Protecting Your Intellectual Property

Caveat: This post discusses legal matters related to the publishing and copyrighting of books, but it does not contain legal advice. If you need legal advice on this matter, please consult an attorney.

As a new year begins, technology continues to advance at lightning speed. In the book world, the expected practice of offering an online version (in the form of an ebook), combined with the proliferation of AI and the ability for anyone to locate anything they want online—and often pay little-to-nothing for it—leaves many authors wondering how to protect the words and pages they worked so hard to launch into the world.

Into this scenario, in the past year, came a landmark lawsuit: Bartz v. Anthropic. This class action lawsuit charges that the AI company Anthropic unlawfully used approximately 500,000 books to train its large language models (LLMs). Anthropic wanted its generative AI tool to be able to write books similar to the books included in the lawsuit, and to facilitate that process, Anthropic stole ebook versions of the named books. In June 2025, a judge ruled in favor of the books’ authors, ordering Anthropic to pay $1.5 billion ($3,000 per title) to authors and publishers whose books are part of the suit. Details about the lawsuit, determining whether your book is included, and how to file a claim can be found on the Authors Guild website.

Not everyone who downloads a pirated book wants to use it to train LLMs, of course. There are hundreds, perhaps thousands, of book pirating websites offering “free books to anyone!” Some of these websites purport to be altruistic: the website creators say they simply want books to be available to everyone, without cost being a barrier. Many more, however, are nothing but malware, with a download risking severe damage to one’s device and/or security. Downloader beware.

If you’re an author who has published a book recently, or someone who would like to do so in the future, you might be wondering how you can prevent either or both of these scenarios. How can you keep individuals and companies from pirating your ebook, resulting in no profits or benefits for you?

While prevention is nearly impossible, there are mitigating steps you can take:

• Register your book with the U.S. copyright office. If you’re publishing in the United States, register your book as soon as you can. (Other countries also have copyright offices; if you’re in another country, check with your national government.) Registering a U.S. copyright is relatively quick and inexpensive, about $65 as of this writing. While a copyright will not prevent pirating, it gives you legal recourse in certain situations. For example, in the Anthropic case, only books with a registered copyright are eligible for inclusion in the class action suit.
• Build relationships with libraries. Unquestionably, not every reader can afford to buy your book—even in ebook form, which tends to be less expensive than physical books. Making your book available via as many library districts as possible provides wider (and legal) distribution of your book to more readers.
• Write another book. While having additional books out in the world won’t prevent your first book from being pirated, being the author of multiple titles eases the sting when one of your books is stolen. Most readers eagerly read a fresh title from an author whose first book they enjoyed. Similarly, when you’ve published multiple books, readers who discover you via a more recent title will often gobble up your backlist. Writing a series, another book related to the same topic, or even expanding your reach into a new genre, is a great way to build readership and loyalty.

Of course, all this begins with writing your first book! If 2026 is the year you want to publish a book, but you’re unsure how to get started—or you have a draft but don’t know how to take it to the next level—please get in touch. We’d love to discuss your project and see how our team of ghostwriters, editors, and book production specialists can help you get your first, second, third—and beyond—book into the world.