Samantha A. Cole
June 27, 2019
U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary
Subcommittee: Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet
Committee Hearing Room
2141 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
Dear Chairman Jerrold Nadler and Committee Members:
Since 2015, I have been a self-published author, writing under the pen name Samantha A. Cole. I currently have twenty-eight titles available on legal sale sites such as Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple, and more. Like a vast majority of authors, both Indie and traditional, I am faced with the daunting task of dealing with illegal pirate sites and apps that have obtained PDF and EPUB copies of my e-books and are listing them for free or reduced prices without my permission. While a rare few copies of my books may have been obtained in other ways, such as Advanced Reader Copies, most have been downloaded by people from those legitimate sites, who then strip the files of the features meant to protect them, return the books for credit or refund, and upload the stolen copies to pirate sites for others to download. These arrogant people do not care that what they are doing is against the law and depriving authors of their royalties; they’re only happy they’ve found a way to scam the system.
This is a battle we authors have been fighting for years, and with each day, week, and month that passes, it is a one we are losing. Several times per week, I’m alerted to new sites and apps by my fellow authors and readers, and it is frustrating beyond anything I’d ever expected to deal with when I’d released my first book over fifty months ago. The hoops we must jump through, in order to get our books removed from these sites and apps, take up hours of our time each week. We must research who is hosting the sites and apps and where to send a DMCA Cease & Desist letter which must list each infringing URL among other information—not always a simple task, especially when you have published as many books as I have. We must report the pirates’ social media profiles, pages, and groups where people freely share the pirated files of our books, and we are more often than not unsuccessful in getting them taken down. These thieves have even had the audacity to run sponsored ads on Facebook, Instagram, and other sites, advertising what appears to be a legitimate app or site. I’m sure many people are not even aware they are contributing to piracy when downloading from these more authentic-looking apps or sites, while others knowingly take advantage of the “free” books. While an app or website may look legitimate to some unsuspecting readers, it does not negate the fact they have listed thousands of books without the authors’ permission or knowledge. Authors are losing billions of dollars per year, collectively, while the owners of these sites and apps are living off our stolen hard work.
The other day, I found out about one of those apps running sponsored ads on Facebook. When I went to investigate, I found forty-one different files of my twenty-eight books available to read immediately, without the necessity of downloading them. While the app is listed on Google Play as being unavailable in the United States, it is available in many other countries. However, there are dozens of sites and apps that are available for use in the United States. One such site is Ebook-Bike, formerly known as TUEBL—The Ultimate E-Book Library. This site has been a well-known thorn in the side of authors for many years. The site’s developer and owner, Travis McCrea, was making enough money to support himself, and even purchased a private plane, by taking donations and sponsorships through his site that illegally listed authors’ books without their permission. Mr. McCrea is one of the more arrogant pirates we authors have had to deal with over the years. He had no qualms letting people know he was behind the site and advocated piracy. With his dual citizenship between the United States and Canada, he actually tried to run for office in Canada under a piracy platform. To further salt our wounds, he started a tax-free church—“The Kopimist Church of Kopimism.” Please note the pronunciation of this “religion” is copy-me-ism. Mr. McCrea claimed for years the authors couldn’t touch him because he lived in Canada where the laws governing piracy were not as strict as those in the United States. He even told authors we should be grateful our books were listed on his website for free because people were reading them. Grateful? I think not. Grateful does not pay my rent or put food on my table.
Mr. McCrea continued to brush off authors’ complaints. If he was feeling generous one day, he might remove the books he received Cease & Desist letter for from his website, but that was rare, and they usually ended up being relisted within a few days. Mr. McCrea loved to gloat on social media, saying he welcomed a lawsuit to prove his case in court. Well, recently an Indie author decided to take Mr. McCrea up on his offer and sued him for copyright infringement. I’m told Mr. McCrea went into hiding, to avoid being served with the court papers, and was ultimately found at his girlfriend’s house. He has since posted on his website that he can no longer afford to keep it running, but instead of taking the site down, he has left it up and said there would be no further updates, but this means pirated e-books are still being shared. Authors have reported the site to its past hosting sites, and it was removed by several of them. As of today, though, it is still up and running through a foreign host.
Unfortunately, Mr. McCrea’s site is only the tip of the iceberg. Here is a partial list of e-book piracy sites and apps authors have come across. This does not include many of the private Facebook groups, Reddit threads, and other online chat rooms where file sharing is not only allowed but encouraged. While some of these sites are legitimate in their main purpose, they do little or nothing to curb the piracy of e-books that takes place.
(List removed from public view.)
I could go on and on, but I’m sure you have gotten the gist of it. The list contains sites that have been shared in an anti-piracy group for authors on Facebook and others that were simply found by doing a Google search for free e-books in PDF format. I stopped after the second page of results. Every week, more piracy apps and sites become available. Most authors do not have the time, resources, or finances to fight them all, or even a few for that matter.
In addition to all the sites that do have pirated copies of e-books, there are hundreds of other sites that use our names, book covers, and blurbs to scam people into entering their credit card numbers. As I stated earlier, it is a daunting task to weed through all these sites to find the ones that require us to submit Cease & Desist letters to have our books removed, which many times is ignored.
Many of the apps and sites listed above have videos on Youtube teaching people how to strip the DRM from the files of e-books borrowed or purchased then returned to legitimate sites. The videos go on to explain how to upload the pirated copy to the website or app. Other videos are available to show people how to use the pirate apps or sites to download the stolen e-books. I must say that out of all the websites that authors must contact about piracy, Youtube has been the most accommodating out of all of them. Within hours of reporting a video that supports an e-book or audiobook pirate site, they are usually taken down and a copyright infringement notice is put in its place. Unfortunately, these videos are only a very small portion of the problem. Other social media formats allow pirates to have private groups, pages, profiles, or threads where illegal file sharing is the main focus.
Most authors will tell you their books are like their children. Some books take a few weeks for an author to write while others have taken months and even years to complete. We put our blood, sweat, and tears into each chapter, taking time away from our families because of the compelling need to put the stories in our heads onto paper for others to read. While I have personally been fortunate to find a steady reader following for my books and can afford to have writing be my full-time job, most authors, especially those who are self-published, have not reached that point in their careers yet. Many may never reach their goal of being a full-time, self-sustainable author, but that will not stop a majority of them from writing. What may stop them is the frustration of having their hard work stolen and their well-deserved royalty checks dwindle down to nothing. There are authors out there who have received emails and messages from readers who have the audacity to demand they list all their books for free. The readers see nothing wrong with asking an author to write and publish with nothing in return. Apparently, these readers have never heard of a library, which can get copies of most e-books and allow the author to receive their fair share of the royalty from the sale.
In 2001, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed that Napster could be held liable for contributory infringement and vicarious infringement of the multiple plaintiffs’ copyrights. This was a huge win for those in the music industry fighting against piracy. I am asking on behalf of authors everywhere that you give us the same consideration and take action against those participating in and contributing to the piracy of books in all formats.
I will be sharing this letter on social media, addressing it to my fellow authors, in addition to sending it to you. I hope they will take it upon themselves to write you about their own struggles with piracy to show you this is not an isolated complaint. Book piracy is widespread, and we are tired of fighting it on our own.
Sincerely,
Samantha A. Cole
My fellow authors.
I am under no illusion that my single letter will prompt the Judiciary Committee to taking practical and sustainable action against book pirates, but we must start somewhere, right? I’m asking you to inundate the committee with your own letters, and, maybe, with strength in numbers, we can make a change. If you’re not certain how you should word your letter or don’t have time to write one, I’ve made a shorter version (below) of mine for you to cut/paste and fill in with your own information. For those of you who are currently unpublished authors, I’ve added a cover letter (below) that you can complete, then send in with a copy of my original letter. Feel free to make any changes to these letters or write one of your own! It’s time for us to be heard, since no one has listened so far. Let’s give it a shot.
Please feel free to share this link via the buttons at the bottom of the article.
Letter for published authors:
Your Name
Street Address
City, ST ZIP Code
Date
U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary
Subcommittee: Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet
Committee Hearing Room
2141 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
Dear Chairman Jerrold Nadler and Committee Members:
Since ____, I have been a self-published author, writing under the pen name __________________. I currently have _______ titles available on legal sale sites such as Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple, and more. Like a vast majority of authors, both Indie and traditional, I am faced with the daunting task of dealing with illegal pirate sites and apps that have obtained PDF and EPUB copies of my e-books and are listing them for free or reduced prices without my permission. While a rare few copies of pirated books may have been obtained in other ways, such as Advanced Reader Copies, most have been downloaded by people from legitimate sale sites, who then strip the files of the features meant to protect them, return the books for credit or refund, and upload the stolen copies to pirate sites for others to download. These arrogant people do not care that what they are doing is against the law and depriving authors of their royalties; they’re only happy they’ve found a way to scam the system.
This is a battle we authors have been fighting for years, and with each day, week, and month that passes, it is a one we are losing. On a regular basis, I’m alerted to new sites and apps by my fellow authors and readers, and it is extremely frustrating. The hoops we must jump through, in order to get our books removed from these sites and apps, take up hours of our time each week. We must research who is hosting the sites and apps and where to send a DMCA Cease & Desist letter which must list each infringing URL among other information—not always a simple task. We must report the pirates’ social media profiles, pages, and groups where people freely share the pirated files of our books, and we are more often than not unsuccessful in getting them taken down. These thieves have even had the audacity to run sponsored ads on Facebook, Instagram, and other sites, advertising what appears to be a legitimate app or site. I’m sure many people are not even aware they are contributing to piracy when downloading from these more authentic-looking apps or sites, while others knowingly take advantage of the “free” books. While an app or website may look legitimate to some unsuspecting readers, it does not negate the fact they have listed thousands of books without the authors’ permission or knowledge. Authors are losing billions of dollars per year, collectively, while the owners of these sites and apps are living off our stolen hard work.
In addition to all the sites that do have pirated copies of e-books, there are hundreds of other sites that use our names, book covers, and blurbs to scam people into entering their credit card numbers. As I stated earlier, it is a daunting task to weed through all these sites to find the ones that require us to submit Cease & Desist letters to have our books removed, which many times is ignored.
Many pirate apps and sites have videos on Youtube teaching people how to strip the DRM from the files of e-books borrowed or purchased then returned to legitimate sites. The videos go on to explain how to upload the pirated copy to the website or app. Other videos are available to show people how to use the pirate apps or sites to download the stolen e-books. Unfortunately, these videos are only a very small portion of the problem. Other social media formats allow pirates to have private groups, pages, profiles, or threads where illegal file sharing is the main focus.
Most authors will tell you their books are like their children. Some books take a few weeks for an author to write while others have taken months and even years to complete. We put our blood, sweat, and tears into each chapter, taking time away from our families because of the compelling need to put the stories in our heads onto paper for others to read. Most authors, especially those who are self-published, have not reached a point in their writing careers to leave their other jobs to write full time. Many may never reach that goal, but that will not stop a majority of them from writing. What may stop them is the frustration of having their hard work stolen and their well-deserved royalty checks dwindle down to nothing.
In 2001, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed that Napster could be held liable for contributory infringement and vicarious infringement of the multiple plaintiffs’ copyrights. This was a huge win for those in the music industry fighting against piracy. I am asking on behalf of authors everywhere that you give us the same consideration and take action against those participating in and contributing to the piracy of books in all formats. Book piracy is widespread, and we are tired of fighting it on our own.
Sincerely,
Your Name
Letter for unpublished authors (use as a cover letter and attach a copy of my original letter):
Your Name
Street Address
City, ST ZIP Code
Date
U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary
Subcommittee: Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet
Committee Hearing Room
2141 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
Dear Chairman Jerrold Nadler and Committee Members:
I am a yet unpublished Indie author who has be participating in the online book community, learning everything I can for the day my dream becomes a reality. One of my main concerns is e-book piracy. In the author groups I am a member of, I often see posts regarding this deplorable subject. With everything else authors must deal with in order to have a successful writing career, this should not be one of them.
I am attaching a recent letter sent to you by Indie-Author Samantha A. Cole, to show my support for my fellow authors. I hope by the time I do publish my first book, you will have found a viable solution to dealing with e-book piracy.
Sincerely,
Your Name
Thank you for this, Samantha!
You’re welcome!
Thank you Samantha for taking the time to compose this for the benefit of all of us. Also, I appreciate the addition of the yet unpublished author letter. I will be sending this now.
Sincerely,
Theresa Papa
Thanks!
Thank you so much for picking up that megaphone. We need to be heard.
No problem!