Summary: In this episode, we are going to talk about all the bad things people do on Amazon and how to protect yourself from Counterfeiting, Reviewbombing, and Copyright Hijacking.<br> Episode 200 Live Online Event<br> Event Details:<br> What: Live episode recording.<br> When: 7pm Central Time on Wednesday, July 31st 2019 (<a href="https://www.crowdcast.io/e/novel-marketing-episode-200">Convert time to your timezone</a>)<br> Where: <a href="https://www.crowdcast.io/e/novel-marketing-episode-200">Register Here </a><br> Why: Because 200 episodes is a big deal!<br> Introduction<br> Our timing on <a href="https://www.novelmarketing.com/196/">the piracy episode</a> (196) could not have been worse. The same week that episode came out a big counterfeiting scandal broke out. We didn’t even mention counterfeiting but a lot of people got confused … and thought we were saying counterfeiting is a good thing. It’s not!<br> The difference between piracy, counterfeiting and plagiarism.<br> <br> * Plagiarism: they steal the credit for your work.<br> * Piracy: they share digital copies of your work for free without your permission<br> * Counterfeiting: they sell physical counterfeits of your paper books.<br> <br> In this episode we are going to talk about how to fight counterfeiting and the other ways nefarious people can make trouble for you on Amazon.<br> How Amazon Fights Fraud<br> <br> * Machine Learning<br> * Outsourced Call Centers<br> * They are trying to control costs as much as possible while fighting fraud because they make money when fraudulent products sell so fighting fraud is not a financially motivated fight. When Amazon is financially motivated to fight something, they have a U.S. based team working on it.<br> <br> According to the New York Times: “In February, Amazon included counterfeiting in its financial disclosures as a risk factor <a href="https://qz.com/1542839/amazon-has-finally-admitted-to-investors-that-it-has-a-counterfeit-problem/">for the first time</a>, saying it might not be able to prevent its merchants “from selling unlawful, counterfeit, pirated or stolen goods” or “selling goods in an unlawful or unethical manner.”<br> Attack #1 Counterfeiting<br> The story of the scandal.<br> <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Liturgy-Ordinary-Sacred-Practices-Everyday-ebook/dp/B01N2GWBNM/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=liturgy+of+the+ordinary&qid=1562789621&s=gateway&sr=8-1">Liturgy of the Ordinary</a><br> How it works:<br> <br> * Counterfeiter creates their own digital copy of your book.<br> * Uploads it to a print on demand service and has books shipped to Amazon.<br> * They undercut your price for a new book.<br> * When a customer purchases a copy of your paper book, Amazon sends them to the lowest priced option which is the counterfeiter.<br> <br> <br> What to do about it:<br> <br> * Look for “Ships and Sold By Amazon” on the default buy button on your books on Amazon.<br> <br> * It is says Sold By Amazon and Ships from Scam Man Books … you could be being counterfeited.<br> * Buy a copy from the sketchy sellers.<br> <br> <br> * Check your Amazon page to make sure the buy button is owned by Amazon and not a 3rd party seller.<br> * Periodically order books from 3rd party sellers and compare the quality, page layout, etc.<br> <br> <br> How to avoid it in the first place:<br> <br> * Write an unpopular book.<br> * Lower the price of your paper book. The lower the price, the less appealing of a target you are.<br> <br> <br> Attack #2 Review Bombing<br> How it works<br> <br> * A competitor hires trolls to buy your book and then leave bad reviews.<br> * A bigger problem in other product categories.<br> * Alternate attack: 5 Star Bomb. The competitor gets a bunch of 5 star reviews added and then gets your book penalized for having fraudulent reviews.<br> <br> <br> What to do about it:<br>
