.pdf protections

[ValleyGal]

I have written a specialized guided journal, and have some in print. Unfortunately, distribution to the US will cost the consumer nearly as much as the book itself, so I am looking at alternative forms of delivery.

My ideal would be this: to sell it as a download so the consumer can print it themselves, with a one-time download code in maybe .pdf file. My concern is that they will purchase it once, and print it over and over, or forward it to others. Does anyone know how to protect their work from this happening?

I thought about Kindle, but Kindle has no printing built in. Since it is a guided journal, it needs to be printed.

Any ideas, thoughts, or comments welcome!

 

[SepiaAndDust]

You can make some efforts at protection, but nothing you do will prevent people from doing whatever they want with the document once it's in their hands. You might consider releasing the guided journal (whatever that is) for free as a bumper for the actual book.

 

[ValleyGal]

Thanks for your response. I've never done this before and I appreciate any thoughts and ideas.

The guided journal is a daily series of questions that assists coaching clients in becoming more self aware and works in conjunction with their hired coach. It will not be a guide to an actual book....although, I will be running into the same problem with another book later. Since some people are unable to afford a personal coach, I am writing a rather large self-coaching guide.

I was thinking of trying to figure out a way to provide a one-time access code to buyers, who could print it, but not save it to their computer. Do you know if there is such a thing?

 

[SepiaAndDust]

Anything that can be sent to a printer can be routed to another device. There are several protection schemes out there, but none of them work.

 

[ValleyGal]

Have you ever heard of LockLizard? It appears it allows you to determine how many times a document can be viewed, printed, or time-limited to the time you allow. I just found it online and know nothing about it, but this sort of thing sounds good....so why do you think something like that would not work?

 

[SepiaAndDust]

Have you ever heard of LockLizard?

Then again....

 

[ValleyGal]

Wow, seriously? Why even unlock something? Doesn't it send off alarm bells when people try to unlock something that's been locked? I mean if I lock my house, and someone comes along and unlocks it, it's called break and enter. It's a crime. Yet here are these software companies developing tools to unlock someone's protected (locked) property. You'd think the law would be all over those who offer unlocking abilities...it's like selling illegal universal keys to break and enter into someone else's property.