Having your stories stolen

[tswanabrit]

So it never occurred to me that someone might steal my ideas or stories until I received this anonymous comment on a sequel series I'm writing.

It wasn't until I began reading that I realized where this fits in to other stories I've read previously - which may not be on this site - but anyway..... well done! looking forward to more adventures soon. 5*

Now, like I imagine most writers to be, I'm very proud and protective of my work. I've only ever published on Lit, and I hate the idea that someone is publishing my hard work elsewhere. If it was just a lit comment, I imagine they'd acknowledge my original work instead of mentioning they'd read something similar elsewhere. Has this happened to anyone else?

 

[AllenWoody]

That comment doesn’t necessarily sound like a smoking gun that your stories have been stolen. Was it an anonymous comment or can you contact the member to seek clarification.

But yes, my series Lost Colony has been pirated on several other sites.

 

[tswanabrit]

@AllenWoody, it was an anonymous comment, unfortunately. I don't want to assume the worst, but I've got a couple of loyal followers, and one commented on the connection to the original story, so a comment from someone reading a story that fit elsewhere put my shackles up.

 

[Voboy]

I agree with @AllenWoody. I think you're misinterpreting the comment.

Which doesn't mean your work isn't being stolen. Sadly, that's all too common.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

I'm very proud and protective of my work. I've only ever published on Lit

Then you're not being very protective. : P

I'm not trying to put you down, just using a little sarcasm to make a point: that being that stuff gets stolen from lit all the time. It's a free go-to hub for thieves.

If you post in LW in particular, consider yourself ripped-off ten seconds after you post. Other categories not so much. As terribly low profile as I am, even I found one of my stories on some weird foreign language site (I'm guessing Balkan?). My work was there verbatim in English and abruptly ended at the bottom of (lit's) page 1. All the banners were foreign around it and it was some obscure low traffic site. I suppose they just needed content, ANY content and my piece appeared with no credit (at least none that I could tell in English). It really wasn't hurting anything, but technically, yes it was stolen (badly). If I remember correctly it may have even been advertised as an anal story despite the fact that it had no anal. The point being that even a story that nobody here fucking cares about at all can be stolen.

 

[MyBareTorso]

There have been discussions here about authors' work also being used for unauthorised YouTube audio posts and other things like that...Literotica seems like easy pickings for literary thieves...to my knowledge, I am yet to be jacked. Maybe I should be offended...

 

[TheWritingGroup]

@tswanabrit, you could try a search engine. Just pick a fairly unique sentence from your story and search for it, in quotes. If it's on any kind of popular site, DDG or Bing or Kagi or any other search engine should pick it up.

-Rocco

 

[Smuttyandfun]

I've googled my penname and found my stories on lots of different sites. I've also found a few for sale on Amazon and sites like Smashwords.

Since this is a free site, some people think they can help themselves to whatever they want. All you can do is ask to have your stories deleted, and remind the pirates that they're copyrighted, which means that legally they belong to the author.

 

[StillStunned]

I just found a book for sale on Amazon that contains "Not A Soul" and "Rulk the Rat and the Demon Dagger". Presumably the other eight stories were also stolen from Lit.

 

[StillStunned]

I just found a book for sale on Amazon that contains "Not A Soul" and "Rulk the Rat and the Demon Dagger". Presumably the other eight stories were also stolen from Lit.

Adding to this: I later noticed that "Lust Demon's Orgy" was one of the stories too, and one was called "Three Dancers", which I'm assuming is an alternative name for my story "Pas de Trois".

The link to the book is here: https://www.amazon.com/Her-Forbidden-Heat-Encounters-Collection-ebook/dp/B0DK7Q1XJF

I've reported a copyright infringement to Amazon. We'll see what happens.

 

[Erozetta]

Adding to this: I later noticed that "Lust Demon's Orgy" was one of the stories too, and one was called "Three Dancers", which I'm assuming is an alternative name for my story "Pas de Trois".

The link to the book is here: https://www.amazon.com/Her-Forbidden-Heat-Encounters-Collection-ebook/dp/B0DK7Q1XJF

I've reported a copyright infringement to Amazon. We'll see what happens.

I reported it as stolen content.

I imagine the more reports sent in, the more likely Amazon is to act. Even if not, no harm done by trying.

 

[StillStunned]

Thanks!

 

[lovecraft68]

I've had quite a few "Hey, I wanted to let you know I found your story on...". When a reader wants to let you know your story is somewhere else, they're usually pretty direct. I think this person meant your story 'fit in' with others he's enjoyed reading.

But if it was stolen? Truth is the only way to not have it stolen is to not post it on a free site. Lit's a grocery store for story pirates, so post at your own risk.

 

[StillStunned]

I've had a few of my stories appear on other sites before. My initial feeling is always outrage - it *is* theft, after all - but the sites I've contacted have always taken them down quickly. Usually with a note along the lines of "Sorry, I didn't realise you cared, your name is still shown after all."

But it's also flattering, particularly if it's on a curated list of stories or an actual Amazon ebook. Hey everyone, someone thinks my writings are good enough to make money from! It's just that I did the work, and I don't feel that someone else should take the credit. Or the money.

Can it be stopped? Probably not. But that doesn't mean I'll sit back and let it happen.

 

[tswanabrit]

Adding to this: I later noticed that "Lust Demon's Orgy" was one of the stories too, and one was called "Three Dancers", which I'm assuming is an alternative name for my story "Pas de Trois".

The link to the book is here: https://www.amazon.com/Her-Forbidden-Heat-Encounters-Collection-ebook/dp/B0DK7Q1XJF

I've reported a copyright infringement to Amazon. We'll see what happens.

It's down now.

 

[StillStunned]

Yes, I got this email a little while ago:

Hello,

Thank you for your message. Please be advised that we are in the process of removing the following Kindle titles from sale on all Amazon sites:

B0DK7Q1XJF

It typically takes 2-3 days for the changes to be reflected on the sites. We trust this will bring this matter to a close.

So the forces of good triumph once again!

 

[darkride]

There are a bunch of sites that steal our stories. They frequently have some content (by which I mean - menus etc) in non-English language, so I'm guessing they are based in Russia/middle east etc, and I doubt you'll ever get your content removed from their sites.

It's upsetting cos if you're a nerd like me, you're wanting to keep track of how many people are engaging with your work, and pirated copies make that a lot harder; I also sometimes engage in conversation with people who leave feedback, but cannot (and would not) do that on a pirated site.

Presumably the content is making profit for these pirates, too, which is the real kicker. At least I am choosing to share my content here, knowing that any visits to the site that may result in revenue for the owner is going toward running the site. (I'm doubting it's making millions!) So knowing the content is generating earnings elsewhere is upsetting.

 

[Areala-chan]

I've had one of my stories stolen and re-worked into a Frozen fanfic over at a very large fan fiction website. One of my readers found it and let me know about it, and I was able to get it removed. This fan wasn't the first to notice either, as several people in the stolen story's comments page pointed out the theft. It took an email to the site and a week or so of waiting, but the story was pulled and the account behind it banned. This was several years ago. I'm sure my stuff has shown up other places, but that's the only one I'm aware of.

Actually, scratch that. "Four Little Words" got stolen and published on Kindle (whoever did it used my own Lit pseudonym) back in 2015 too. It wasn't up for long. Like, maybe don't pull something from a category top list if you want to get away with it for more than a day or two...?

 

[RejectReality]

@tswanabrit, you could try a search engine. Just pick a fairly unique sentence from your story and search for it, in quotes. If it's on any kind of popular site, DDG or Bing or Kagi or any other search engine should pick it up.

-Rocco

Not so much anymore. Google degraded into utter ass for this kind of search a couple of years back, and ever since they bastardized it with AI, it's gotten even worse. It won't even find the Lit copy — nevermind anywhere else. The rest weren't particularly good at exact quote searches to begin with, and I'm sure they're even worse now that they're all incorporating AI that's becoming more inbred and useless by the day.

And they want to restart 3-Mile Island for this shit... Jayzus...

 

[gordo12]

I checked once and found a story stolen on another site. By the site Moderator

There was no attempt to disguise it; they left the title and my author's name alone. But what really pissed me off was he/she
truncating the story in not a great place. The rest was left unpublished.

I haven't checked for a couple of years now, but I'm sure there are more. It's a free story. There's no financial loss, so no point in suing. Threatening is useless; there is no penalty.

 

[tswanabrit]

Just found a podcast that openly admits to stealing stories - Erotica podcast network. The owner even admits they stories read one the podcast are take from a free website. At a brief glance, many of the stories are linked back here but still. I didnt find any of my stories but still reported them to Apple, but from what I can tell, they're on pretty much every podcast provider.

 

[StillStunned]

Just found a podcast that openly admits to stealing stories - Erotica podcast network. The owner even admits they stories read one the podcast are take from a free website. At a brief glance, many of the stories are linked back here but still. I didnt find any of my stories but still reported them to Apple, but from what I can tell, they're on pretty much every podcast provider.

There's a thread about that podcast already: Podcast Using Stories