With the rise of digital technologies, book publishing has undergone a significant transformation. While this has made books more accessible, it has also exposed them to rampant piracy.

Piracy is the unauthorised distribution of copyrighted materials, and it has become a significant problem in the book publishing industry. It hurts publishers, authors and booksellers, and it undermines the creative and economic incentives that drive the industry. The availability and easy access to unauthorised sources makes it incredibly easy for individuals to share copyrighted material without the owner’s consent and has made it difficult for publishers to protect their IP. This has resulted in substantial losses for publishers and authors alike, and the cost of piracy to the publishing industry is immense. Estimates vary, but one study from the Association of American Publishers (AAP) reports that the publishing industry in the United States lost approximately $2.9 billion (£2.3 billion) to piracy in 2020.

Moreover, the situation is likely to worsen. Piracy in the publishing industry has seen a marked rise in the past three years, with a notable uptick following the first lockdowns of the pandemic. Significantly, in May 2020 publishing overtook film as the second most in-demand media sector for digital piracy, behind television.

And publishing continues to over-index in total piracy demand. MUSO data showed 215 billion visits to piracy websites across all media industries in 2022, an 18% increase from 2021. However, looking at publishing specifically, there were 59.2 billion visits to publishing piracy sites in 2022 – a 37.1% increase on 2021. The data indicates that this trend will continue to increase across 2023 as digital formats proliferate, accessibility to content remains restricted and inflationary and economic pressures drive users to read or download content via piracy sites illegally.

A robust anti-piracy approach will increasingly be seen as a real value-add for a publisher, but the fact remains that authors must become more aware and proactive around piracy too

What’s more, the issue of defining who is responsible for fighting piracy in publishing can be fraught. Authors are getting frustrated at the number of illegal copies of their books online but can struggle to find help beyond their peers to combat this issue. If traditionally published, they may feel that their publishers are failing to protect them, but big publishers face a daunting challenge considering the volume of books – front and backlist – that they’re producing, and indie publishers may not have the resources or knowledge to tackle the issue. A robust anti-piracy approach will increasingly be seen as a real value-add for a publisher, but the fact remains that authors must become more aware and pro-active around piracy too, questioning their publishers about their strategy and – if self-published – investing their own time and effort in better understanding the steps they can take.

As well as technological solutions such as digital rights management (DRM), there are many easy, and some free, ways to take action against digital piracy. Some of these methods include utilising Google Alerts, participating in online forums, issuing DMCA notices, and exploring anti-piracy services.

1. Google Alerts: This free service allows you to monitor the internet for mentions of your name or your work. By receiving email notifications when your content appears on unauthorised sites, you can quickly take action to have the content removed.
2. Joining forums: Many online forums and communities are dedicated to combating digital piracy. Authors can share experiences, tips and strategies for dealing with piracy, as well as form a support network to help one another.
3. Issuing DMCA notices: The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) enables authors to request that infringing content be removed from websites or search engine results. Publishers and authors can send DMCA takedown notices to pirate websites or to the search engines listing the infringing material.
4. Anti-piracy services: Vendors can scan the internet and issue takedown notices at scale. While there are paid services available to help protect your work from piracy, some free options exist as well. 

And whatever the approach, there are a few principles to adhere to when addressing piracy in order to protect revenues and reputation.

1. Protect your content as early as possible. Be proactive and protect your content before you experience piracy. You don’t know when piracy will occur and your content may have been redistributed to many websites before you discover it. It’s best to be on top of the issue rather than treading water.
2. Protect ALL your content. Your reputation is paramount. Don’t just protect your most popular titles, ensure that your entire catalogue is protected. There is value in protecting your backlist as it could open up new revenue opportunities.
3. Discuss piracy with authors. Authors are passionate about their work and often find infringements themselves on search engines or social media sites. Publishers can take the lead and offer their authors content protection as an additional service to build trust and credibility.
4. Understand piracy terminology. It’s important to understand the different sources of piracy so that you can address the myriad channels that distribute your content. You should know the difference between content hosted on a blog, forum and a cyberlocker. It’s also important to identify whether pirated content originated from an indexer or search site, a reading site or a P2P/torrent site. Only then can you apply the right approach to combating the source of the illegal content. You can read MUSO’s glossary here.