I thought it was interesting that something many people on here have been complaining about for years has hit enough dead tree authors and publishers that it actually made the papers.
Pirated issues of textbooks, and Amazon doesn't care. Gee, if they're ignoring them - and they have legal departments - that sure makes me trust Amazon to do the right thing.
Gee, if they're ignoring them - and they have legal departments - that sure makes me trust Amazon to do the right thing.
I'm surprised the publishers aren't threatening to sue Amazon over this.
I'm surprised the publishers aren't threatening to sue Amazon over this.
Maybe they fear Amazon might refrain from selling all of their books.
HM.
Maybe they fear Amazon might refrain from selling all of their books.
Possible, but it would also be a big hit to Amazon if a number of major publishers pulled their works off Amazon in mass.
I thought that was "en masse" rather than "in mass".
If the big publishers pull their works off Amazon then all of the copies available there will be fake rather than the 66% that reviewer found (on a very small sample size).
I'm surprised the publishers aren't threatening to sue Amazon over this.
The publishers may be caught in a Catch-22 .... who is doing the printing of these counterfeit book copies, and how did they get the book 'blueprints'?
Or is it someone at the publishing company making extra money off reject print copies?
Does AZ quality check their stock, or have they depended on the printer for that QC so their staff just "grabs a copy" from the next box up ...
The publishers may be caught in a Catch-22 .... who is doing the printing of these counterfeit book copies, and how did they get the book 'blueprints'?
I Believe that Amazon offers print on demand services to self publishing authors to provide hard copies.
As to how they got the blueprints: Buy a copy and run it through a scaner to create a quick and dirty e-book version then run it through a print on demand book service.
Actually it is easier than that. Publish on demand is preferentially done using a PDF file. Feed that into the printer's computer and out comes a book ready to be perfect bound. So, just convert from any ebook format to PDF and you are ready to go.
So, just convert from any ebook format to PDF and you are ready to go.
That doesn't work for pirating books where the original is only available in hard copy.
That doesn't work for pirating books where the original is only available in hard copy.
Back in the 90's seen an add for this (hand held book scanners) and I got 1 to transfer the farm documents to digital so I could reduce the space needed in storing records. They are still sold today.
Funny thing is that the back then they commercials would show people scanning out of encyclopedias or your favorite reference book from your local library. So with the number of "highly trustworthy merchants" on Amazon I just know that not a single one would use such a device.
Funny thing is that the back then they commercials would show people scanning out of encyclopedias or your favorite reference book from your local library. So with the number of "highly trustworthy merchants" on Amazon I just know that not a single one would use such a device.
Those hand helds are old. There are professional book scanners where you just put in the book and the machine automatically scans the whole book. And they are also sold on... you guessed right :)
Those hand helds are old. There are professional book scanners where you just put in the book and the machine automatically scans the whole book. And they are also sold on... you guessed right :)
Oh I'm well aware but they also cost 1/10 the price and work 5 times faster and easier . I remember the hardest thing to do was hold the wand/gun (just picture a device that looked like a hairdryer) and pulling it squarely and at the proper speed across the page to get a clear image copy.
Once all the old records where scanned in (3 employees doing about 40 hour weeks for 5 months) I was done with the scanner and never used it again. Which now that I'm remembering I purchased it to help control the storage of all the records and the scanner now lives in a box on a shelf that hasn't been touched or moved for over 20 years.
And authors keep using amazon...
Withdraw your book(s) and everything left on amazon is a pirated copy which should make identification very easy. It's not like there are no alternatives. If enough authors leave and start suing when one of their works appears on amazon they will very quickly change it's policies regarding fraud reports. This should be specifically easy for the text-book authors/publishers. Tell your clients that your books are NOT available on amazon and if they find a copy there that it is a pirated copy with no guarantee about it's contents or quality.
I personally consider amazon an organized criminal organization and it proven every day.
The problem with withdrawing your books from Amazon is that it won't keep legitimate copies off Amazon. Amazon sells used copies of textbooks, and you can't withdraw those. Students can sell to whomever they want, including people who will resell on Amazon.
Many of the books featured in that NY Post piece are not textbooks, also.
It's a lousy problem all around. Amazon doesn't ever touch many of the products that it sells, especially in the used-book market, so they have no way to verify the product. Publishers have no way to verify it either.
The solution, such as it is, is to give the purchaser a 100% refund and charge back the book vendor (or simply never pay them in the first place unless there's a valid sale). If they're never getting any money, there's no motive to send out counterfeits. Admittedly, that still lets high-quality fakes survive, but that problem is endemic to any non-highly-curated marketplace (ebay, any used book store, etc).
