Carmella Borchers

Piracy Concerns Rise In Online Book Market

Online books have gained a lot of popularity in the past 2 years. But as an unintended consequence of this popularity, piracy of eBooks has also risen.

Electronic editions of books have been available online for quite a while now, with the first ones appearing around 1994, when the internet was just starting to be used by individuals rather than scientists and business people. Over the years, they have become much more popular, when increased use of the PDF format came into existence and then with the launch of e-reader devices such as the Amazon Kindle. People can now purchase and download millions of books in electronic format, such as romance books.

However, the growing popularity of online books has also meant that they are increasingly appearing on piracy websites such as torrent sites. A recent report by Actua Litte shed some light on the eBook piracy phenomenon. It may not come as much of a surprise that out of the top ten pirated eBooks shared on torrent websites, 5 of them are erotic books. The Kama Sutra is in first place.

This is not really surprising, as erotic content has always been among the top for pirated materials online. But the question that remains is, what can online publishers of erotic books do to reduce piracy and increase legitimate sales?

There are a few things that can help. The first thing would be to price the eBooks in a sensible way. Many online books are available at low prices under $5, however some are more expensive and could cost more than $50. The lower the price, the less likely someone is going to deploy the additional effort required to dig through underground forums and torrent sites in an effort to get the book for free.

Offering multiple payment options is also recommended. Some online users may not have access to a credit card or wouldn't want to use theirs to buy erotic material, so offering payment by an electronic wallet system such as PayPal or Moneybookers could be a solution. Since eBooks typically cost only a few dollars, mobile phone micropayment systems are also a good choice for billing.

For membership sites, it is advisable to steer clear of deceptive billing practices such as offering free access to your website for 2 days and then billing the user a large amount such as $49.99 per month if they don't cancel before the time runs out. These practices have given the adult industry a bad reputation among some users and are some of the reasons as to why many users are unwilling to use their credit card online for erotic material and turn to underground piracy sites instead.

Lastly, it is always a good idea for a publisher to include a link to their website as well as an advertisement on the last page of the eBook encouraging the user to visit it for more eBooks. Even if someone has a pirate copy of one of your books, they may be drawn to visit your website and then purchase another book if they like your selection and it is well priced.

Read more: Why the Kindle Fire Could Succeed in the Enterprise Market

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