Recently I got scammed with a bootleg copy of a DVD. I’m always careful when ordering from Amazon, and I think I mistakenly thought the product was sold by and shipped by them. It took a few days to finally realize that it was not a genuine copy. There was no design on the inside flap under the discs where the episodes and special features are usually listed, the discs did not list episodes or special features on them, and when they were played, they went straight to a menu instead of showing the network logo, pirating warnings, and the “commentaries do not represent the opinions of the network.” I ultimately realized it was a bootleg when I found out that there were supposed to be several special features that this DVD was missing.
Unfortunately, a situation like this can also happen with books, and I want to inform you about a few scams to watch out for.
The first one is regarding eBooks. All of my eBooks are for sale on legitimate websites. If they’re being offered for free, it means I’m either doing a sale, or they’re being offered as ARCs on websites like HiddenGems, Booksprout, BookSirens, eBookFairs, BookFunnel, and Voracious Readers Only. If you download from a random pirate website, all you’ll get is a virus on your device.
For a little more information about this check out this link: https://kindlepreneur.com/ebook-piracy/
Another scam is when sellers find popular books that don’t have something, like an audiobook, out yet, and then they will make a janky version and worm their way onto the book’s product page. This could lead to the reader buying an inferior product. If I ever see a format for one of my books that isn’t mine, I will post everywhere to not buy it and contact Amazon to remove the product immediately. Just know that this happens.
The last scam I’m covering is a rather egregious one. Basically, a scammer puts up a brand-new copy of a book in whatever format in the seller section and prices it lower than the author does. Or they set up an alternate bootleg version and get it linked to the book’s product page. Amazon then defaults to the scammer’s lower-priced product, and the author gets no royalties. But what you’ll get by mail or on your device will be a messed-up book that is all wrong.
I distribute directly through Amazon by way of Kindle Direct Publishing, so the physical books should always be sold by and shipped by Amazon when they’re brand new. So, if you buy a physical copy of one of my books and it comes to you in horrible condition, either it got damaged during shipping or you got scammed. I always order proof and author copies of my books to make sure they look how I want them to so that what the customer buys is the best version possible.
If you download an eBook and something is majorly wrong with it, then it also wasn’t from me. My eBooks are formatted using special software, they have to pass EPUB checks, and they’re reviewed meticulously by me on Kindle Previewer and my Kindle app.
For more information about various scams check out this link: https://kindlepreneur.com/amazon-printing-scams/
As an aside, another scam you see in the book industry is the Goodreads review bomb one. Someone uses tons of accounts to bomb a book with one-star reviews and then demands a ransom to remove them. Luckily, Goodreads is wise to it, but if you see a book that has a lot of low reviews that are in broken English or don’t make sense, it’s probably a victim of this scam.
The moral of the story is that even the most cautious shopper can get scammed, even me. But you still need to be aware of scams that unfortunately plague the online shopping ecosystem. If you ever see something odd about my books on Amazon or any of the other retailers, don’t hesitate to let me know ([email protected]). I’m watchful, but I can’t keep an eye on everything all the time. And if you want to know where my books are being sold, check out the book pages at the top where you will find their Books2Read links. Not all retailers are listed, depending on if there was an icon available, but a good amount are, including major stores worldwide.