How do you feel when you find out a site has pirated your book and is providing free copies to those who frequent their page?

I used to tell other authors that I never minded this happening because I was also giving away thousands of free books myself. It was a way to get new readers and a promotional device most of us used from time to time. Therefore, these people were just helping me spread the word about my work.

There were many who didn’t agree with me on this principle – that the most important tool an author has is exposure. In fact, many were downright fierce about protecting their rights, their income, and I believe, resenting that they were being cheated.

So I kept my thoughts to myself when they complained on the loops and stayed out of the arguments.

Then I read this post by Tim Grahl. It explained exactly what I had tried to share, but much better than I ever could. So take a moment and read his explanation. It might make more sense to you put in this way.

https://booklaunch.com/ebook-piracy-and-book-marketing/

I will add one last thought. I have had notices from Amazon that they found my work, which supposed to be exclusive to Select, elsewhere on the internet. When this did happen, it was annoying and worrying. Both times, I was able to write to the pirating website, asking them to take down my work and then send the copy of my words to Amazon. It seemed to be all they needed, and I heard no more. Truthfully, I suspect that Amazon is aware of these pirating places and realizes, that in some cases, there is no way for an author to know about them or to contact the people. It made me worry less when I realized this.