Plagiarism on Amazon

[MelissaBaby]

A Lit author named Kalimaxos and some others are reporting on Twitter that they have had their stories posted on Amazon under the name Allison Hartman.

You all might want to check the account.

https://www.amazon.com/s?i=digital-text&rh=p_27%3AAlison+Hartman&s=relevancerank&qid=1595698531&text=Alison+Hartman&ref=sr_pg_1

 

[Blind_Justice]

A Lit author named Kalimaxos and some others are reporting on Twitter that they have had their stories posted on Amazon under the name Allison Hartman.

You all might want to check the account.

https://www.amazon.com/s?i=digital-text&rh=p_27%3AAlison+Hartman&s=relevancerank&qid=1595698531&text=Alison+Hartman&ref=sr_pg_1

Again? *sigh*

I mean, not that particular hack job, but another idiot pawning off others' work as their own, only to get caught and slapped about a bit.

At least (s)he provides content tags to facilitate cross-referencing.

 

[Bramblethorn]

Love how she has an "interracial romance story" where the cover is a stock photo of two white women. Some serious effort went into these rip-offs.

 

[lovecraft68]

And even dumber...they're putting them in kindle unlimited...so they're not even making any money off their stolen stories.

 

[KeithD]

Some of mine, yes. You'd think there would be some attempt to change the titles at least. One of them has a completely irrelevant cover.

 

[lovecraft68]

Love how she has an "interracial romance story" where the cover is a stock photo of two white women. Some serious effort went into these rip-offs.

Sad thing is a lot of readers don't care. If I write a story with a redhead I need a redhead for my cover, that's why I like to have the cover first. But I once saw a book on SW about Blondes having more fun and...yes the girl on the cover was a brunette...those are the people who grab whatever is free and use it whether it fits o not.

 

[lovecraft68]

I have to point out that they have a BTB story...and it has a one star review...shows you what an audience outside of the LW cesspool thinks of that crap.

 

[KeithD]

"Alison Hartman" has an author's account at Goodreads. It doesn't include all of the works on offer at Amazon, but I found one of mine and marked it as stolen, giving the Literotica URL to the story posted here in 2003 and suggesting that all of the listed works are stolen. It looks like they'd be easy to match up. The titles of the ones I looked into weren't changed and the Literotica openings and those revealed at Amazon are identical.

 

[Salacious_Scribe]

Sad thing is a lot of readers don't care. If I write a story with a redhead I need a redhead for my cover, that's why I like to have the cover first. But I once saw a book on SW about Blondes having more fun and...yes the girl on the cover was a brunette...those are the people who grab whatever is free and use it whether it fits o not.

I write the story then find images that fit. Sometimes I have to adjust a character's clothing or description but usually nothing major.

 

[lovecraft68]

I write the story then find images that fit. Sometimes I have to adjust a character's clothing or description but usually nothing major.

Yup, I match the clothing that's on the cover if its some kind of lingerie, if its just kind of a 'make out' cover I don't bother, but the couple in the story has to match cover as far as hair and eyes

 

[TarnishedPenny]

It’s not new, sadly

Stumbled on this on a fascinating site on random words - the term ‘bookaneer’. Literary theft as far back as Dickens.

http://www.worldwidewords.org/weirdwords/ww-boo3.htm

 

[sporkfina]

But how do you find out that a story has been plagiarized if they change the title? It might be too much work to check new releases each time and look at the description?

 

[Ada Stuart]

But how do you find out that a story has been plagiarized if they change the title? It might be too much work to check new releases each time and look at the description?

You can search for a specific sentence from your story in several browsers. I often try DuckDuckGo, Google and Bing. Just remember to add the "-signs so you search for the specific order of words.

The best is to choose a sentence that stands out (errors makes it easier, LOL) and doesn't contain any names (since they often change the names when they steal the story). And it seems to be best to pick a sentence from the first chapter since they sometimes use it in the Brief summary.

Still, sometimes you can just as easily find them by searching for your author name or search for the title on Amazon. You'll be amazed by how little effort they put into hiding the theft.

But, it seems to pay off to go after them. After a while, they stop stealing from you (uhm, well, I hope I won't regret saying that, LOL)

 

[sporkfina]

Thanks for that info!

 

[Enchantment_of_Nyx]

But how do you find out that a story has been plagiarized if they change the title? It might be too much work to check new releases each time and look at the description?

You can set up a Google Alert. Just pick a unique phrase that doesn't include a character's name (since those might be changed), make sure you use quotation marks so that it looks for the complete phrase, then set it and forget it.

 

[KeithD]

And then do what, effectively, with it? You can also just "oh well" it and go on about your business without inviting the fruitless hassle.

 

[Enchantment_of_Nyx]

And then do what, effectively, with it? You can also just "oh well" it and go on about your business without inviting the fruitless hassle.

Sure, you can do that. Nothing says you ever have to make any effort at all. That's true of most things in life.

What I've chosen to do with it is have my plagiarized work taken down. I've already done so with two different pieces of my work because I prefer to do something about it. It wasn't that much of a hassle, and it wasn't fruitless.

 

[SimonDoom]

Sure, you can do that. Nothing says you ever have to make any effort at all. That's true of most things in life.

What I've chosen to do with it is have my plagiarized work taken down. I've already done so with two different pieces of my work because I prefer to do something about it. It wasn't that much of a hassle, and it wasn't fruitless.

I concur. Although KeithD is correct that enforcement of one's right is difficult where you publish a work for free and maintain an anonymous persona, difficult does not mean impossible. The one time I found someone ripping off my story and posting it on another site, I sent a message to the site owner and the story was taken down. The sample size is small, but so far my story rights enforcement success rate is 100%.

 

[eroticstoryspinner]

Hmmm, @160 stories all published within a couple of days of each other. No Amazon, that is not suspicious at all.

 

[Salacious_Scribe]

Hmmm, @160 stories all published within a couple of days of each other. No Amazon, that is not suspicious at all.

I have over 200 stories written, not all are sutiable for a single site.

If I wanted I could foramt them make a cover and within a few days have all of them posted on amazon.

 

[KeithD]

If I wanted I could foramt them make a cover and within a few days have all of them posted on amazon.

I doubt if you could make covers and upload 160 works within a few days. I would agree that doing so should be enough for Amazon to know something wasn't right. Amazon should also know that after the second separate review of "this is stolen" is sent to them on an author's works. What they know is the same thing the court system knows by making it nearly impossible in the United States to "protect" work you've allowed to be posted for free to the Internet, which is that it would bog their own operations down too much to respond to someone having given it away for free to begin with.

The more works you produce the more difficulty you'll find you have in controlling where they pop up without your permission. If you don't produce many, you're just dabbling anyway--certainly not suffering significant financial loss.

You gave it away for free on the open Internet. You really shouldn't expect anyone to go through hoops to play whack-a-mole in trying to keep it protected.

 

[Salacious_Scribe]

I doubt if you could make covers and upload 160 works within a few days.

Make the covers first. Then once all covers were made, upload. Apparently it can be done, since it already was.

I would agree that doing so should be enough for Amazon to know something wasn't right. Amazon should also know that after the second separate review of "this is stolen" is sent to them on an author's works.

Amzon is a business. Their goal is to make money, not enforce copyright law. It has always been up to creators to enforce their rights.

What they know is the same thing the court system knows by making it nearly impossible in the United States to "protect" work you've allowed to be posted for free to the Internet, which is that it would bog their own operations down too much to respond to someone having given it away for free to begin with.

The more works you produce the more difficulty you'll find you have in controlling where they pop up without your permission. If you don't produce many, you're just dabbling anyway--certainly not suffering significant financial loss.

You gave it away for free on the open Internet. You really shouldn't expect anyone to go through hoops to play whack-a-mole in trying to keep it protected.

I don't expect shit from anyone. I want people to read my work. I post on multiple sites and none of them offer to protect my rights. That is my responsibility. If I wanted to I could try and sell them. I have no desire to do the work and pay someone to make covers since I have no artistic abilities. Maybe when I have more stories I might release an anthology but that'll be sometime in the future.

 

[eroticstoryspinner]

I have over 200 stories written, not all are sutiable for a single site.

If I wanted I could foramt them make a cover and within a few days have all of them posted on amazon.

Talking to a friend of mine who successfully sued a pirate site apparently the scammers shotgun multiple titles in hopes of getting some revenue before anyone notices. When they are taken down they mix it up and do it again with a new acct and slightly different titles.

 

[KeithD]

Talking to a friend of mine who successfully sued a pirate site apparently the scammers shotgun multiple titles in hopes of getting some revenue before anyone notices. When they are taken down they mix it up and do it again with a new acct and slightly different titles.

I doubt that. Can you cite something showing a successful suit (which country's court?) against a pirate site?

 

[Enchantment_of_Nyx]

One of the largest e-publishing piracy cases was in 2018 when a jury awarded a judgment of over $39 Million against the piracy site, Book Dog Books, LLC. The case was in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. et al v. Book Dog Books, LLC et al., (Case No. 1:13-cv-00816) and Cengage Learning, Inc. v. Book Dog Books, LLC (Case No. 1:16-cv-07123) had been consolidated for the trial. The final judgment is available here: https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/new-york/nysdce/1:2013cv00816/407424/448/

There's no fundamental difference between piracy lawsuits that involve e-publishing and piracy lawsuits that involve music or movies.