Ebooks: Protecting Your Rights to Your Intellectual Property

Almost everyone I talk to about ebooks mentions the dangers of stolen work and un-credited content. The cut-and-paste feature in Windows makes pirating a genuine concern.

The good news is that securities have been built into ebook creation programs. Now, the author can limit whether the file can be copied or even printed. You can stop anyone from making changes to the document. Some programs even have a time dated feature where the file will only be available for a set span, such as for a free 30-day trial. You can also create user-unique passwords and track document openings.

One thing about protection, it can only go so far. If someone is determined to steal your work, he or she will find a way. But isn’t that true of print books and manuscripts as well? Be careful that you don't get so worried about protecting your work that you don't move ahead.

Here is my take on the protection issue (from a man who makes 8 figures a year doing this). Yes, put protective devices on the file, but then plan for some cheating and make the most of it. By that I mean, plant links within the document for readers to buy the print book, insert links to your web site, links to other products, affiliate links to related products, links to anything and everything pertaining to your work.

Create the document in such a way that you win even if it gets passed around because you've got a living advertisement within the document itself. The more people that read your work, the more coverage you get. Don't forget, anyone who takes the time to read your material is a hot prospect. Yes, you may miss out on a few dollars at that point, but if he's truly interested, you'll win in the long run because he'll want the print copy or other training materials you offer.

Here's another unusual idea that sounds like jumping off a cliff, but I'm going to give it to you anyway. Give the ebook away. I did this with my Christy Award winner Reaping the Whirlwind. I created an ebook from the book manuscript (It was self-published so I could do that) and loaded it to my web server. I created a web page with a link to download the ebook.

Then I went to a topic-related newsletter that offers free things every Friday and offered it to their giveaway program. I had so many downloads that my site crashed within a few minutes. I gave away more than 1500 ebooks within the next 2 days. But at the same time my Amazon ranking shot up higher than ever before. The reason? People don't like reading on the computer screen for hours. And once they began reading the book, they found they liked it, so the risk of paying for the print book was gone.

Yes, take precautions to protect your work but be careful that you don’t protect yourself into obscurity.