Empathic Ink

We all know eBooks will be pirated from now until they become obsolete, taken over by some other up-and-coming new technological breakthrough. As much as authors and publishers try to fight it, contacting the pirating sights, sending DMCA take-down notices, it's still just a small drop in the vast bucket book pirates. (I've written an entire blog post with DMCA info & tips--you can find it HERE .) What usually doesn't happen, though, is to have book pirates connect with you, the author. Well, that's exactly what happened this week. For the most part, I know most readers, including myself, use the proper book purchasing etiquette; buy book from appropriate authorized site, read book, leave book sitting on virtual eBook shelf. On the other hand, you have those who (may or may not) buy the book, (may or may not) read it, then resell it or add it to their illegal pirating site... or social media site. I had some notifications on one of my social media sites saying s...

No, they really didn't. When I first saw Jasinda Wilder's cover, I was like No... flippin'... way ! Not only did her cover include the same picture, but her title was also very similar. I immediately notified my publisher. How can they do this? Isn't this some kind of copyright infringement or something? Oh, my word... it's just like mine! M y publisher quickly calmed me, of course, saying that she doubted a NY Times Bestselling Author would copy us. I could have been offended, but I wasn't; she was right. But I was oh-so glad that my book came out first so people wouldn't think I  copied her . Of course, I've learned a lot since then and realize that this happens... quite often, actually. I can't tell you how many covers I've seen and have been like Oh, that's so-and-so's book , only to realize it's not—just their cover. For those who don't know, this happens because cover designers and authors use stock photos which...