You all know that for the longest time we authors including myself have been fighting theft of our books on the net. The moment we put out a book there is someone out there who is pirating it on sites all over the net.
Do I even have to tell you how wrong that is? I better not but just in case, YES that is WRONG…So very wrong and those who do is suck bad. You think there is theft of just books we put out there that are being sold? Hell no….Even free work is being stolen.
We authors put out free stories to give something back to readers and people who support us. It is that little thing that says thank you.
I recently found this article about plagiarism that is happening with free reads that writers are putting out there. Yes it is happening…Are you shocked? Don’t be…
Don’t think we authors/writers are money hungry people. Were not. If we were we would not be doing what we do. Were not rich from our books and its not all peaches and cream. Unless you are one of the big names out there that the whole world knows about you are not even close to being rich. We do it because we love it. The thing that sucks is that we already have to fight piracy and now there are cases coming up where we are fighting plagiarism and people are trying to make money off what has been taken.
Read this article http://www.interracialerotica.net/erotica/articles/334/1/Plagiarism-is-the-New-Black/Page1.html
It is sad to see this happening. Writers work their butt off and it kills when you see someone plagiarise your work.
I recommend copyright everything you write. I learned that a long time ago when I had something I wrote stolen from me.
Savannah
Just read the article and wow, that is some evil genius stuff right there. Who would even think to do that? Just terrible and awful.
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Lisa it just keeps getting worse and worse….
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I don’t know what infuriates me more: the plagiarism or the fact Amazon refuses to take responsibility.
Personally, I see no reason why one can’t put a curse those pirates/plagiarists & make them suffer horribly. (I could think of a few ideas…)
What really irks me though is when known plagiarists are rewarded with publishing contracts. Yeah, nice way to reward bad behavior.
Sorry, the whole thing leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
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Savannah Chase Reply:
May 14th, 2011 at 12:14 pm
Pam it is sad. We work our butt off. This is why I spend the extra $ to copyright my work because I have had something stolen years ago and it was a battle. This stuff makes me sick…
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Sorry, I meant “put a curse on…” Stupid typo. 🙁
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It’s awful. And it’s hard to know it’s happening unless an astute reader picks it up. Savannah – this is why I copyright as well. I had two works stolen years ago and I will never leave that door open again.
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This is disturbing on so many levels. It just makes me sick when I hear stories like this.
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Thank you SO much for spreading the word. Everyone’s support is greatly appreciated. I suggest copyrighting everything you own! I even file licenses for my images (just in case). There are additional copyright links on my resource page should anyone need them.
There’s a parade of authors (some published) coming forth. It’s really, really sad.
Again, thanks for your support. Cheers!
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Sorry, I forgot to mention – my door is always open. Please feel free to reach out. We artists stick together.
Amazon told DamonX and the others to kick rocks even though proper authorship has been firmly established. They’re seeking legal assistance. Cross your fingers…
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I guess with free stories online there’ll always be people stealing work. I don’t even know that putting a copyright symbol will help unless you’re going to court.
On another note, I wrote a scene in my first novel 2 years ago and recently was reading a Nora Roberts novel. She had the same scenario, same name, same character types. If I publish I could be accused of plagarising. Scary, innit?
Denise
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Savannah,
I’ve read your post and the article. It makes me sick to know there are people who would stoop so low. Apparently, they can’t write a good book themselves, so they have to steal someone’s who can. I’m new at this and have a book under contract. Would you mind telling me how you went about having your work copyrighted?
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Julia it might cost us extra but it is better to be safer than sorry.
Tracy it is a horrible thing to have your work stolen and after something like that you never forget of feel safe again when it comes to what you create. Like I said I learned the hard way so now I copyright everything.
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Sondrea it is past sick. The worst part is that some people know what has happened but they keep on supporting the wrong anyways. They don’t do anything to stop it.
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Denise it is scary. Like I said copyright your work, that provides a date stamp when you did$
Darlene you have to file legal papers with your country’s copyright office. The copyright office is a government thing and makes your certificate legal. Emal me via the contact section here on the site and this way if you are in Canada I can give you the info. If you are in another place just google how to file a legal copyright. That should bring you up the info. Here it is called CIPO. No matter what file the copyright before your work is put out there. If you have already something that is published and you still want to file the paper to copyright it gives you a place to file info when and where the work is or was published.
If anyone need more info just email me and I shall try to help with regards to copyright.
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L’Aussie yes that is scary….We just have to watch out so much what we write and what happens to our work…
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Thanks for sharing this article Savannah. Horror stories like this exist, and so often the original author is not even aware of their work being stolen.
You seem to have become the expert in this field by virtue of your experience with this. It’s good to know we have an advocate in you.
Eden
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Eden you are welcome…It is sad and when you have gone through something like this it hurts even more….
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Hi Savannah, I came back as I was so interested in this conversation. I will look into what you say. No doubt it’ll be different in Australia. Thank you for sharing this. I’ve also heard of embedding your work but couldn’t get any further info on this.
Denise
Romantic Friday Writers – Second Challenge – LOST
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Why aren’t associations like Romance Writers of America putting pressure on Amazon? Or those minor publishers, who could band together, because they’re losing money, too?
I’m sure this will be corrected at some point in the future, but until then those thieves will keep raking in money. I just can’t believe someone can steal so bluntly in the open and get away with it.
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I’m so sorry you had something stolen. It’s got to feel like a home invasion. Intimate and personal. People have no clue how hard we work as writers with such little monitary reward. It still makes me laugh when people say things like, “Oh, your gonna be rich now.” Ha! 🙂
I hope you have a happy Monday!
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E.C one would think that this would be punished and looked after but if nobody is doing anything about piracy how can we expect any support with this stuff..It is sad…
Ciara thank you…It feels horrible. There was nothing I could do but someone was looking out for me because in the end the person got what they deserved. Wishing you a Happy Monday as well…
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L’Aussie look into it. I’m sorry I’m not familiar with copyright in Australia. It might cost a little to do but you can rest easy that you are protecting your work.
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This is such a terrible thing.
I know I’m always on the look out for my work being out there somewhere I didn’t put it. I know how it feels to have these jerks take my stuff.
As author we really need to be vigilant which takes away from our writing time, which in turn means we produce less stories for our true fans.
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Casey we have so many things to now worry about…
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