Some of you know of me via Facebook and Twitter. I recently was the victim of piracy. Imagine to my horror waking up one morning to find a message on Facebook from a fan...

"I just purchased a copy of Black Pyramid and it'll be with me in a week or so! I'm so excited!"

I read the message over and over before my brain decided to work. First of all, I was pleased as punch that someone would get this excited for something I wrote. And I immediately wrote back how pleased I was for them. And I hoped they enjoyed the book.

At this point my eyes took in 'a copy' and 'it'll be with me in a week'. WARNING! How could she get a copy when Black Pyramid was no longer in print? So I typed back-

Do you mind if I ask where you got a copy?

And when ebay popped up in the little window, I thought, okay it's simple. Someone decided to sell their copy. No big deal. Nope. I was wrong.

After investigating, I found out that the company I originally hired to publish my book, hadn't cancelled my contract, even though they proclaimed that's what they did. In fact, they allowed their printing company to carry on printing my book. And I never received a single payment.

So you're probably asking what did I do? I spent four hours on the phone tracking down names and telephone numbers. I got hold of the right people and in the end, my book is no longer available for print from this company.

My advice for anyone doing self publishing, make sure, double check that the publisher has deleted your book template and isn't selling pirated copies. I may never find out what the printers made from my work, but at least they know that I am keeping my eye on them.