Ultimate deals: Books from the MR library sold elsewhere

[DrNefario]

Honestly, my advice is to let it go.

Castrov has been willing to join here and discuss the issue, which is more than he needed to do.

I don't yet have any books in the MR library, but I used to be part of a community that made free videogames, and ran into similar issues with people selling CDs of the games at computer fairs and on ebay. You can't really stamp that kind of thing out. All you can do is let it bug you, and there's no reason to do that. As long as you're happy with your own behaviour, other people's behaviour is up to them. It's a waste of your time and energy to try to deal with them.

You could try adding a preamble saying "this book is free, if you paid for it you've been ripped off", and asserting whatever rights your arrangement of the PD work give you, but I doubt it will make very much difference. Few repackagers are going to be as up-front as castrov, and it will still be up to you to chase them down. How much trouble is it worth? Or should you just let it be PD and let people do what they want with it?

[Lynx-lynx]

@Dr Nefario I think that those who want to go the Creative Commons route is a viable option.

Just because someone abuses your worth doesn't mean one should stop trying to protect their property as best they can.

Yes, Castrov became an MR member in order to chat, but that was because he was compromised and perhaps is concerned by negative chat directed his way that could be accessed by those friends and family connected to his FB pages which would mean exposure that he doesn't want.

So the fact that he's joined MR is merely trying to draw off flack as much as anything else.

[doubleshuffle]

@DrNefario:

Thanks for the advice. I know that Castrovilli isn't the only one doing this stuff. His really ripping off his customers with his prices mixed with the ostentatious piety on his Facebook page made me angry enough to start this thread here yesterday.

Still glad I did it, since it can't hurt to have a thread here where uploaders can point out those rip-off artists, can it? If you can't stop them, you can at least point a finger at them, right?

[Lynx-lynx]

@doubleshuffle I'm glad you started the thread. I know I was oblivious to this behaviour.

[pdurrant]

It's happened with books I've uploaded in the past. I found one copy of my Kim at Amazon that still had my title page in it!

There really is little that can be done. Public domain is public domain.

Some countries offer a 'typographic copyright' over the physical page layout, but I don't think there's any way to tell if you'd win if you asserted that it must also apply to ebooks.

Even including text in your copy that the book was formatted by XXX and available free at MobileRead won't stop the rip-off artists.

With public domain books it's definitely Caveat Emptor. Given castrov's command of English, it's fortunate for his customers that he didn't proof the books himself.

[eschwartz]

Does the US offer a typographic copyright?

Also, what about establishing MR as a publisher of the works here, to offer them for free integrated into the major ebookstores? At least people will have a readily available copy that doesn't require previous knowledge of MR, so there's less room to fool people. Plus, the integration would be a plus.

It would also give us more exposure.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

Does the US offer a typographic copyright?

Also, what about establishing MR as a publisher of the works here, to offer them for free integrated into the major ebookstores? At least people will have a readily available copy that doesn't require previous knowledge of MR, so there's less room to fool people. Plus, the integration would be a plus.

It would also give us more exposure.

Ebookstores don't generally allow prices to be set to zero. Amazon will ocassionally price-match if a work is available for free elsewhere, but that's on a case-by-case basis. I don't know of any way into nook and kobo at zero cost, but perhaps someone else does.

However, doing so would be very time-consuming, as I don't think Alex would be happy doing so without clearing it with the uploaders, and then there's the issue of quality control. While many of the books uploaded here are excellent, some are more excellent than others.

[eschwartz]

Amazon will absolutely let you set the price to zero. They will ALSO price match.

They do that on their own, too, whenever they find out it's being discounted. If I send them an email saying "MobileRead Publications offers all their books for free on their own website" they will look into it then drop the price acros the board.

[eschwartz]

I hear what you are saying about the hassle, though.

Aren't they already agreeing to share their work freely, though?

[ApK]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

Amazon will absolutely let you set the price to zero.

For commercial publishers, I'm sure you're right, but through KDP you cannot set your price to zero. There is a US 99 cent minimum.
https://kdp.amazon.com/help?topicId=A301WJ6XCJ8KW0

They may occasionally reduce it to free on their own for promo's and price matching.
https://kdp.amazon.com/help?topicId=A29FL26OKE7R7B

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by ApK

For commercial publishers, I'm sure you're right, but through KDP you cannot set your price to zero. There is a US 99 cent minimum.
https://kdp.amazon.com/help?topicId=A301WJ6XCJ8KW0

They may occasionally reduce it to free on their own for promo's and price matching.
https://kdp.amazon.com/help?topicId=A29FL26OKE7R7B

Price matching makes it easy, since it is being offered for free, here.

How easy is it to operate as a regular publisher (not KDP) with Amazon? Does it count if you mke a private publishing name like I think some self-pubbed authors do?

[Apache]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

It's happened with books I've uploaded in the past. I found one copy of my Kim at Amazon that still had my title page in it!

There really is little that can be done. Public domain is public domain.

Some countries offer a 'typographic copyright' over the physical page layout, but I don't think there's any way to tell if you'd win if you asserted that it must also apply to ebooks.

Even including text in your copy that the book was formatted by XXX and available free at MobileRead won't stop the rip-off artists.

With public domain books it's definitely Caveat Emptor. Given castrov's command of English, it's fortunate for his customers that he didn't proof the books himself.

I remember a friend who published maps showing me his tell. He would add a small fake street somewhere on his maps. If someone ever published copies of his he had proof. And yes he did get others who would publish copies of his maps.
Apache

[WT Sharpe]

Moderator Notice
You will notice a couple of the posts in this thread have been edited for content. Regardless of the other issues in this thread, please refrain from making remarks about people's religious beliefs or their faithfulness or lack thereof to said beliefs. I'm not in a position to know if there's a God who will one day judge humans or not, but I'm pretty sure that if there is one, it isn't one of us.

[scottken]

The other option on works like this is simply to post a review, noting it was typeset by MR members, with a link back to our forums, stating it can there be downloaded for free.

[doubleshuffle]

No reviews on Kobo. Good idea for Amazon, though.