There are all kinds of high-tech systems and devices for foiling consumers who attempt to create bootleg copies of content—from music and movies to software and information products.

And eventually, all of them are defeated by hackers.

But an easier way to prevent your customers from illegally copying your e-books, audio CDs, and DVD information products is to ask what motivates them to steal your content in the first place.

Answer: aside from the Internet making it easy to duplicate and distribute content freely, the main reason a consumer illegally copies any information product has to do with price and value of that product.

By that, I mean that consumers are less motivated to pirate content that is (a) reasonably priced and (b) gives a fair value for its cost.

For instance, if your 50-page e-book on starting a small business is only $29, your customers—if they like it—will just recommend it to their friends. “You should buy it here,” they’ll say, pointing others to your website.

However, had you priced the same e-book at $299, your customers might feel that your pricing is too expensive.

So after they print out your e-book, they pass on the PDF to a few friends—illegally, of course.

Even when the price is high, you can still reduce illegal copying by giving great value for that price.

Say that 50-page e-book contained dozens of forms needed to start a business—forms a lawyer might charge thousands of dollars to create or review.

In that case, $299 would be a reasonable price to pay. The customer would feel he is getting a fair value, and therefore would not want to rip you off.

On the other hand, if your 50-page e-book was just general advice on small business, $299 would be an excessive price for that kind of content.

In this instance, the customer could think you are ripping him off. He might choose to get back at you by freely—and yes, illegally—sharing the e-book with many other people.

So really, the best way to prevent customers from illegally copying and sharing your content is to create information products that are reasonably priced and give the buyer more than his money’s worth.

To further discourage bootleggers, my e-books now carry this warning on the title page:

—————————————————————–

This is NOT a free e-book!

Purchase of this e-book entitles the buyer to keep one copy on
his or her computer and to print out one copy only.

Printing out more than one copy-or distributing it
electronically-is prohibited by international and U.S.A.
copyright laws and treaties, and would subject the purchaser to
penalties of up to $100,000 PER COPY distributed.

—————————————————————–

However, don’t be too much of a hard case about enforcing this policy.

If a customer calls and wants to print an extra copy for his business partner, brother, or friend, let him.

The main reason to put the warning on the e-book is not to frustrate the buyer who wants to print out a few extra copies. I say let him.

The warning is designed to discourage unscrupulous online operators from taking your e-book and selling it—or giving it away—to their customers.

An even better idea is to make sure you profit from your e-book or other information product even if pirated copies do make the rounds.

How do you do this?

In your information product, put plenty of links to the landing pages for your other products.

That way, the more your e-book is passed around, the more clicks you get on those links and the more additional sales you make.

One other idea…

My colleague FG puts a boxed notice in his e-books.

It says that the reader can go to a special URL and claim a valuable FREE bonus gift.

The only catch is: he has to be a registered owner of the e-book to do it.

FG says that people are so intrigued by the free bonus, those who already have a pirated copy of his e-book will go online and buy it—just to qualify for the free bonus.

Bob Bly is the author of “World’s Best Copywriting Secrets” and has written copy for more than 100 companies including IBM, Boardroom, Medical Economics and AT&T. He is the author of more than 75 books and a columnist for Target Marketing, Early To Rise and The Writer. McGraw-Hill calls him “America’s top copywriter”.

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