eBooks...I don't get how the thieves don't rob you dry...

I have a system in place which makes me hundreds per month at www.CASH SERVED.com - you can see how my work is protected. Sign up in the form and run the book. It runs fine, but a password is necessery to read the chapters (only table of contents is available at no charge). There are 1000 passwords. The first time the book is ran, a random number generates and needs that password number. Then I just go through my pre-generated list of passwords and cope >> paste that number to my buyer in a welcome email. If the book is shared, the chances tha tthe password will match is 1 in 1,000. Another thing you can do is encode your HTML in a members' area and restrict the access from 1 IP only per username and password. Disable right-click and copy>>paste in the encoded HTML, too.

Good luck!

 

Thanks VIP-IP. That is helpful.

I have downloaded the book. I see you use activ-ebook to create this. May I ask how long you have had active e-book? Do they keep up with maintaining /patching the software? Any recent new versions?

Regarding sharing...

If someone shared the ebook, wouldn't they also just share/post the code to unlock it as well?

Maybe it is the "thing" that is selecting the password out of the 1000 possible that makes the difference? What actually selects this password (if you don't mind saying)? Is it a PHP script before the download? Or is the random number being generated inside the ebook? Trying to understand how this works. Thanks!

 

The software is pretty nice and they patch it as required. 4.22 is a very stable (current) version, and I recommend that software to whoever wants to keep their e-products safe. Regarding the password, if someone shared it, say they have the code #666, for an example. If they share the ebook, people can download it and open it. When the .exe file prompts for a password, it will randomly pick a number from 1-1,000. The chances that it'll be #666 are 0.1% (slim to none). If it's any other number besides 666, the password will NOT unlock teh system.

While you create the eBook, you specify the number of passwords you want (from 1 to 1,000). You get all the keys in a .TXT file, one password per line. That way all codes are easy to keep track of No PHP or SSI or other files are needed, the number is generated inside the book. And guess what - no DLL's whatsoever! ^_^

 

Funny when I was creating my ebook i was worried about the xact same thing. I checked around asking ppl for programs that would make it impossible to even UPLOAD the file once they've downloaded it.

You can try a program called lizard lock (google it), they let u lock pdfs to one computur

I have seen products to that create the ebook in an exe file, so it can be locked to a computur

I think it is possible. And anyone buying a ebook on the internet PERIOD is not going to have the skill or desire to try to crack the lock. And the computur programmers who can crack the lock wont give a damn about a random ebook anyway, theyll be trying to hack university websites...

 

Mirage,

The only problem with the activ-ebook compiler is that it is Windows based, not cross-platform (which is what you mentioned in your original post).

But, as about 80% of the worlds PC's use the Windows OS you could still potentially make a fortune using it...and relatively easily protect your ebook(s).

 

Mirage:

You asked what are they (the successful eBookers) doing about piracy?

The guys I spoke with is doing nothing. He absorbs/ignores the small percentage of pirated eBooks and concentrates on selling to new customers.

An illustration:

In the old world, I wrote a book and sold it to a major publisher. It's still on the market and selling steadily. I know for a fact that the book is passed around from friend to friend to friend, and as a result, I'm losing royalties. I could obsess on finding ways to stop this hand-to-hand distribution of my intellectual property but instead, I choose to promote it to new buyers via radio and print interviews.

IMO, you should not fixate on what you might be losing to pirates, but what you might be gaining by selling to legit customers. It's fine to protect yourself, but don't get too obsessed with it. There will be some entropy. Accept it and focus on marketing!

-Mook

 

Precisely!! Great point!

 

Thank you all for your information. It has helped tremendously, and has given me lots of ideas to work with.

Just for the record, I know it might sound like I am obsessing about ebook protection. That is not the case. The problem on that front is tha I am an experienced software developer and the engineer in me is very interested to know what people have cooked up to try to deal with this sort of thing.

From my own experiences with software, I know that piracy is going to be there. Go too far in trying to protect your assetts and you only tick-off your good, honest paying customers. Personally, I think a lot of software companies have already crossed the line (MS-Monopoly comes to mind...).

I suspected that there was a tool out there to "lock" an ebook to a given computer, but I am familliar with that technology (have a version of that system myself) and it is one that I would really avoid at all costs. It only produces a customer support nightmare, as anyone changing their system configuration (adding memory, an additional hard drive, etc.) causes it to disable the ebook. Plus, I believe strongly in "fair use", so I wouldn't want to restrict the customer to only the computer they activated it on. I think it is fine if they copy it to their own laptop/pda/etc. for their own use (unlike what the RIAA would like to see...a license to play a CD on each and every CD player that you own!).

Mostly, I was looking for a non-intrusive way of preventing "casual" sharing, and that is all. I can see that efforts are much better spent in promoting/marketting the ebook than in trying to protect it. And if it is chosen correctly and can be updated periodically, it sounds like that is pretty much the "model" I am looking for.

As far as Windows/non-Windows compatibility, while it would be nice to be cross-platform, I don't think I'd be shooting myself in the foot too bad if I ended up releasing only for the Windows platform. As was already mentioned, that platform is so prolific you are not cutting out a lot of people. And depending on the ebook's quality, a PDF version could be produced at a later time if it seemed like a good move to make.

I think I will download and try out the activ-ebook compiler. I have enough information now to make it worth my while to spend the time looking at it.

Once again, thank you all. Your input has been invaluable, and saved me a ton of time.

 

If you're selling through clickbank, there's a product called DLGuard that stops casual piracy (sharing download urls).

Neil

 

If you need any help with taht one just holla

 

Just stumbled across this thread -- interesting information. Can I piggy-back with a slightly different question?

I've got ebooks for sale through my site. They don't sell gangbusters, but I'm not complaining. I think of my site as a successful hobby rather than a potential gold-mine...

Anyway: the advice I read before starting was to think of the pirating of your ebooks as merely a spreading of your website's link, which someone mentioned earlier. But I'm running cheap/no-cost. The freeware pdf writer I'm using won't even include links. It formats the text like a link, but it doesn't actually do anything.

I'd be willing to shell out, say, 30 bucks for a pdf writer that included this high-tech feature. Not the crazy fees Adobe wants, though... Anybody got a recommendation? Feel free to PM it instead if that's less obnoxious.

 

neilboland and VIP-IP,

If I put a password protection on ebook such that perhaps only 1 chapter was viewable without the password, I presume I wouldn't care if people got the URL to the file. In fact, I would think that I would WANT them to get as many copies of it out there where people will see it and want to (hopefully) buy a password to unlock the rest of it. Or am I missing something?

Thanks for the offer of help VIP-IP...I just may take you up on it! I downloaded the trial version and hope to play with it this weekend.

Sudoku, glad this thread has been helpful to you...it certainly has been to me.

With respect to PDF files, I use something called RoboPDF that I got for about $50 I think. However, the product/company was bought by Macromedia, who you may already know was acquired by Adobe earlier this year.

I think the new name of the product is "flash paper 2," which carries a higher price tag ($79) for the "flash paper" format you can output to as well (whether or not you really want it!). I do not know if the links are live, but I DO know that like all of their products, you can download a 30 day trial from macromedia to give it a whirl. I know it is out of your stated price range, but you could try it for free and then see if you want to cough up the extra $$'s.

Sorry I cannot suggest anything better. Good luck to you.

 

Mirage,

Yes you would want to give as many copies out as possible to spread the word about the book.

 

Hey.. thanks for including me in the conversation.

First of all, I'm not too crazy about the "guru" moniker myself.

Look, I'm just a guy that figured out how to make money with AdSense back in late 2004. I've been creating sites since 1995, but the AdSense ebook was my first one. I didn't set out to be a guru... but sell a few thousand books and you become one in the public eye. So it is what it is.

Could I sell a book on psoriasis?

Only if it was a great book!

Honestly, I have no interest in writing about that topic. In fact, I think a key to success with ebooks really comes down to delivering great content. I couldn't do that on just any topic, especially since I am not passionate about it.

Could I make any ebook "sexy" with my direct marketing skills? Perhaps. But I am not in this to "trick" people. I will only create, sell and promote something I really believe in. So if you have something to offer people, why not write about it and share it with them for cash?

Regarding protection for PDF documents, I don't mess with it beyond password protection for downloads. People are regularly stealing from me and there is little I can do to stop it. When I see my book being publicly distributed on a site, I send a cease and desist. That usually works.

But as far as the people who steal with file-sharing services, I look at it this way. Thieves will be thieves. If they need my material so desperately that they are willing to sacrifice their own ethics and integrity, I say let them have the material. Money won't change their soul, but it sounds like they need help more than I do.

Besides, being overly concerned about thieves takes precious time and energy from me which could be better spent on serving my customers or being with my family.

Sales figures? A lot. Thousands.

To those who are thinking about writing an ebook, I say go for it.

Make sure the market is there... hopefully it will be a hot one. And get as many JV partners as possible to promote your product for you.

Joel

 

Yes, indeed.

I went this evening searching for a paid-but-better pdf writer, and found an acceptable one for $35. It's still not so slick as I would ideally want, but it does recognize embedded links. Now I'm contemplating re-printing a year's worth of puzzles so that those 365 pdfs all at least link back to my website. Probably not worth it, but they'll be there going forward...

 

Sudoku - have you tried - openoffice.org - you simply export to pdf
You can also convert powerpoint presentations to flash etc.

 

For me, the best strategy would be to make the single chapter you want people to see as its own pdf file, then give out this url to everyone, make it as available as possible and let everyone download it.

Then use a product like the one i mentioned which generates a temprorary download URL for the full book. I wouldn;t use password protection, or an exe ebook, because I think this ends up pissing people off in the end. There is the danger your book will end up on P2P networks, but this can be avoided by
a) not caring because you're increasing your visibility and reach
b) inserting "Prepared for 'customer name here'" at the bottom of each pdf page, which makes people less likely to share it.

 

Heard of, knew you could do pdfs from, haven't tried. Thanks, though.

 

Sodoku - I have played with Open Office and am pleased with its ability to generate PDF files. Out of curiosity, which PDF writer did you finally settle on?

JComm - Thanks for your input. Your comments especially are on point for something that I have been very concerned about. You see, I am very interested in Internet Marketting, but, my fear has been that with so much "crap-ware" out there, it would be impossible to really make a living if you held a set of ethics that required you to give value to the customer for their money, rather than just selling them what you can get away with.

This, more than most other reasons, has been the driving force behind me wanting to explore the creation of my own content, be it ebooks, software, or something else.

I have been pleased to meet many people here that do seem to hold to the same philosophy of wanting to actually give value.

I do have a question, though. You reference "JV Partners"...and since I am new at this, I do not know what a "JV Partner" is. Could you elaborate?

Finally, you advocate making certain that there is a market before you spend the energy to write an ebook. Good advice. But the question is, how do you go about determining if there is a market there? I know you can look at what is selling, but I did not know if you had something else in mind.

Thanks again to you all for providing such stellar feedback and information. You are really lightening the load on me to understand what I need to know to go forward with my online plans.

 

Win2PDF for printing PDFs that have working embedded links. Still using PDFCreator for printing my .png versions. Once again, there has GOT to be a better way...