Ep 139: How Indie Authors Can Shield Their Book from Copyright Infringement

Copyright. Piracy. LibGen. AI scraping.

If just reading that list makes you want to hide under your desk with a bottle of...something...you’re not alone.

Indie authors are being forced to navigate a landscape that feels murkier by the day, and most of us didn’t exactly sign up to become copyright attorneys.  

Unfortunately, the “poor man’s copyright” trick (mailing yourself a sealed copy of your manuscript) I used to suggest won’t do a thing to protect you in 2025.

What does matter? Understanding when and how to formally register your copyright, what that three-month filing window really means, and how to handle it when you discover your book has been pirated.  

In this episode, I break down:  

👉 Whether copyright registration is worth the time and money for indie authors  \

👉 What to do (and what not to do) if your book shows up on LibGen or other shady sites  

👉 The difference between healthy protection and exhausting paranoia  

I’ll show you how to balance protecting your work with staying focused on what really matters—building genuine connections with readers who do want to support you.  

Want to go deeper? Check out Jenn Hansen-dePaula’s great conversation with attorney Olivia Maynes for a legal perspective here: https://jenndepaula.com/podcast/90  

**** STEPS FOR REMOVING YOUR BOOK FROM LIBGEN***** 

1. Find the bad actors by searching your book title + “LibGen PDF” or “LibGen EPUB.” Copy all the URLs. (Screenshots can help.) 

2. Submit to Google & Bing. File a copyright removal with Google and Bing to get those links de-indexed. 

3. Contact the hosts & CDNs. Use a WHOIS or hosting lookup to find who’s hosting the site. If it’s behind Cloudflare (which is common), file an abuse notice with them. 

4. Target IPFS gateways. If you see “ipfs.io” or “dweb.link” in the link, file a takedown with those gateways. This doesn’t erase the file from the universe, but it's like pulling up the drawbridge.  

5. Keep a log and re-check. Add the date, site, and whether it was removed, and revisit every month or two. 

6. Escalate if necessary. If your book keeps popping up, consider contacting a publishing attorney or joining the Authors Guild for extra support.

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