Writing an E-Book And Selling It. Anti-Piracy measures?

[Lord Immaculate]

I know it will eventually be shared on torrents. I want anti-piracy measures in place. Is it possible to lock the E-books with
individual passwords or serial numbers so that nobody can even have it without having paid me? I'd like to know exactly
HOW to do it please. What about videos and audios that I plan to sell? How do I lock those down and make them impossible
or at least VERY hard to copy? Thank you!

[RustyShackleford]

The best measure is to write something so shitty that nobody will even steal it. So you are all set, nothing to worry about. The next best option is to get a jew on the case.

[Prometheus]

Pretty much every DRM measure that's been cooked up has been defeated almost immediately. One of the fundamental aspects of security is that there has to be a way through it for the legit users, and if one person can go through it, all of them can. DRM just pisses off paying customers who have to jump through hoops to use the product they payed for, and mildly inconveniences pirates.

Sorry, that's just the way it goes. The good news is, the people that are inclined to pay for something usually still will, even with no DRM.

If you do want to try going the DRM route though, I think it's doable through the Amazon marketplace, they have about as good a system as you can expect (i.e. mostly useless). There's a Calibre plugin that blows right past it.

[Lord Immaculate]

Pretty much every DRM measure that's been cooked up has been defeated almost immediately. One of the fundamental aspects of security is that there has to be a way through it for the legit users, and if one person can go through it, all of them can. DRM just pisses off paying customers who have to jump through hoops to use the product they payed for, and mildly inconveniences pirates.

Sorry, that's just the way it goes. The good news is, the people that are inclined to pay for something usually still will, even with no DRM.

If you do want to try going the DRM route though, I think it's doable through the Amazon marketplace, they have about as good a system as you can expect (i.e. mostly useless). There's a Calibre plugin that blows right past it.

Good advice! Thank you.

[RustyShackleford]

DRM anything isn't even worth stealing. You're set man. Might as well post the pdf here, aint no one gunna download it.

[Rook]

Information should be free.. Donations should be welcome..

 Nah, in all seriousness though, if it is any good.. it will be passed around. I've seen plenty of the "donations welcome" things on ebooks but.. even I have yet to leave a tip.. simply because I'm generally too poor vs. just being an asshole.

[RustyShackleford]

Sorry for shitposting, but I still stand by what I said. Anyway here is a more productive answer. Include (relevant advertisements) or use it to butter someone for some type of affiliate call to action. People block out ads either literally or subconsciously so I would lean towards making the content make the sell. If you don't want to go that route, like Rook said if the userbase is big enough it'll get passed around if the userbase isn't very big nobody will really know about it to pass it around.

If you are releasing it as some sort of incentive or for special users I would do it with no drm and maybe with some type of call to action. If it is a book for the sake of selling a book release it on amazon, not because of the drm, but because of the business model. There are little tricks you can do optimize your standing in the amazon market place, like pricing it low so it gets popular and jacking up the price if/when it gets front page of some category. No matter Rook and I's opinion a lot of people would disagree with us and it would be stupid not to capitalize on them.

[Lord Immaculate]

I'm probably just going to put that shit on amazon. What about self-published book rather than an e-book?

[Tokolosh]

What's the synopsis? The density of my reply depends on the subject matter

gamble it

[Lord Immaculate]

It's about how to cheat at cards. The knowlege is straight from the streets and not available anywhere else or online.

[RustyShackleford]

I'm probably just going to put that shit on amazon. What about self-published book rather than an e-book?

It's easier to sell a digital book. There's no reason you couldn't do both, but I don't think the physical book business is too hot these days. If you want people to know about it you're gunna have to advertise it to people - blog, forums, social media, etc. If you only put it on amazon it will probably just get lost in the shuffle. Determine your market and sell to them. It's hard to sell something to a crook, maybe go for the magician type, idk. Rather than worry about people stealing it, consider how you're going to market it and who is going to buy it.

[Lord Immaculate]

Yeah I thought about that dude. I have to get busy marketing once I got it done. It's gonna be the first in a series of lots of
underworld how to guides.