations."
BULLSHIT.
Who else is this parasite stealing from? EVERYBODY. This is just a few:
What's the excuse? That DAVID BALDACCI, RICK RIORDAN, DEAN KOONTZ, and pudgy E.L. JAMES and the others DON'T need the money?
That some jerk should take the royalties instead?
The more that's STOLE'D the less that's SOLD. While people are happily filling their KINDLE and NOOK readers with ILLEGAL COPIES, they are NOT supporting libraries. They are NOT supporting publishers who need to find the NEXT best-selling author. They are NOT supporting Mom and Pop bookstores. They are NOT supporting Kindle or Nook who MIGHT pay a little more if the market wasn't ruined by piracy.
It's getting easier and easier to copy off ebooks, and more and more people want that format. The publishing world should learn from what happened to the music industry, and PROTECT COPYRIGHT, and not wait till the stores shut down and they have to rely on a few best-selling artists and turn their backs on thousands of other authors and on readers who want variety and books that aren't self-printed pieces of crap full of typos.
Since most people don't know about the torrents and forums where weasels "share" books, the BIGGEST PLACE FOR BOOTLEG COPIES is EBAY.
The only reason there's so much bootlegging on EBAY is that publishers don't want to spend money on a WEB SHERIFF to file a DMCA. They shrug and tell the authors, YOU do it. It's YOUR book. The authors have no idea their books are being ripped off, and have no idea how to become a VERO (Verified Rights Owner) member on eBAY and send in a DMCA.
Actually, sending in a DMCA on EBAY is easy. There are no hoops (like Google has with their BLOGSPOT and YOUTUBE). You just cut and paste the auction number and email it.
Bootleggers thrive because eBay only slaps their wrist if ONE or TWO publishers or authors make a complaint. As in: "We know nnnnnuthing, nnnnuthing, and we can't be sure that our seller's other 50 or 100 titles are illegal JUST BECAUSE we got TWO complaints."
THE ANSWER:
An "RIAA" for Book Publishers...specifically, an office, or even ONE PERSON...who can file complaints on behalf of ALL major publishers, and shut down ALL the sellers.
EVERY AUTHOR IS AT RISK. LOOK AT THIS:
How about THIS...a weasel who is offering EVERY AUTHOR and EVERY PUBLISHER whose titles are in the Reese Witherspoon Book Club:
It's GRAND LARCENY EVERY DAY.
It does NOT have to be this way. Not on a high profile site such as EBAY, who can't hide from copyright law by operating in Croatia or the Ukraine or on an island in the Pacific.
I know from experience, as a VERO rep for a dozen celebrities, that this is not "whack-a-mole." Sellers who get suspended can't easily get a new bank account, a new Paypal account, change their ISP location, and return. If they do, a good VeRO rep spots them instantly and they go down again, and they know it's too time-consuming to try again.
THE Winston Graham bootlegger (also abusing Baldacci, Stephen King, pudgy E.L. James, etc) is such a stinking parasite weasel, he's willing to mail a CD-R disc for fifty cents, and give EBAY and PAYPAL fifty cents, just to make TWO BUCKS per book. Well, hell, it's FOUND MONEY for him. It beats clipping coupons. And he can rationalize that bigshot publishers are making SO MUCH MONEY they aren't even sending in DMCAs on him.
Let's CHANGE THAT.
One good VeRO rep can spot all the devious tricks these sellers try. One wrong word in an ad ("download" or "ebook") matched with the name of a famous book or author, and that is IT.
If we have a United Nations, we should have a UNITED front for publishers. The stakes are high. Most publishers have incompetent and inefficient "templates" for people to "report piracy" and any email address authors use is also prone to neglect. Complaints right now are largely ignored. Most rights owners who get an email sent to their legal department, an editor, or a publicist, send a form letter: "Thank you for your concern. We are taking the appropriate action." Which is going out for a two hour lunch.
The answer to the EBAY problem is ONE VERO REP authorized to send in DMCA's. EBAY allows for more than one VeRO rep, so individual authors and publishers can STILL get in the game if they want. But the security is having ONE VERO REP who can take down an entire line a seller is offering.
Is this logical?
Or is the answer CRAPATHY and "we're taking the appropriate action."
