Nowadays the literary world has gone digital in a big way. Authors take to blogs, social media, and publishing platforms to share their work – while readers download ebooks, join online communities, and engage directly via reviews or comments.
Unfortunately all this connectivity comes with risks – including threats such as phishing, data breaches, fraud, and identity theft. To shield yourself, you need to know how to stay safe while delving into the digital literary scene.
For Authors: Protect Your Work and Reputation
Every author’s online presence is a key part of their brand – and must be safeguarded. If you’re an aspiring author, here’s what you need to do to protect yourself:
- Secure accounts on email, social media, and publishing platforms with strong, unique passwords. Enable 2-factor authentication if available, and consider using a password manager too.
- Encrypt data wherever possible by using a VPN on Chrome and other platforms. This is especially important if you use public WiFi in coffeeshops or other locations.
- Backup manuscripts to be safe and avoid losing them to ransomware. Use an external hard drive or a secure cloud service, but avoid unsecured email or cloud services without encryption.
- Beware phishing scams and teach yourself to recognize suspicious emails or messages. Always check the email domains of senders, and hover over links to see the real URL. If unsure, do not click on links and manually visit the platform instead.
- Do not share personal information such as your full name, address, phone number, or daily routine and habits. Scammers can use that information to impersonate your identity, or find ways to target you with tailored attacks.
Following these steps will ensure your work and online accounts are safe, and prevent them from being hijacked or stolen by unscrupulous parties. For authors this is critical to their success, and can avoid many unpleasant surprises.
For Readers: Stay Safe While Enjoying Books Online
Although readers may not have to worry about their brand or work, they do need to stay safe while downloading e-books, reading fanfiction, or engaging in online communities. Here’s how you can do that:
- Use reputable platforms that are well-known such as Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble, Webnovel, or Archive of Our Own. Avoid sites offering ‘free’ ebooks that are often laced with malware.
- Avoid oversharing personal information in online communities such as book clubs, forums, or social media. The more personal information you put out there, the more data will be available for scammers to tailor attacks against you.
- Verify the identity of authors if they ever respond to you in online communities. Scammers often impersonate authors to trick unsuspecting fans into sending them money or revealing personal information.
- Use secure payment methods that have fraud protection, such as Paypal or credit cards when purchasing ebooks, subscribing to Patreons, and so on. Never expose your credit card details on unsecured websites.
- Keep devices secure by regularly updating apps and installing antivirus software. If you’re in the habit of reading on public WiFi, consider using a VPN.
All these steps should help protect you from most online threats including scammers, malware, and fraud. It will require a bit of extra care on your part, but it is well worth it to be able to relax and enjoy your books with peace of mind.
Conclusion
Right here and right now you should take a moment to think about how safe you are – as an author or a reader. All it takes is a few simple steps to protect yourself when you’re taking advantage of the online literary scene, but you need to take action quickly so you don’t leave yourself vulnerable.
