Post
by TerriPray » Sun January 18th, 2009, 4:23 pm
One thing authors and bloggers should be aware of is the giving away of e-books.
To help prevent the 'giving' away of the e-book without the permission of the author or publisher, it's been advised that authors make sure winners of their books 'sign' an understanding that the prize is for personal use only, and may not be copied, or given away to another.
What we (Under the Moon) do is this.
The prize must come directly from Under the Moon, not from the author, though the same idea can work from the author as well. We choose this way because we have, in theory, a bigger litigation budget than an author does.
This message is sent to the winner.
"In accordance with the Under the Moon policy in regards to e-book prizes-
I am required to make sure that those who win copies of Under the Moon e-books understand the following.
The reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.
Copying, scanning, uploading, selling and distribution of this book via the Internet or any other means without permission from the publisher is illegal, punishable by law and will be prosecuted.
As such this, and any other prize from Under the Moon, is meant for personal use only.
All though with print books you can, obviously, lend or even give the copy away to a friend, relative, or any other person. With an e-book you cannot do this without making another copy of the book and so is prohibited by law.
If you understand and accept this as a condition of receiving a copy of _________ by __________as part of the competition run by _______. Please respond to this email with an acknowledgement. A copy of that email, with headers, is then kept for our records, showing that you acknowledged these rules."
Only if they acknowledge this message and agree to the stipulations, do we then send the prize out.
Part of the problem with piracy is education, and unfortunately there have been far too many occasions where prizes have then been pirated, either on a low level basis, or a peer to peer basis.
There are enough readers who simply don't realize that by sharing the e-book with a friend they are, indeed, pirating the book. You can't lend an electronic copy out unless you do so by lending out the device the book is on.
Sad, but it's not just publishers who are taking this step. Individual authors are also moving in that direction. Especially after a couple of authors discovered that prize winners, or reviewers, were then 'offering' the e-books out as prizes themselves. Basically winning a copy and then making more copies to give away - they honestly didn't realize this was illegal.
Terri
Currently reading through submissions ranging from alternative history to science fiction and fantasy.
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