# http://www.general-ebooks.com has pirated copies of YOUR books



## Kathy Clark Author (Dec 18, 2012)

They appear to be from SW


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## daringnovelist (Apr 3, 2010)

More than likely it's just another scraped content site: they scrape Amazon for the content on the book pages -- title, author, blurb, cover -- and package it as an "ebook."

Have you downloaded your books and seen that they really do contain the text of your books? (Actually it's probably not a good idea to do that.... what they are offering as your "ebook" may well be a trojan horse with a dangerous virus or something.)

Camille


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## Guest (Feb 1, 2014)

What do you think is the best way to stop it?


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## AriadneW (Feb 16, 2013)

I broke my rule of not bothering to do anything as they had my best selling book as an online read. They took it down and apologised.


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## AriadneW (Feb 16, 2013)

Lol that's interesting. When I sent them the DMCA they were displaying my whole book.


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## GearPress Steve (Feb 4, 2012)

daringnovelist said:


> More than likely it's just another scraped content site: they scrape Amazon for the content on the book pages -- title, author, blurb, cover -- and package it as an "ebook."


FYI: Amazon exposes an API for licensed consumption that provides access to their product details, including title, author, blurb, cover, reviews, etc. So while there are scrapers out there, there are also legit sites that use the Amazon API to responsibly and correctly harvest that data.


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## Quiss (Aug 21, 2012)

It's a losing battle.
I sometimes google myself or my title, especially to see where my permafree ends up, and every time I do I come across new piracy sites selling my other books.

In doom and gloom moments I can see that being the end of e-book publishing as it becomes increasingly simple to steal books and create professionally-looking web sites to sell them. They are not loaded with viruses although maintaining that assumption is a good way to deter buyers; they are the books WE create and publish.
The consumer wouldn't know what they're getting even if they are opposed to stealing books.


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## zoe tate (Dec 18, 2013)

It's yet another reason (as if one were needed) for avoiding Smashwords.


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## daringnovelist (Apr 3, 2010)

zoe tate said:


> It's yet another reason (as if one were needed) for avoiding Smashwords.


?

How is Smashwords to blame for this? These sites take the info from Amazon, Smashwords and other sites that the_ author publisher makes available_, and only that info. They make fake ebooks out of that freely available info. They are not actual whole pirated books.

Any whole books you find on sites like this came from pirates -- who got their first copy legally.

Camille


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## Al Dente (Sep 3, 2012)

They had none of my books. No one ever pirates me.


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## zoe tate (Dec 18, 2013)

daringnovelist said:


> How is Smashwords to blame for this?


I've no idea, Camille. I didn't actually suggest or imply in any way that they were.

I wasn't suggesting any *blame* on their part at all, in this context - merely observing that if all the pirated information on that site came from Smashwords, that might be a pretty good reason to keep your book away from Smashwords.


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## zoe tate (Dec 18, 2013)

DDark said:


> they said the book page stays up because it's a wonderful way for authors to add links to the retail websites and make sales.


I suppose they're hosted offshore, somewhere, so one can't effectively serve a DMCA site take-down notice on their hosting company? (Otherwise that would presumably be a fast and easy solution which hundreds of people would already have tried?)


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## daringnovelist (Apr 3, 2010)

zoe tate said:


> I've no idea, Camille. I didn't actually suggest or imply in any way that they were.
> 
> I wasn't suggesting any *blame* on their part at all, in this context - merely observing that if all the pirated information on that site came from Smashwords, that might be a pretty good reason to keep your book away from Smashwords.


But usually the material on these sites comes from Amazon... is that a reason to keep your book away from Amazon?

No, it isn't.

If your customer can see it, these sites will scrape it. (Some smaller sites actually do this manually.) This includes material from your blog, or from Bookbub, or from any of the many sites you put out there to publicize your book.

There is no reason to single out Smashwords. Not being on Smashwords will not save you from these sites. Smashwords does nothing whatsoever to encourage these sites.

The only way to escape these sites is to not publish at all. To not let anyone know about your book. Keep your book in a drawer and not let anybody see it.

And that's silly because scrapers aren't pirating our books. They're pretending to pirate our books so they can scam the people who are looking for pirated books. They aren't actually doing anything to us. (This is why they can ignore the DMCA takedown notices -- because they don't actually have your book on the site.)

On those rare occasions when an actual pirated book shows up on a scraper site, it's coming from regular piracy channels. They get them from anywhere. Avoiding a particular site makes no difference there either.

Camille


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## MrBourbons (May 1, 2013)

David Scroggins said:


> They had none of my books. No one ever pirates me.


Likewise. We obviously haven't 'made it' yet.


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## Taking my troll a$$ outta here (Apr 8, 2013)

Lol, yeah they have a couple of mine. One of mine is listed with the cover of another author's book. Wierd.


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## zoe tate (Dec 18, 2013)

daringnovelist said:


> But usually the material on these sites comes from Amazon... is that a reason to keep your book away from Amazon?
> 
> No, it isn't.


I didn't say it was. 

Sheeesh, it's not easy to post here without people putting words into your mouth! 

I simply responded to someone who commented (maybe wrongly) that they all came from Smashwords, because I felt that if that's so (which it may not be) then that would be a reason to keep your book away from Smashwords (something I'm delighted to do anyway, myself).

A million apologies if my post wasn't 100% to your taste. I'll try to predict how you might react, before I post here again, if you like?


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## GearPress Steve (Feb 4, 2012)

zoe tate said:


> I suppose they're hosted offshore, somewhere, so one can't effectively serve a DMCA site take-down notice on their hosting company? (Otherwise that would presumably be a fast and easy solution which hundreds of people would already have tried?)


Actually, the IP address of their server () is owned by NTT America in Colorado.

NTT America
8300 E Maplewood Ave.
Suite 400
Greenwood Village, CO 80111
1-877-688-6625

NTT America Abuse Contact
[email protected]


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## CraigInOregon (Aug 6, 2010)

*knock on wood*

So far, neither my books, nor my pen name's books, show up there.

Not sure whether to feel good about that, or overlooked, LOL...


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## Lefevre (Feb 1, 2014)

Has anyone had any success with getting them to remove your books, and if so how?


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## A past poster (Oct 23, 2013)

I just found three of my books there! I clicked "copyright violation" and sent them messages that I wanted the books removed. I also stated in the messages that I was taking screen shots of my requests. I'm supposed to hear back within 72 hrs.


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## AnthonyJMelchiorri (Apr 4, 2014)

Shoot. I just published my novel a couple weeks ago and there it is being pirated already but no one's bother to download it yet. 

I, too, did the copyright violation, but, honestly, I can't help but think back to Neil Gaiman's personal experience with piracy: Recently after he published American Gods, the countries where it was pirated the most actually had the best sales. http://www.switched.com/2011/02/11/neil-gaiman-piracy-leads-to-more-book-sales/

Yeah, it's probably a losing battle and I'm not at all in favor of piracy, but if someone's going to pirate a book, they probably aren't willing to pay for one anyway. And, heck, who knows? Maybe it'll help sales.


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## Chris Northern (Jan 20, 2011)

I stumbled on general reads by chance today, thean searched to see what was known about the. I guess I was unsurprised to find a thread here already.

I've spent some time looking them over and so far I'm unsire if there is a problem. The links are to kobo, Amazon, etc. and something called Best Library, and other places...

https://www.funzend.com
http://m-reader.net/en/book

and maybe others that require signup. This is, or looks to be, a sponsered link on all books, so I'm wondering who is paying for it and why? These are where the probem might or might not lie, but frankly I'm insufficienly brave to investigate further - my computer is not deperately well protected these days. But they look like organizational tools, and I wonder if I were to click through would I just get the tool and not the book? I wonder.

In any case, I've taken no action so far. More investigation required, I think. Has anyone invesigated further?


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## Jena H (Oct 2, 2011)

What's interesting is that they have buy links that take you back to the retailer.


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## MorganKegan (Jan 10, 2013)

Found my book there, downloadable for free. Thanks for the alert. I put in a violation notice.


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## LanceGreencastle (Nov 25, 2011)

I always console myself that none of these sites ever come up high in the search results when I search for any of my books. Not that any one who searched for free versions of my books was going to buy it in the first place.


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## SB James (May 21, 2014)

AnthonyJMelchiorri said:


> Shoot. I just published my novel a couple weeks ago and there it is being pirated already but no one's bother to download it yet.
> 
> I, too, did the copyright violation, but, honestly, I can't help but think back to Neil Gaiman's personal experience with piracy: Recently after he published American Gods, the countries where it was pirated the most actually had the best sales. http://www.switched.com/2011/02/11/neil-gaiman-piracy-leads-to-more-book-sales/
> 
> Yeah, it's probably a losing battle and I'm not at all in favor of piracy, but if someone's going to pirate a book, they probably aren't willing to pay for one anyway. And, heck, who knows? Maybe it'll help sales.


I felt the same exact sentiments when I saw both of my books on general e-books. Nobody had downloaded them from there either, last I checked.


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## Gertie Kindle (Nov 6, 2008)

My best-selling series is there and when I click on the cover, it takes me to the Nook page. Nothing wrong with that. I didn't find any other of my books.


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## Herc- The Reluctant Geek (Feb 10, 2010)

Nearly all my books are there, but they all seem to link to either sample sites (Feedbooks) or bring up the nook page to buy the book.


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## SB James (May 21, 2014)

When I went to their "About" page, general e-books states that they do not have the files, they are a search service. Of course, they may have links to pirated material... but I don't know if my books have actually been pirated or not.


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## Gertie Kindle (Nov 6, 2008)

Herc- The Reluctant Geek said:


> Nearly all my books are there, but they all seem to link to either sample sites (Feedbooks) or bring up the nook page to buy the book.


Maybe that's part of the reason I'm suddenly selling on Nook.


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## Shadow XX (Jul 16, 2012)

As long as they're just scraping available information, what harm are they actually doing? They might, in fact, be helping to promote your books.

Let's stay calm and not get whipped up into a frenzy just as soon as someone mentions the word "pirate".


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## 69959 (May 14, 2013)

A reader told me that my books are on there. I requested that they take them down twice and have not heard back from them. At least they link to a couple retailers.


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## AMSMITH41 (Jun 30, 2014)

But not all of the links do link to a retailer - and I've tried several times to have them removed to no avail. They even have multiple editions of mine on there from when I changed covers!


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## Lefevre (Feb 1, 2014)

The site is probably a computervirus laden cesspool..

BUT

It still looks like a Napster clone that makes money from affiliate marketing and piracy..not a good mix...and not good for self-pubs..Hopefully other scumbags don't copy their model..

Maybe if we all reach out to Amazon, they might do something??


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## Cherise (May 13, 2012)

Gertie Kindle 'a/k/a Margaret Lake' said:


> My best-selling series is there and when I click on the cover, it takes me to the Nook page. Nothing wrong with that. I didn't find any other of my books.


Search by book title, rather than by your name. I bet you find them all up there for free download. The site is sneaky.


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## Michael J. Scott (Sep 2, 2010)

I searched, came up with a few of my titles, but every link takes them to either Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Smashwords, or Amazon. No complaint here!


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## Herc- The Reluctant Geek (Feb 10, 2010)

Cherise Kelley said:


> Search by book title, rather than by your name. I bet you find them all up there for free download. The site is sneaky.


Yep, you're right. And most of the links for my books led to .exe files rather than ebook files. It's a cesspool alright. Steer clear.


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## Gertie Kindle (Nov 6, 2008)

Cherise Kelley said:


> Search by book title, rather than by your name. I bet you find them all up there for free download. The site is sneaky.


So far, all the ones I checked (about ten or twelve) link to Nook.


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## Michael J. Scott (Sep 2, 2010)

They appear, for the most part, to be making money through affiliate marketing.


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## Lefevre (Feb 1, 2014)

"General ebooks" is a scummy affiliate marketing site..

People click through to get the book (for free or paid) and the site gets a few pennies. Or a percentage of whatever the individual buys while they are on Amazon. (which can amount to hundreds of dollars) It also appears that they have done some SEO to appear over your own links to your books.


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## katrina46 (May 23, 2014)

Greg Strandberg said:


> What do you think is the best way to stop it?


 They have all of mine and I contacted Amazon about it. They suggested I send a request to have the links removed. I did, but no big surprise that they ignored me, so I don't think there is a way to stop them.


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## katrina46 (May 23, 2014)

AriadneW said:


> I broke my rule of not bothering to do anything as they had my best selling book as an online read. They took it down and apologised.


 I wish they'd done that for me.


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## katrina46 (May 23, 2014)

D-Scrog said:


> They had none of my books. No one ever pirates me.


 I will do my best to pirate you if it makes you feel better. Just don't turn me in.


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## katrina46 (May 23, 2014)

AnthonyJMelchiorri said:


> Shoot. I just published my novel a couple weeks ago and there it is being pirated already but no one's bother to download it yet.
> 
> I, too, did the copyright violation, but, honestly, I can't help but think back to Neil Gaiman's personal experience with piracy: Recently after he published American Gods, the countries where it was pirated the most actually had the best sales. http://www.switched.com/2011/02/11/neil-gaiman-piracy-leads-to-more-book-sales/
> 
> Yeah, it's probably a losing battle and I'm not at all in favor of piracy, but if someone's going to pirate a book, they probably aren't willing to pay for one anyway. And, heck, who knows? Maybe it'll help sales.


 I've had no downloads, either. I'm insulted that they can't even give my stuff away for free.


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## CASD57 (May 3, 2014)

They have my freebie which links to smashwords and then Vol-2 with the old cover but their link takes you to a place you have to join or something probably to much for most people and they'll loose interest.


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## Herc- The Reluctant Geek (Feb 10, 2010)

My paid books all had links back to Nook, but my free books led to a .exe files that are definitely bad news.


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## RockyGrede (Apr 19, 2013)

They had all of mine. I contacted them, they removed them. A short while later they were up again. Contacted them again, no response.


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## Tristan Cruz (Apr 2, 2014)

zoe tate said:


> I didn't say it was.
> 
> Sheeesh, it's not easy to post here without people putting words into your mouth!
> 
> ...


They have mine, and it was just recently published... that was fast. In the words of snoop dog, "You know your stuff is good when people are pirating it."


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## ivoryjohn (Jul 15, 2014)

I was just inducted into this not so exclusive club.  I asked Amazon if they could help, but they were unwilling.  They also said that unauthorized copies of my books may affect my KDP eligibility.  Thanks Amazon.

I reported the abuse to the site last night, but I'm already seeing downloads today.  My books are not on SmashWords.  They have listed a couple of my Amazon exclusive titles.


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