As we creep toward the end of the year, I want to offer some updates for the next book and some major changes to the way we facilitate sales.
First and foremost, the 11th Edition of OSINT Techniques is over half-way completed and still slated for release on or before January 1, 2025. It will be 590 pages at 8.5" x 11", and we will offer digital and print options. It is a drastic change from the 10th Edition, as two years have passed since that release. Jason and I are both very excited about the new content.
As soon as OSINT 11 is released, we are restructuring our books page. We will no longer offer the digital supplement guides (Mobile Devices, macOS Devices, Linux Devices, VPNs & Firewalls, Leaks, Breaches, & Logs, The Ultimate Virtual Machine, and Self-Publishing) for new purchases. They will be removed from our site. If you already possess any of those guides, or purchase them before they are removed, you will still receive free updates as needed. Nothing has changed there and we keep our promises. We simply will no longer offer them as a product for sale. We will only offer Extreme Privacy 5th Edition and OSINT Techniques 11th Edition for sale by the end of the year.
This is mostly due to the new OSINT book incorporating all of the vital instruction from the two OSINT supplemental guides which were released after the 10th Edition was published. Similarly, The 5th Edition of Extreme Privacy pulled in a lot of the techniques within the Extreme Privacy supplemental guides. Therefore, it no longer makes sense to offer all of the products while adding complexity to a purchase.
I won't pretend piracy did not play a role. While the supplemental guides went deeper into many territories, the sales plummeted 90% as soon as they were pirated online. People would rather download free illegal copies than support the work of independent authors. I am not mad, that is just where society is. There is a growing community which believes all books should be free, and authors should never be paid for their work. I do not believe that is sustainable, and expect we will see more authors leave the space. As a business, we can no longer justify the expense of putting out new titles when so many readers are choosing to use pirated copies. Therefore, we have scrapped the plans for any future privacy books including the self-hosting guide. It is great that the guides have been so popular, but unfortunately, popularity does not pay my employees. The abundance of credit card disputes and fraud is also an issue. These are costly and damaging to our business reputation. I cannot risk the ability to accept credit cards for our services.
All actions have consequences. Our only available response is to stop making products and re-focus our efforts on our existing client needs. The goal of the books has always been to offer an extremely affordable way to replicate the services we offer. That model worked for several years, but it seems broken now. All good things come to an end!
Since the OSINT Techniques book is used by so many universities, instructors, and investigators, we feel compelled to provide an update, regardless of the piracy. Jason Edison is co-authoring that book with me, and I will pass the torch to him after this release. It will be up to him to consider any future releases.
Once again, thanks for all of the interest and thank you to everyone who has supported the books by purchasing legitimate copies over the years. We know that some of you buy every edition and we really appreciate your support. We hope they helped in some way.
MB
