That poor bastard was the victim of the Double Whammy.  First, he's pirated, and then, to rub salt into the wound, the mere act of him being pirated causes Amazon to question the legitimacy of his publishing the Boxed Set!  Talk about ignominy. Another wrote:

"We are trying to publish a couple of books on KPD which my husband wrote in 2012. They have told us we need to prove we have publishing rights, but don't help with insight as to how to accomplish this. Say they can only respond to publisher!" 

That one goes on to say that she can't get anywhere with Amazon because they don't accept that her husband is the publisher. What the hell do you do, if you're in that situation?

Now, the only way that this would be occurring is if someone else--we'll call that thief Darth Dickhead--files a claim, with Amazon, that your work is actually their work. So...how do you prove that you're you? How do you prove that you wrote your own book?

This is simply a newer, digital form of a type of thievery that's been around forever, known as claim-jumping.  If you're unfamiliar with the term, claim-jumping is when someone else claims to own or have rights to property that you have already claimed as your own.  

The bigger and easier-to-answer question is: how can you easily prevent this from happening?

The simple answer is, you can't.  Any idiot--any Darth Dickhead--can click a button on Amazon's website and claim that your Intellectual Property--your book--is theirs.  In this day and age, the sound of a Light Saber swooshing has been replaced with the sound of a click.  The click that will deprive you of your rights.  

Click below, on "Read More," to answer the question, "How Can You Protect Your Books?"

If you've been hanging out with me for a while, or you're one of our clients, you know that one of my pet peeves is the inattention, by many self-publishing authors, to the realities of the importance of COVER DESIGN. I started nagging you all about this not less than 5 years ago (see my early-on article, Cover Design Calypso which I originally published in 2010), and my various and sundry kibbitzes since then, if you don't remember.

Jackie Collins' "Chances" available now! 

Get it Now on Kindle!

...And we're thrilled to have her IN THE HOUSE!  "Chances," her runaway smash hit, is coming out in less than 3 days available now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple...all the usual places.  We're thrilled, of course, that her team chose Booknook.biz to be the eBook producers for "Chances," and we hope to continue this relationship with her as she keeps breaking ground as a self-publishing big-time bestselling author.  You can find "Chances" at:  http://amzn.to/LdU1Qz on Amazon. 

If you're not familiar with Chances, the book marks the first appearance of Jackie's incredibly popular character, Lucky Santangelo. 

The book that made Jackie Collins one of America’s favorite authors sweeps you from the sophisticated playgrounds of Europe to the glittering gambling palaces of Las Vegas. It plunges you into the reckless, dangerous world of the Santangelo crime family. It introduces you to Gino Santangelo, the street kid who makes it all the way to the top. And then brings you Lucky—his sensual, stunningly beautiful, and passionate daughter; a woman who dares to win her father’s empire for herself; a woman unafraid of taking…CHANCES.

Don't miss the eBook launch of Chances--coming June 7th.

On a recent Saturday afternoon, I received a panicked email from a long-time editing acquaintance of mine. Why is my book on Amazon all in italics?

On a recent Saturday afternoon, I received a panicked email from a long-time editing acquaintance of mine.  Her award-winning book needed some updates, so, being über-competent in making her own ebooks, she made the changes and uploaded the book.  She checked back a few hours later, and it was one of those, "good news, bad news" moments.  The good news?  The LITB (Look Inside The Book) had updated, almost immediately.  The bad news?

Holy Typography, Batman!  Her entire Look Inside The Book was in italics.

In this candid book, Oliver North, the man who was at the center of the Iran-Contra controversy tells the story of his life. He reveals the inside story behind the headlines and stresses the importance of his family and his enduring faith, which saw him through the toughest times.

We have Oliver North IN THE HOUSE!

We're thrilled to announce that we were selected to produce the book versions of Colonel Oliver North's blockbuster bestseller, "Under Fire."  The book has completed production, and is available on Amazon as well as other ebook retailers.  

From Library Journal:  

Written in secret as if it were a covert operation, then suddenly released, this is unquestionably the "event" book of the year. Here, finally, we might expect to get answers to our questions about what became known as "Iran-contra." Was Marine Lieutenant Colonel North a "loose cannon" on the National Security Council, making U.S. foreign policy on his own? And just what did President Reagan really know about Iran-contra? North writes that Reagan "knew everything" about Iran-contra's covert operations. So too did Vice President Bush. Unfortunately, there is no specific document in the book proving that. What there is, however, is a preponderance of material that leads to an inevitable conclusion: North was a hard-working, well-trained, loyal Marine incapable of undertaking a covert operation without approval by his superiors. For the first time, we hear of and read a document sent to Reagan by North's lawyers, setting forth a sound legal argument for a presidential pardon for North. The letter, we learn, was never acknowledged. There are a number of such chilling moments in this important book.

--Chet Hagan, Berks City P.L. System, Pa, Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Available Now on Amazon and other ebook sellers near you.