One Price, One Goal: Why We Don’t Charge for Every Takedown
You’ve hit a bestseller list. The sales are soaring, the reviews are pouring in, and the congratulations from your readers are flooding your inbox. It’s the moment you’ve worked for. But a quick search reveals the flip side of that success: your book is now on dozens—or even a hundred plus—of pirate sites. The congratulations are immediately followed by a wave of panic.
In the fight against piracy, there are two fundamental ways to pay for protection. The first, and most common, is the “pay-per-takedown” model. The second is the “flat-rate” model. Understanding the difference is crucial, because one can punish your success while the other is built to protect it.
The Problem with “Pay-Per-Takedown”
A new release from a bestselling author can instantly generate a hundred or more pirated links out of the gate. If you hire a service that charges for every single takedown, your bill doesn’t just climb; it explodes. That initial, seemingly small per-link fee becomes a massive, unexpected expense that can quickly devour your profits.
This model is fundamentally flawed because it creates a conflict of interest. Your service provider makes more money when you have more piracy. You are, in effect, being penalized for the very success that brought you to them in the first place. You are paying for every individual fire, not for a comprehensive fire safety plan.
The BookDefender Difference: A Flat-Rate for Your Whole Catalog
At BookDefender.com, we believe that a professional author’s protection should be a predictable, manageable business expense. Our model is different, and it’s designed to align our goals with yours.
We charge a flat rate based on the number of book titles in your catalog—not the number of infringing links we find.
Think of it this way: With the “pay-per-takedown” model, your cost spirals higher and higher with every new pirate link that appears. With the BookDefender model, your cost stays the same, whether we have to send one takedown notice or a thousand. Our incentive is to find and remove as many infringing links as possible, as quickly as possible, because our success is tied to your protection, not to a higher bill.
Peace of Mind for Your Business
This isn’t just about cost; it’s about peace of mind.
- Predictable Budgeting: You can budget for your anti-piracy protection just like you budget for your cover art or editing.
- No Financial Penalty for Success: As your books become more popular and attract more piracy, your costs won’t explode. You’re free to grow your catalog and readership without fear of a runaway bill.
- Total Coverage: Our pricing model encourages us to be exhaustive in our search. We’re motivated to find every single infringing link for every title you have with us, because it’s our job to protect your entire catalog.
The “pay-per-takedown” model is built for a hobbyist, a one-off project. The flat-rate model is built for a professional author’s business—a growing, evolving body of work that deserves consistent, predictable protection.
