First, you need to know to be very wary and careful of a website going by GetBookDirect dot com. I don’t know what their scam is. They are offering books for free that they don’t even have. They say you can sign up for a free account in order to read books online or download the PDF of them. It looks like a professional website with actual book listings by both indie and highly popular mainstream authors. But beware of the Get Book Direct fraud.
I know they are fraudulent for a few reasons. I became aware of this website because when I searched for my third children’s karate picture book online, it popped up on their site offering the free PDF of it. There are several things wrong with that.
Proof of Get Book Direct Fraud Scheme
1) Due to COVID-19 delays, this book has not yet opened up to any retailers or corporations who might want to see, order, sell or otherwise access it. 2) This book is not available, nor distributed, in PDF format to any companies at this time. Only two of my close, trusted friends have even seen a PDF of this book. None of my books are currently available in e-book or PDF. It’s not that I don’t want them to be, it’s that I haven’t seen a market for this product. And if I did, it still probably wouldn’t be feasible.
3) If you click on the product that they are peddling as my book, it says it will start on “Chapter 1” and has over 100 pages. This picture book doesn’t have chapters. It is only 30-something pages long. So please be wary of this Get Book Direct Fraud. 4) As you can see from the screen shot below, it’s listing my book with a 5-star rating with 93569 votes. I think my book is great, my best so far, but – no. No way that that many people have read it when it’s not available, not even to industry insiders.
They really want people to create free accounts on this website. But it’s part of the bait in their trap. I didn’t even go far enough to click and see what info is required to create an account. I didn’t want to click on something that would install a virus. It’s possible that their intentions are not that nefarious. And maybe they are not even trying to phish for some future scam. But at a minimum they are wanting to use your information that you input for your “free account.”
Looking on the Bright Side
It did make me feel better to see my favorite author, Dean Koontz, also listed on this website with a free PDF. And I am certain that that particular book of his is not really offered for free, even as a PDF. At least I am in good company.
And have you heard the saying that “imitation is the highest form of flattery”? So maybe I should take heart while hoping that none of my fans fall for the Get Book Direct fraud scheme. As that whole quote from Oscar Wilde goes, “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery that mediocrity can pay to greatness.” Or maybe more appropriate to this circumstance is a version by the English writer Eustace Budgell, “Imitation is a kind of artless Flattery.”
Very artless Get Book Direct. Just artless.
-Jenifer Tull-Gauger
