There's a new service called MUSO that takes down illegal copies of your books (well, you look at each copy to make sure it's illegal, and can request the take downs and apparently they happen pretty fast).

the link to the article that discusses this is here.

and you can sign up for MUSO here.

There's a fee–$15/month for up to 60 files taken down, $25 after that. (I found this out by clicking on "account" *after* I'd signed up.)

I signed up, and searched for any copies of my books–and there were none. So for me right now it's not helpful. But perhaps in a year or a few years I'll want to use it. I don't know.

There's also a part of me that thinks like Seth Godin–that when our books are out there freely, it helps encourage more readers and more people buying our books (the way libraries do). But I know that's not a popular view with most other authors, and I'm still thinking on that.

A few (well-known) authors I know who used MUSO found between 6-38 illegal copies of their books, which they've had taken down. It also seemed that it was a fast, easy, efficient way of taking down a lot of files at once, instead of having to email their editors or publishers each time they found one…

If you sign up, you need to put your name in the "campaign" section–and then it will search for all your works by your name.

So, it's up to you, whether you think it's worth it or not, and if you're only trying it out, I guess it'll cost you the $15 for one month….