A few months ago with a group of authors, together we successfully eliminated about 6-7 book pirate sites. Now the sites are not found in Google search, thus they they went packing. When we found our books on the sites offered as FREE download, first we bombarded the sites with take down demands and then we reported the sites to:
https://support.google.com/legal/answer/3110420
However, most likely the same people, started new sites and continue stealing the hard work of the authors.

A list of links that are most likely pirate sites:
http://www.astatalk.com
Click "request support" on the left sidebar, send them a message

http://www.mininova.org
Contact at the bottom of the home page

http://www.monova.org
Contact at the bottom of the home page
                                       
http://www.epdflibrary.com
Contact at the bottom of the page

http://www.dailymotion.com/crazyboymahim
Posts links to pirate sites, report it

http://www.artantqmag.com
I can't find any contact or even a "catch" why they're offering a free PDF download. Most likely the file is infected with spy cookies or viruses.

http://www.lucysbookclub.org
Leave a open comment, I couldn't find contact

If you've come across a piracy site that is offering free eBooks but are not my list, please post it in comment.
Let's fight them together!

Pirates don't value the author's work. People who don't mind paying from 99 cents to $5-6 for our eBooks are honest, decent people who value the work of others.

What do you do when you find out that your book is pirated?
You get mad, furious and want to wring the pirate site owners' necks. Yup, I know the feeling, but better if you think rationally. Until the publishing sites change their methods and provide better protection against pirating, we, authors have to take the matter into our hands.

Facts:
Most of these sites have copyright compliance officers or other support staff that handle these issues, usually within a couple of days after your request. They may not care about the ethics of piracy, but they do want to avoid lawsuits. At first contact, approach them in a matter of fact way, rather than accusatory, threatening, or demanding. If they don't reply, warn them that you're taking legal steps if your books are not removed from their site.

Authors:
Search the sites above for your author name and book titles.
Please note: if the download is under 100kb, most likely the free downloads are reviews clipped from Amazon or other sites.
If you find files over 175kb, chances are they are your entire book or eBook that's being shared for free. You can use the email addresses or links to forms to file your take-down order. 
If you find one of your books on the pirate site, the chances are that they stole you other books as well. Look for the title, your author name, and be aware that the cleverer pirates may misspell your name or the title of the book in order to fool Google alert. I found my book on a pirate site that Google didn't alert me for, just because they put a dot after the middle initial of my author name.

Most pirate sites are nothing but scammers.
They dangle the bait in front of your nose offering a free book. You get the book you're hoping for, but file of junk and a nasty spyware that you download with the free PDF file. Good luck getting rid of the viruses and spyware, and that's just the best scenario. If they get a hold of your personal and credit card info, then you're in trouble.

There are pirates sites that do offer stolen books.
Free books from pirate sites? Yeah, right! Do you Really think it's Free? Think Again!
But, the readers who support them are either:
Not informed and believe that they're really getting books for nothing in return.
Not aware of the dangers of these sites.
Or knowing exactly that they're helping the pirate sites to steal books and don't care about the harm they cause are no better than the thieves who steal the authors' hard work.
Without people who download free books, these pirate site would not exist!

Book pirate sites are a painful issue for nearly every author (myself included), and dealing with the pirate sites can be very frustrating. 

A site that is designed to profit from the THEFT of the work of others, it is set up in a deceptive way while appearing to comply with US Copyright Law.

Some sites even list legitimate selling site links such as Amazon, Kobo, Barnes&Noble, but…

People who are looking for free downloads will look further down the page for the free download option, and there it is: the button for DOWNLOAD FREE. This is the link to the illegal download. If you don’t scroll far enough down the page, you may not notice this unauthorized link.
​
I click on these links, but don’t download the book. Why?
Because most of these sites have a darker goal in mind. Do you think you’re getting a free book for FREE? Think again!

Thieves are smart! I wish they would use their great knowledge of how to steal and cheat others to make money the honest way, but they don’t! They’re criminals and lowly thieves.

Do you think they will give you a free book for nothing in return?
Think again! They’re not good Samaritans; they’re thieves who want to make a quick buck! Yes, they let you download an authors’ hard work that they stole, but you will pay a lot more later. They’re clever, I must give them that.

They will either:
Bombard your mailbox with advertisements
Sell your email address to marketers
Infect your computer with a spy cookie or worse that they hide in the FREE book that you download
Moreover, you might unknowingly give the site permission to add a spy program to your browser

Do you think your passwords or credit card information are safe? Think again before you download a FREE book from pirate sites! You will pay a greater price that the price of an eBook you'd pay on legitimate selling sites that protect your personal information!

​Google alert let me know that one of my books is offered for free download by this site. Really? That fast? I just published this book in January for God's sake!
This is what I found:

Surprise! Twenty nine people commented and happy to get my book for FREE!
Isn't that nice a cozy?
​
My note to these brave readers:
Are you brave enough to give your email address and credit card to these shady sites? I wouldn't be!

Does it make you feel good about yourself that you saved 99 cents or the price of less than you pay for a cup of coffee, knowing that you cheated me, the author who worked hard for months producing this eBook, out of 30 cents or a bit more royalty payments?

“This book and any other books are written by Erika M Szabo and published by Golden Box Books Publishing are protected by United States copyright law. The copyright is owned by the author Erika M Szabo. FREE downloads are not authorized by the author and publisher, and offering a free download of the author’s books is a blatant violation of copyright law and an infringement of the author's copyright. Remove all free download books by this author from your website, all the related URLs, and databases IMMEDIATELY. Otherwise, the appropriate legal steps will be taken.” 

Please don't support the pirate sites that steal our work, boycott and report them.
​
Thank you for supporting authors by purchasing our books on legitimate, legal publishing sites!

Dear reader, please note:
I never gave permission to ANY other sites than Amazon to offer my books for free to those who has memberships to read books for free.

If you see my books advertised as FREE download on any sites other than Amazon, please report the site and let me know in CONTACT message. Thank you so much for your support and for respecting the copyright law and the author's rights by purchasing books from legitimate selling sites!

Yup, I would love to display a sticker like that! Who wouldn't?
There are so many books out there proudly displaying their literary award winner stickers. Of course, I would love to have a shiny sticker on all of my books and have a chance to brag about being an award winner author, but... here is always a but.  Which contest should I enter? Are these award contest legitimate? Will it help my writing career if I would win one of these contests? Is it worth entering any literary contests just because they have an attractive website and promise recognition? . I wouldn't do that without a very thorough research on the prestige of the contest.

Many writers enter literary contests hoping to be noticed by agents and publishers, a way to add writing credits, or promote a self-published book. This can definitely worth adding to your writing resume if the contest is sponsored by an organization with high standing in the publishing industry.

I id some research to get a general idea about the real and fake award contests. I know that there must be a lot of fake contests out there, so I started my research with the scams.

Here is what I found so far:
There are very few of the hundreds of award contests out there has prestige that would make entering their contests worthwhile. Winning a contest run by an internet contest mill probably don't carry any weight with agents and readers because they may be aware that small contests are much less likely to have professional judging standards.

However, we can't really label literary CONTEST MILLS scams with high entry fees and dozens of entry categories, since there usually are winners, who generally do receive the promise prize. But keep in mind that they conduct the contests with their high entry fees (anywhere from $60 to $80) with the sole purpose, to make money. However, because of the probable lack of rigorous judging standards (judges are rarely identified, and in some cases we can suspect that they may not exist at all), are unlikely to carry much weight and professional prestige. They promise much of the benefits that prestigious awards can bring to your career, and there’s even a nice trophy or a shiny sticker. Some of them advertise enormous prizes up to $15,000 for the winners, but if you read the fine print (usually hard to find on their website), you’ll see that the contest owner reserves the right to award prizes on a pro-rated basis. It means that the prize amounts are determined by the number of entrants, thus guaranteeing their profit no matter what. 

Similar to the contest mills are the AWARD MILLS that mostly focus on a small press or self-published authors, who face major challenges in getting their work noticed. Although there may be a real prize (money, gift certificates, consults with literary agents), winners are most likely receive little more than a shiny sticker and an announcement on the organization’s website.

Contests by fee-charging publishers. Often the prize is a book contract, but winners don’t find out until afterward that the contract terms are restrictive, or that they must pay a fee for publication, or agree to pre-purchase large numbers of books.

The most common of the fake contests I've found are those conducted by the vanity anthology companies. They publish anthologies of poems or short stories, which are NOT sold to the public, only to the contributors, so the writers are pressured to buy multiple copies.

After about three hours of searching for the perfect award contest for my books, I gave up for now.

I decided that I need to do a lot more research before I consider entering my books in any contest.

My good friend gave me the best present today by sending me this picture with a heartwarming message, that made me cry with joy.

It made me so happy to see two grown men reading my English and Spanish children's books and enjoying the story. Jeanne's husband, who is a hearing person, is learning to sign to communicate easier with his friend. 

Jeanne wrote in her email:

I meet a lot of wonderful people with some form of disability in my line of work as a nurse. It always saddens me when I see the difficulties their illness or condition cause and the ridicule and isolation they have to endure. I write fantasy novels, but I decided to publish these books for children about the hardship of hearing loss that is a vital part of good communication .

As a nurse, sadly, I come across a lot of people with deeply embedded preconception or prejudice about disability, skin color, gender, ancestry, and so on.  It is very hard for an adult or especially for an older person to change how they relate to others.

However, if we can teach our children how to judge people by their personalities and actions instead of judging them just because they happened to be deaf, sitting in a wheelchair, have a different skin color or were born in a foreign county, we can raise a compassionate and unbiased next generation.
 
I hid an important message to children in these English and Spanish picture books, how to learn not to judge, bully or make fun of anyone just because they’re different. The life of any disabled person is no fun and living with a disability has many challenges, but we can learn to make their life easier and not harder.

ENGLISH
Look, I Can Talk With My Fingers!
A little girl teaches her family and her friends how to relate to someone who is hearing impaired.
If you'd like to have an eBook or paperback copy or just read about the story, click on the BOOK'S PAGE 

SPANISH
Mira, ipuedo hablar con los dedos!
Sandra enseña a su familia y amigos a comunicarse con personas con discapacidad auditiva.
Rad about the story on the BOOK'S PAGE

My friend, Jeanne, is also a children's book author. 
She is, very cleverly, without sounding educational, introducing Australian wildlife to children with amazingly well-developed characters and fascinating, adventure filled story-line in her anthropomorphic fantasy stories. She manages the perfect balance of plot, tension building and conclusion with moral messages to keep the reader entranced and engaged. Her stories also teach children about true friendship, tolerance, the importance of family and dedication to a good cause. I can highly recommend it to middle-grade children, but as an adult I really enjoyed her stories as well.
Visit her WEBSITE and read about her books and about the fasscinating Australian wildlife.