How can I copyright / protect my ebook 100%

[pc-kid]

I used to sell my ebook on ebay, I was selling it for about $10 a time, which I considered a reasonable price for certain informations which was hard to come by.

However after selling about 30 copies, a few weeks later I noticed a flood of similarly Titled Ebooks on Ebay selling for $1 - $5 and had an inkling that they were more than likely using my ebook under a different name... I used a friends account to buy a few of these and low and behold they were all exact copies of mine using a different title.. eg "How to get ranked first in google" was changed to "Get High in Search Engines" or "Come top in Google" etc etc

Obviously I couldnt go around buying every one of these just to check if they were copying from me, but I reported to ebay those onces that were.. even now when I search long strings from my book I get hundreds of results coming up as many people are just putting it on their websites.

Is there any way at all of protecting your work, do I have to buy every ebook with a similar title to check.. do I have to visit every website and issue a cease or desist order.

What ever format you put it it they just reconvert it back to text.

[Steve Jordan]

You are going to have a problem there... no e-book system is "100%" proof against copying or redistributing e-books. If your books are already copywritten in your name (an easy process--easiest is to print it out, mail it to yourself to get a legal postmark on it, and leave it unopened), you'll have the law on your side, but that will probably not help you outside of your country.

Most of the posts here tend to be about avoiding DRM! But in your case, you need to figure out how to use it to your best advantage, with the understanding that applying DRM to your e-books could cause you to lose customers who avoid DRM e-books, but it will cut down on some, hopefully most, pirating. Browse the sites of the most popular e-book makers (eReader, MS Reader, etc) to see what DRM methods are available to you. Give some thought to which ones may turn out to be more trouble (to you and your customer) than they are worth. Then pick your favorite DRM methods.

A popular DRM method with publishers seems to be tying your book to an encrypted code connected to a credit card used to purchase the e-book. Few people will share their CC numbers with others, so it tends to be a key that will not be widely circulated.