Bogus offer to edit?

[Panty Wrangler]

I recently published my first story and right away I got an email sent via anonymous feedback offering to edit stories for me. The email seemed kind of formulaic and inauthentic, and also included outside contact info, so I checked the Literotica account of the sender and that's when things really started to look suspicious.

The account is fairly recent - just a few months old, and has zero details. They've just three favorite authors and one favorite story and never published anything - so really, why would anyone expect them to be a competent editor?

This looks bogus to me, and so I've not replied to them - Frankly I'm happy with the editor I've already got and don't think I need a new one. This whole offer just seemed odd and kind of bogus. Is this some kind of scam?

FYI - My story wasn't written in first person and was written from an omniscient perspective.

The email I got opened with

Dear Panty Wrangler!
Your story was interesting...but not too arousing. Sorry, but it's true. But, still, for a first story, you did well!​

and then proceeded to give me some fairly generic advice that didn't seem related in any way to my story, including advising me to write using omniscient viewpoint rather than first person. That advice seemed particularly odd given my story wasn't written in first person and was written using an omniscient viewpoint.

 

[NotWise]

There's no reason for you to respond to this person in any way, but you should remove his email from your post.

I checked the list of Volunteer Editors and found no-one named TNsourdough. I also searched the forum, including the Editor's Forum, and found nothing from TNsourdough.

I'd just delete the email.

 

[Panty Wrangler]

I agree - no need to reply to them. It just seemed like such an odd offer that it raised my hackles as possibly being some sort of scam where the scammer wants you to take some action - in this case presumably write back to them at their gmail address. The recent and empty profile, the feedback that didn't really make sense for my story, the formulaic sounding body, etc.

I suppose I was mainly wondering if this is some sort of scam, which perhaps it is.

If it is a scam, then why would I want to remove their email from my post? Wouldn't it be useful to include it as a warning to other authors?

If it's not a scam, and just a clumsy attempt to edit stories without going through the volunteer editor program then that may be another matter.

 

[NotWise]

I agree - no need to reply to them. It just seemed like such an odd offer that it raised my hackles as possibly being some sort of scam where the scammer wants you to take some action - in this case presumably write back to them at their gmail address. The recent and empty profile, the feedback that didn't really make sense for my story, the formulaic sounding body, etc.

I suppose I was mainly wondering if this is some sort of scam, which perhaps it is.

If it is a scam, then why would I want to remove their email from my post? Wouldn't it be useful to include it as a warning to other authors?

If it's not a scam, and just a clumsy attempt to edit stories without going through the volunteer editor program then that may be another matter.

Per forum rules, personal emails aren't allowed in posts. If you don't remove it then the moderator is likely to.

I don't see how it would be a scam. I could see it as someone using the offer to edit as a way to make personal contact with you.

 

[TxRad]

It could be a way of getting stories before they are posted to Lit. That way they could use them for sale on Amazon and say yours on lit was the stolen story.

You have to think devious.

 

[Panty Wrangler]

Per forum rules, personal emails aren't allowed in posts. If you don't remove it then the moderator is likely to.

I don't see how it would be a scam. I could see it as someone using the offer to edit as a way to make personal contact with you.

Thanks! I've edited my original post to remove the email.

 

[Panty Wrangler]

It could be a way of getting stories before they are posted to Lit. That way they could use them for sale on Amazon and say yours on lit was the stolen story.

You have to think devious.

Good point! I hadn't thought of that angle.

 

[MillieDynamite]

The first public posting on any site establishes copyright, so yeah, I think it's a scam as well.

 

[LilyWaters]

It could be a way of getting stories before they are posted to Lit. That way they could use them for sale on Amazon and say yours on lit was the stolen story.

You have to think devious.

Oh my God - I was reading this thread trying to think about WHY someone might have an editing scam and I could not think of one reason. Not ONE.

Thank God I don't try to lead a life of crime

 

[lovecraft68]

Oh my God - I was reading this thread trying to think about WHY someone might have an editing scam and I could not think of one reason. Not ONE.

Thank God I don't try to lead a life of crime

Time to breakout the ultimate example in this. Several years ago there was an author/editor here Evelyn Turner who did a lot of editing for a lot of people over a period of time.

One day I get an e-mail from Smashwords someone else posted one of my e-books and since mine was older they contacted them first to ask about it, they claimed I stole it, I showed them the date my original was posted on lit, then sent them various drafts of the stories I still had. Since mine was first, they removed their story

So now I'm concerned and hit amazon, sure enough there is my story under Turner's name with over 300, yes 300, other stories and just about all of them stolen from lit.

being amazon...it took complaints from many authors here and Laurel also contacted them because of the sheer volume of stories taken.

It sucks because there are many honest folks on here who just want to help, but since that time the only people I have ever sent anything to from here are people I've known for a long time and off lit as well as here.

 

[LilyWaters]

Time to breakout the ultimate example in this. Several years ago there was an author/editor here Evelyn Turner who did a lot of editing for a lot of people over a period of time.

One day I get an e-mail from Smashwords someone else posted one of my e-books and since mine was older they contacted them first to ask about it, they claimed I stole it, I showed them the date my original was posted on lit, then sent them various drafts of the stories I still had. Since mine was first, they removed their story

So now I'm concerned and hit amazon, sure enough there is my story under Turner's name with over 300, yes 300, other stories and just about all of them stolen from lit.

being amazon...it took complaints from many authors here and Laurel also contacted them because of the sheer volume of stories taken.

It sucks because there are many honest folks on here who just want to help, but since that time the only people I have ever sent anything to from here are people I've known for a long time and off lit as well as here.

Oh. My. God. That is so, so horrible. You must have been furious. What a betrayal of trust.

I hope you didn't feel I was making light of that possibility in my post - that was not at all my intention. I just meant that I am clearly ridiculously naive about potential erotica pirating.

 

[lovecraft68]

Oh. My. God. That is so, so horrible. You must have been furious. What a betrayal of trust.

I hope you didn't feel I was making light of that possibility in my post - that was not at all my intention. I just meant that I am clearly ridiculously naive about potential erotica pirating.

No, I didn't post that because I thought you weren't taking it seriously in anyway. But when I see this come up, I like to mention this event because its the worst example of theft I've ever seen here, and by someone who posted here for a long time.

 

[Bramblethorn]

The first public posting on any site establishes copyright, so yeah, I think it's a scam as well.

Don't depend on that, though. A while back I saw a site that had been scraping stories from Literotica, and posting them with bogus dates preceding the Literotica publication. How then do you prove that your posting was the first?

 

[KeithD]

How then do you prove that your posting was the first?

The only way you know in the United States--the only thing that can get you into court in the United States--is if you applied for, paid for, and were granted a formal copyright from the U.S. Copyright Office. The date will be on file there. Everything else is bluff.

 

[Bramblethorn]

The only way you know in the United States--the only thing that can get you into court in the United States--is if you applied for, paid for, and were granted a formal copyright from the U.S. Copyright Office. The date will be on file there. Everything else is bluff.

Yep. My point was that even in a jurisdiction that didn't have the USA's registration requirements, it might be very hard to prove priority. (Which, in turn, is part of why those requirements exist).

 

[KeithD]

Yep. My point was that even in a jurisdiction that didn't have the USA's registration requirements, it might be very hard to prove priority. (Which, in turn, is part of why those requirements exist).

Just pinning this down (again), because some folks here stubbornly don't get it about copyright and continue to push disinformation about it.

It's totally useless to slap "copyrighted" on your work. And after the United States signed the Berne Convention in the late eighties, the U.S. Copyright Office noted that it actually wasn't lawful to claim copyright you hadn't registered with them.

 

[LAHomedog]

I agree with everyone and would expand the devious possibilities. I think this is some sort of data grab. Story, email address, your word file that frequently has personal info about you in the "properties" menu, and other things. A lot of possibilities.

Digital theft is pervasive and epidemic. Everyone needs to careful all of the time.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

Don't depend on that, though. A while back I saw a site that had been scraping stories from Literotica, and posting them with bogus dates preceding the Literotica publication. How then do you prove that your posting was the first?

It could all depend on when the site was created. Not many people know when files are created there are like six... well three... date applied to them. The same is true for the site itself.

And I have only found one way to change the date created field and that's by changing the actual machine date/time which would throw a wrench in any date dependent processes and may change dates on things you don't want changed.

 

[Panty Wrangler]

It could all depend on when the site was created. Not many people know when files are created there are like six... well three... date applied to them. The same is true for the site itself.

And I have only found one way to change the date created field and that's by changing the actual machine date/time which would throw a wrench in any date dependent processes and may change dates on things you don't want changed.

That's certainly one way, but I'm sure there are others. It would depend on how much effort they wanted to put into it - and I think that right there is the key. They want to put in minimal effort and are going to do the least amount of work possible. They probably don't care if every so often they're caught since by the law of averages they'll have many other instances where the theft goes unnoticed.

So, I guess I'm sort of flattered that they wanted to steal my work. For all I know they've already stolen the first story - I suppose I ought to go look and see.

Not really what I want to do with my time though. All things considered I think I'd rather work on the next story.

 

[Panty Wrangler]

Is it appropriate to post the lit account name the offer to edit came from under these circumstances? I do truly believe the offer was bogus and made in an attempt to get something from me. Perhaps they're doing the same with others?

 

[Emirus]

I do truly believe the offer was bogus

I’ve been asked for my opinion by two writers and as a result subsequently asked them for their opinion on some of my stories which has proved very helpful.

I’ve only offered my help to another writer twice. The first time they disagreed with everything I said so that went nowhere. The second time I received a polite refusal and then discovered they already had five editors.

If I received an offer from someone I would check them out very carefully unless it was from one of the exceptional authors regularly contributing to this forum. Not that I need an editor because I’m perfect as you can see from my signature.

 

[Panty Wrangler]

If I received an offer from someone I would check them out very carefully unless it was from one of the exceptional authors regularly contributing to this forum. Not that I need an editor because I’m perfect as you can see from my signature.

Yep, that was red flag number two - their profile is basically empty, only a few months old, and they've never published a thing - at least not here.

 

[LexxRuthless]

It's also possible that this person wants to be an editor, but doesn't want to be bombarded by requests from random aspiring authors. After I wrote my first few stories and posted them here, I received e-mails from two folks who wound up editing stories for me. The first has an account here, but zero stories to his credit. He had been editing an ongoing and successful series on the site for years, but you would have no idea from looking at his Lit account that was the case. The second has no presence here at all, but he was a phenomenal editor.

When I first set up my Lit account, I considered signing up for the Volunteer Editor program. Then I looked at 24 new submissions from that day, and quickly changed my mind. Every one of those stories was just awful. Even if I fixed the dozens of glaring grammar, spelling, and punctuation errors (usually just on the first page!), there still wasn't anything compelling or hot in any of those stories. I repeatedly muttered, "This is shit. I could write something better in my sleep."

After that 24th story, I figured I ought to "put up or shut up" and actually started writing my first chapter of my first series. Right away I learned that it wasn't nearly as easy as I had expected. Still, my efforts were well-received and people liked my writing style enough that I got those experienced editors interested in working with me.

It is a free site, after all, and not everyone has a nefarious scheme when they reach out to you.

That said, I've also seen a couple of poorly-worded e-mails that were clearly attempts to gain access to my stories so they could be published elsewhere. If it sounds fishy, don't give them anything you value.