When publishing an ebook there is always the issue of security for your digital product. After all, by it’s very nature an ebook is easy to download and distribute and so some of your less honest customers might be tempted to give away or even sell copies of your ebook illegally. Furthermore, your download page might get given out on a public area such as a forum enabling even more downloads.

And so naturally the hard working ebook writer’s mind turns to ebook security systems. So what services are available, and what do they do? Just as importantly, are they really needed?

Whilst some minor crime is likely, many ebook publishers claim that these individuals are definitely in the minority and they do not worry about the odd ebook getting distributed illegally.

The next step up are the publishers who deliberately place information at the beginning of their ebooks informing readers that what they are reading is not a free ebook and if they downloaded it anywhere other than from your website they have an illegal copy and should contact you for a reward if they’re willing to provide information on where they got the ebook.

The top level of protection comes in the form of digital delivery software.

Such software is either installed on your website or operates through a third party service provider whereby once a credit card purchase has been made by your customers, the software will check to ensure the sale is valid (i.e. payment has been successfully taken from the customer’s credit card). If not, a message is displayed to please get in contact with receipt details as the system has been unable to authenticate the sale.

Assuming the system sees the sale as legitimate, it will then create a unique download page for the customer, and take them straight there so they can download the ebook they have just purchased.

This download page is programmed to stay “alive” for either a certain time (i.e. 48 hours) or a certain number of downloads (i.e. 2) after which time it ceases to work.

Anyone then trying to access the download page later on would be unable to do so and therefore cannot gain access to your ebook.

As well as preventing previous customers from giving out your download page address, this system also helps to remove the chances of a search engine actually recording your download page address. I have seen several cases when searching for an ebook by title or website address that the search engines will also often display their own download page! Why would a customer pay for your ebook if the download page is clearly displayed for all to see?

Many honest customers may even download it without realising they were meant to pay for the book before downloading.

Lastly, though used far more seldom, are the pieces of software that will enable you to remotely turn ebooks on and off. In that way, if you suddenly find a customer is distributing your ebook, or they ask for a refund, you can “lock” their copy remotely and anyone who has a copy will be unable to open and read the guide, thus totally protecting your work.

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