Dealing with Pirates ... and not the Johnny Depp kind

So, colour me shocked, A Reason To Stay is already being pirated on various torrent sites. Probably by people who have bought from Amazon, broken the DRM (which can be done) and then had the purchase refunded. Or I guess on one of my friends did it... ROFL... I know which one I believe.

My record is an hour after Texas 4 went live ONLY on Love Lane Books...

Which leads me to two things. Pirating in general & Amazon's Kindle refund policy.

Pirating

I don't generally concern myself angsting over a book of mine with say, 500 downloads on a torrent site. I don't ever see it as 500 books lost revenue. If I did, then I would probably go mad. I have to think that these 500 would never have bought my books anyway.

Of course it hurts. These are my babies I put out into the world. But... if I focused on the negative all the time I wouldn't write.

So I religiously send take down notices... Until I came across this today:


My Internet provider in the UK has rather cleverly blocked anyone from going to this particular site at source. YAY!... Oh wait, that means I can't see what is on there being pirated, even though they all show up in Google... DAMN IT... ROFL...

So, anyway, I have to consign myself to ignoring this one...

So I look at the other entries that Google has thrown up... One of the sites has over thirty entries for RJ Scott -  should I tell them they missed some of my books? ROFL. 

I need to tell this site about each and every one of them, I can't just say, yeah, everything by RJ Scott needs to be taken off. Luckily being a clever-with-word sort of person I open the browser with the results from Google or the site on one side, and Word is open next to it. All I need to do the is click on an entry in the browser, keep my mouse clicked down and then drag it to Word. Et Voila! The link in full is put into word. I then use the word doc to create my email. Still, as easy as I can make this, it takes time... lots of time...



To be honest I probably need someone to do this for me. I need that separation between being creative and being hard arsed!

And then there is Amazon refunds.

I've seen this happen. I can see what is happening on Love Lane books... I will watch a purchase of say, all seven Sanctuary books, and then just as quickly seven refunds on the same books. I am assuming Amazon tracks people who may consistently ask for refunds? I am guessing they would be flagged as suspicious?

Does anyone actually know? What do we think peeps. about Amazon refunds? Is there a place for being able to refund a book? (I appreciate bad formatting/technical issues is cool but what about those people who just *didn't like it*)


19 comments

  1. If we went into a shop and bought a book, read it and took it back for a refund we would be laughed at. I think amazon should stop giving refunds on any e-books bought. Even when I bought a book by accident I didn't ask for a refund WHY! because it wasn't the authors fault it was mine. I should of checked my kindle before I bought the book. I sometimes loose track of books I buy because I buy from various sites. I have lots of books on my kindle that I haven't gotten round to reading yet. I tend to buy full sets.

    I don't think amazon will keep a check on who returns ebooks, I don't think they have that much common sense. They are quick to take books off there site that they think you shouldn't buy because someone bought it and found the sex ect. not to there liking. There is no protection for authors, authors make them money, they should remember that.

    As to pirating, it is going to happen, we all know this. But saying that to buy the book then rip it and request a refund is just plain cheeky. For every site that is taken down another will pop up. For some its an easy way to get to get books ect. for free. For others its a way to flaunt the laws.

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    1. I am thinking reasonable refunds... like you already bought it elsewhere, or that it had errors... but i think it should be a lot harder to do than just one clicking to say refund it...:(

      I never understand Amazon... :(

      Hugs Rj xxx

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    2. The only time I've gotten refunded on Amazon is when I hit buy without meaning to due to tremors. When I fo that, it's an immediate oops! And they have a specific button for that. I would never try to return one I'd already read.

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  2. I've noticed the same thing in series. They will all have five or seven or however many returns and all my other titles will have 0 or 1. I think what I get hung up on is, "How do these people not feel like they're stealing from me and how are they okay with that?" And clearly, if my biggest hangup is within my attitude, then it's my responsibility to either sit here and feel bad and discouraged, or change the way I think about it. I just haven't hit on the right way of looking at it that doesn't breed discouragement.

    I was under the impression that after a certain number of read-and-returns they do get stopped, but I wish there was a way to recoup that money. I used to console myself with, "Well, at least they can't re-read the series if they've returned them," but if, as you say, they know how to copy the files...well, that's just unfortunate for me, I guess.

    If you could find a helper to deal with the stuff, it really does chip away at your soul a lot less. I'm crap at delegating and I did manage to delegate my anti-piracy.

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    1. "...How do these people not feel like they're stealing from me and how are they okay with that..." EXACTLY!

      Oh it's very easy to break DRM apparently - which I found out when I researched... also the book stays on the kindle even after you delete it... how long I dont know, but still.... sighs...

      You delegated anti-piracy... was that to the same person that did it at (^&%^PTPT? Does that person hire themselves out?

      RJ

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  3. The refund issue really bugs me. On one hand, I want people to be satisfied. And I think I'd rather have a return than a bad review. And it's not like I get a ton of returns or like I make all that much money off each book sale anyway, so I guess in that way, whatever. if someone really was dissatisfied, let them return it. Hopefully the fact they can return it if they hate it will encourage people to try stories they might not have, since there is no real risk in the purchase.

    BUT... every time I see a return, I get so nervous! What made them return it? Did they hate the story? Was there a point, maybe a scene or a section, where they got mad and stopped reading? I obsess over the possibility that I've upset someone, disappointed a reader. I know that's probably not the case. That they might be pirates, or just looking for a free read, who knows. But I still feel bad about it.

    I think amazon does stop them after a while, but it is so easy to make a new amazon account, I'm sure they just do that.

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    1. I know exactly what you mean... I haver 2.5% returns on the .com on A Reason To Stay... I just put it down to people *taking the piss* because I can't bear to think it is anything else...

      :) X

      p.s. HUGS YOU HARD XXX

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  4. Don't get me started on either subject. Especially Amazon returns. Over the last few days I sold 36 copies of Finders, Keepers across Amazon, which given it's a rerelease isn't bad. BUT from that 36, remove the 10 that were refunded. None of my other books have had that number of refunds, and most have none. It's another way of stealing, of course.

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    1. That is what it is... :( Sorry to hear that hun... HUGS XXXXX

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    2. @Chris Quinton..added Finders, Keepers to my wishlist...looks really good :)

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  5. This is awful Rj..so wrong that this happens to anyone! You guys put your heart, soul and a great deal of time into your work only to have asshats, like that word? My husband taught it to me and I like it :) anyway they go and steal not only from you but your family as well! I have never asked for a refund even if I had bought another copy of a book somewhere else,by accident of course *which I am not admitting to such absentmindedness* but it has happened way to often. I tease in here but I am very angry on your and all others who have had this happen to them, behalf..:(

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    1. It's not fair really... I have to rise above it like a lot of authors do... :(

      Hugs you xxxx

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  7. Well for me, I do ask for refunds sometimes, and it's more the case of having eyes too big for my wallet than anything else. Sometimes I want to return a book I can't afford because I've overspent. :( Maybe someday I'll be able to buy absolutely anything and everything I want to read, but till then I have to watch the money carefully, and when I realize I've overdone it, I sometimes have to return books if I've not read them already and it's within the time limit. I don't copy files, I wouldn't know how to do that, and I would definitely consider it stealing!! Also, if you've read a book and return it, I don't think that's right unless there's a really good reason, so I would never do that. (What reason could be good enough if you managed to read through the whole book, anyway?) Anyway, I'm sorry you've been dealing with so much of this. :( I must admit I don't look anymore to see if anyone's stealing my stuff. It's too discouraging. :(

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  8. The only times I have asked for a refund is when I have accidently clicked the one-click button. I asked for the refund immediately. I don't keep the wi-fi on so they did not download. I was glad of the refund policy. One was an expensive textbook! The one-click button makes it too, too easy to buy by mistake.

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    1. I'm with you there. Add tremors and I'm thankful for that immediate oops button .

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  9. Other than mistake purchases (which, sadly, I have done) I don't think books should be returnable. Like food (or underwear). I have spoken with one other author about the Amazon policy and she has also seen this for her books. I don't get it.

    If you can't afford a book, don't steal one - just go to the library. There are all kinds of books at the library and they'll even let you take them home. :) Too simple, I know. By the way, my awesome library does carry a large selection of m/m books, so you can't say they don't have anything you want to read. Just sayin'.

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  10. I've only returned a couple of ebooks due to accidentally purchasing 2 and figuring it out RIGHT when I clicked "send". I think those were both on AllRomance.com. Other than situations like that I don't agree with refunding ebooks. It's ridiculous; if you tried to return a read book to a bookstore they'd look at you like you were a loon! :)

    As far as piracy, that annoys the crap out of me on behalf of the authors. It's not fair or right or acceptable. I will admit to buying one book via a torrent site :( It was That's What Brothers Do by Derekica Snake. It was no where to be found and I couldn't take it! HOWEVER, in my defence, I have it marked as unread on my tablet and the minute it becomes available (it's been a couple of years already!) I'll buy it. Might even buy 2 because of the guilt! :) It was early in my ebook reading career and now I wish I hadn't done it but I plan on correcting it as the earliest opportunity.

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  11. How bad am I, I didn't even realise you could return an ebook! It just makes no sense to me. The only time I've attempted it is if there is something wrong with the copy. I've bought doubles of books before (comes from buying from multiple vendors and not checking GRs) and just accepted the fact that it was my own stupidity that lead me there.

    We all buy books that don't suit us from time to time, you mark it down to experience and then avoid buying books in the genre or by that author. Simple. Refunding ebooks just seems a way of encouraging piracy and/or unauthorized lending. Surely Amazon hurting themselves as much as they hurt us authors with this policy?

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