Hello. I am going to write an ebook soon. I want to know that how can i prevent people from giving away my ebooks for free. Is there any way by which i can give a special link to every buyer who pays me and that link is accessible to the buyer only? I am not sure if this topic should be in developers section. I just want to know what can i do by which only the buyer can read my ebook and don't give away my ebook for free or upload anywhere on internet.
Its not possible to stop piracy. There's always a chance that one of your buyers will spread it for free. And what you are talking about is also not possible.
Even if you were to release it as a hard copy printed book, if it was any use, people would scan it in and release it on torrent sites etc. SO the short answer is no.
hi! i believe there are special programs used to lock your ebook (in case a buyer decides to give it away for free). try adobe acrobat's features, Nitro PDF, lock lizard, and other platforms (though they can cost a bit if you are on a tight budget).
Yes, I am afraid just like the others have said there isn't really a way to prevent your eBook being copied or given for free. Even if you password protect the eBook the buyers can just give the password away for free. There are a few things which can help you though. 1) disable right click, copy and paste using adobe acrobat reader, to prevent content being copied. 2) where ever you store the eBook, make the download link almost impossible to guess, e.g www.yourwebsitename.com/downloadss/ebooks245/26gv267hjng677xxebooktitle.PDF This will prevent unwanted people finding the download from your website. Other than those there isn't much you can do, sorry.
Depending on what you're writing about, copy-protecting your ebook may not matter as much. Let's say you just wrote an ebook on 'gardening for beginners.' I reckon most people who read it will have purchased it; because a) gardening books aren't pirated as much; b) people who are into gardening and other such homely topics aren't usually cheapskates (or aren't good at finding 'warez' as pirated material is infamously known). But, if you just wrote an ebook on 'making money quick,' for instance, better rev up the battleship...
Instead of directly giving away the ebook through download link, use a php script that emails the suer with download link after confirmation of payment (if any) and the download link works only once! I have seen someone selling that script in cheap stuff for $0.5
Sadly, I agree with what others have said. One way you can slightly mitigate the loss from this theft is to place references to you, your company and your website throughout the body of the text. Vary the exact words or phrases to make it more time consuming to edit them out. I suppose you could also put something in there that if the reader did not obtain a copy from your site that they are reading a bootleg copy and should ask for a refund. Sure, a more bold thief will edit it out but most of the thieves are too lazy to bother. It's really a shame that there's so many folks who have no respect for the work of others and that international law has not truly kept up with the Internet. I think it's probably a bit easier to protect a website under the DMCA than it would be to protect a ebook. Additionally, the content would be spread across several pages rather than in a single, easily propagated file. It seems the days of making money from an ebook from sales are fairly over. Once a few copies get into the marketplace you lose control. The strength of ebooks today is probably to build mailing lists and get your name out there, i.e. use it more as a promo or advertising piece rather than a separate product.
No matter what measures you take, if it's worth pirating then someone will find a way. The gaming industry spend obscene amounts of money on anti-piracy measures, but the top games are always cracked within a few days of release, often before the public release. If you deliver quality content, and don't let yourself get frustrated by the pirates, then you will make enough money to make it all worthwhile.
Thank you for all replies. Yes it is about making money online and i believe that my ebook will be best. Although there are couple of ebooks already available on this topic but mine will be 100% Complete and buyer will have no questions in his mind after reading it. Yes. Thats a bit similar to what i need. But buyer can give away for it for free after getting the book later. So, The problem is still there. Oh God! Are you a mind reader? I am thinking about this from many days. You stole it from my brain lol.
It's a good measure to take but the bigger problem is sharing rather than reselling. Given that you're writing a 'make money online' book, I think the best way to avoid bootlegging is to add non-shareable value to the purchase. You could offer free coaching to customers (with a unique serial number of purchase). Or offer a subscription to a premium newsletter that they would otherwise pay for. Access to a forum that only customers of your ebook are part of. If your ebook "will be the best" as you've said, I'm sure you'll have no trouble finding top-notch content for any of these.