My Experience: Warning to Book Authors: Some On-line Sites Steal Your Books and Offer them Free

Recently I learned that a website had somehow downloaded one of my books, "Pets

and the Afterlife" and has been allowing people to read it for FREE, without my permission. My books state that my permission is needed for any kind of distribution, as Most author's do. (the exception are books in the public domain). So, I was really ticked off when I learned about it. In today's blog, you'll learn WHY that matters, and what the website is, so you can check for your books. - I DID get them to remove it, and I'll share that, too

HOW DID I DISCOVER IT?  Fortunately, I have Google Alerts set up on the titles of my books, and I recommend ALL Authors do the same. The daily Google alert picked up that a website called  Lecarre Mulhouse (aq.lecarremulhouse.fr) offered my book to the world for free. I was incensed to say the least. 

HOW DID IT HAPPEN? I honestly don't know how they got a PDF copy of it. The only place I could imagine would be that they somehow got the book from Kindle and made it into a PDF. That's just an assumption because I never, ever, ever have sent PDFs to people as promotions- I buy them a Kindle copy or mail them a hard copy. 

WHY THIS MATTERS - I'm a self-published author, and that means I don't make much money on my books, despite my heavy self-promotions, interviews, etc.  As an author, if someone buys a paperback for $10, I receive less than $1.00. With Ebooks on Kindle, at least I receive 70% of the $2.99 (which is 

WHAT DOES COPYRIGHT MEAN? - Getting something copyrighted means the exclusive legal right belongs to an originator or an assignee to print, publish, perform, film, or record literary, artistic, or musical material, and to authorize others to do the same. Distributions and sales or giving the product free of charge is prohibited.

HOW I FIXED IT- On their website there is a contact page, but their "About" page doesn't tell me who they are, where they are, or how they  can offer people's works for free. I followed their guidance (see all the things I needed to provide below) and emailed the webmaster.  The next day, the webmaster emailed me confirming they had removed my book from their site. 

Following is my letter to them and the questions they needed answers for. The text in blue about copyright should always be found on one of the first pages of your book. Further, I had to attached a jpg of my book cover. 

MY LETTER TO THEM 

Thursday,  Dec 17, 2020 at 2:09 PM

 Dear Lecarre Mulhouse - I am writing to request my book be removed from your website of free books, as it is under copyright, and as such, permission is required by me to distribute. Currently, only Amazon.com (formerly creatspace), the seller, is authorized to sell and distribute my book(s). As is explicity stated on page 2: 

    Published in the U.S. by CreateSpace Publishing ©2014, Rob Gutro. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of Rob Gutro.

  I would appreciate your removing the book from your website. 

Below, I have provided the necessary information you requested (as cited on your webpage in BLUE Highlighting. 

I have also attached a signed letter requesting the removal and an excerpt of my book - that contains page 2, citing that any reproduction needs my permission. 

   Please let me know if there is anything else you require, and please let me know when the book is removed.

Thank you for your attention to this matter. 

Sincerely

Rob Gutro 

www.robgutro.com  www.petspirits.com 

DMCA Policy for aq.lecarremulhouse.fr

DMCA NOTICE
Claims of Copyright Infringement and Related Issues
We respect the intellectual property rights of others's Anyone who believes their work has been reproduced in a way that constitutes copyright infringement may notify our agent by providing the following information:

1. Identification of the copyrighted work that you claim has been infringed, or, if multiple copyrighted works at a single online site are covered by a single notification, a representative list of such works at the site;

Pets and the Afterlife by Rob Gutro. Copyright 2014, Amazon.com / Createspace

1. Identification of the material that you claim is infringing and needs to be removed, including a description of where it is located so that the copyright agent can locate it;
   

I am the author of "Pets and the Afterlife" by Rob Gutro, and this book is under copyright. 

Location on your website:  http://snapjaq.lecarremulhouse.fr/download/953920.pdf   

1. Your address, telephone number, and, if available, e-mail address, so that the copyright agent may contact you about your complaints