Is this for real?

[LaRascasse]

I normally don't go out of my way to advertise my stories beyond the initial week or so. However, I received this bit of "feedback mail" and am not sure what to make of it. Could someone help me with how this sounds and what are the questions I should be asking? Thanks in advance.

This message contains feedback for: LaRascasse
This feedback was sent by: [redacted]

Comments:

Hello,
We are a married couple, Stefano and Patricia and we started to write some stories about our past experiences, we written only 3 for now and we create a youtube channel and a website and we 'd like to keep our social media update with new stories, so, can i ask you if we can use your stories on our social media? and if yes, can you tell us what kind of mention we need to write about you? our youtube channel is new , starting about 2 weeks ago and already have a 200 visitors per day, so it's a good way to make know your very nice stories with all informations you want abaut you.
Thank you very much for your time.

Stefano & Patricia

 

[Jada59]

Did you try checking their channel? I should think so long as they give you credit for the story, it would be fine. But I'm no expert.

 

[lovecraft68]

I'd ask for links to see what they're doing.

I can tell you the youtube channel probably will not last long, they allow some racier things, but will remove outright erotica.

Check their twitter/FB(again FB not big with erotica) or whatever else and see if they are setting up a Patreon or paypal etc...and are making money off what they're posting, meaning you may be getting some advertising for your work, but they will be profiting.

 

[Misshotndeep]

1) If it is on Lit, then you no longer have licensing rights. Per the submission guidelines; Lit now owns it.
2) I would suggest you wait till after their channel is open. Even then, ask about the context of the episode and the purpose of the channel.
3) Get everything in writing. Not email! A notarized actual contract. This is a business transaction. Treat it as such. The contact being exchanged may be intellectual, but you are still providing goods.

 

[Jada59]

I'd ask for links to see what they're doing.

I can tell you the youtube channel probably will not last long, they allow some racier things, but will remove outright erotica.

Check their twitter/FB(again FB not big with erotica) or whatever else and see if they are setting up a Patreon or paypal etc...and are making money off what they're posting, meaning you may be getting some advertising for your work, but they will be profiting.

I wondered about that.

 

[AlinaX]

If it is on Lit, then you no longer have licensing rights. Per the submission guidelines; Lit now owns it.

If I submit a story to Literotica, do I still own the copyright?

Absolutely. You are simply granting us a non-exclusive right to publish your story on Literotica.com and granting Literotica the right to enforce the copyright on your story should it be used without your permission by any other publication - online, print, or other media.

While Literotica is not in any way required to enforce your copyright for you, you are granting us the right to do so if we become aware of anyone using your story without your explicit consent. The right to enforce your copyright that you are granting us includes the right to file DMCA complaints, file lawsuits, and any and all other necessary actions, both foreign and domestic, to prevent unauthorized people and companies from using your submissions without your permission.

The reason we require you to grant us the shared right to enforce your copyright (of course you also retain the right to enforce your own copyrights) is so that we have the legal power needed to protect your works from unauthorized publication on websites and in other media. As long as you grant permission to a website or other media to publish your stories, we have no right to enforce copyright law on them. Only websites or other media that publish/copy your stories without your permission are included in this granting of rights.

Other than these two issues, all rights to the story still belong to you, the author.

 

[davion2308]

Sure it could be real

I would go with the assumption that it is real. But if that were so, the next thing you need to do is dig.

Look at their Youtube Channel which is unlikely to survive for long if they're just putting out erotica. Also, what's the objective of featuring your story?

Look at their other media and see what else they're featuring. You can ask them why they want to include your stories, what their legal stance is with story-ownership, if you're revenue sharing, and so on.

Ask more questions and let them carry the conversation. If they really want your stuff they'll answer all the questions.

 

[Misshotndeep]

If I submit a story to Literotica, do I still own the copyright?

Absolutely. You are simply granting us a non-exclusive right to publish your story on Literotica.com and granting Literotica the right to enforce the copyright on your story should it be used without your permission by any other publication - online, print, or other media.

While Literotica is not in any way required to enforce your copyright for you, you are granting us the right to do so if we become aware of anyone using your story without your explicit consent. The right to enforce your copyright that you are granting us includes the right to file DMCA complaints, file lawsuits, and any and all other necessary actions, both foreign and domestic, to prevent unauthorized people and companies from using your submissions without your permission.

The reason we require you to grant us the shared right to enforce your copyright (of course you also retain the right to enforce your own copyrights) is so that we have the legal power needed to protect your works from unauthorized publication on websites and in other media. As long as you grant permission to a website or other media to publish your stories, we have no right to enforce copyright law on them. Only websites or other media that publish/copy your stories without your permission are included in this granting of rights.

Other than these two issues, all rights to the story still belong to you, the author.

I thought Lit owned the Copyright soully. Thank you for the correction.

 

[AlinaX]

Only the Devil owns it soully.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

It sounds a lot like those emails you get from the Nigerian Prince who needs to hide money in your bank account. It also looks like a bot wrote it.

Get links, then ask them how much they will pay you to use your stories. Then check the links to see if they just have outright stolen them.

And, I may be a little in the dark here, when did Youtube allow text stories, I thought their game was video?

 

[ElectricBlue]

1) If it is on Lit, then you no longer have licensing rights. Per the submission guidelines; Lit now owns it.

Wrong.

Lit does NOT own anything published here. The author retains all rights to their work and can do whatever they like with it, including licencing it to anywhere else.

From the FAQs:

[Edit: FAQ quote redacted, because it's not needed over and over.]

What is weird, is that Misshotndeep's post was the last post in the thread when I posted my reply - and made the effort to go find the FAQ which she obviously didn't - but for some mysterious reason which I don't understand, half a dozen posts subsequently appeared later, in between her post and this post. Which made me look like a prat, when all I was doing was pointing out an error.

 

[AlinaX]

Well, I don't own the copyright on that.

 

[RejectReality]

Yeah, anyone who thinks they're going to get away with an erotica themed channel on Youtube isn't going to last long, even if it isn't some kind of scam.

Now, if they said Pornhub or something, that would be different. I had a model reach out to me asking to read one of my stories aloud while entertaining her viewers, and I told her to go for it. I didn't get any huge boost in readership out of it ( just told her to credit me by pen name, and not worry about the site name to avoid any complications on her end ) and she probably made a little off it ( it was her most viewed video ) but I was fine with that.

The video was indeed very entertaining. LOL

 

[Misshotndeep]

Wrong.

Lit does NOT own anything published here. The author retains all rights to their work and can do whatever they like with it, including licencing it to anywhere else.

From the FAQs:

If I submit a story to Literotica, do I still own the copyright?

Absolutely. You are simply granting us a non-exclusive right to publish your story on Literotica.com and granting Literotica the right to enforce the copyright on your story should it be used without your permission by any other publication - online, print, or other media.

While Literotica is not in any way required to enforce your copyright for you, you are granting us the right to do so if we become aware of anyone using your story without your explicit consent. The right to enforce your copyright that you are granting us includes the right to file DMCA complaints, file lawsuits, and any and all other necessary actions, both foreign and domestic, to prevent unauthorized people and companies from using your submissions without your permission.

The reason we require you to grant us the shared right to enforce your copyright (of course you also retain the right to enforce your own copyrights) is so that we have the legal power needed to protect your works from unauthorized publication on websites and in other media. As long as you grant permission to a website or other media to publish your stories, we have no right to enforce copyright law on them. Only websites or other media that publish/copy your stories without your permission are included in this granting of rights.

Other than these two issues, all rights to the story still belong to you, the author.

Actually read the thread before you go on the attack asshole.

 

[LaRascasse]

Update.

So the terrible English in the email was not an accident. They are a Spanish/Spanish speaking couple who have recently launched a YouTube channel for Spanish audio erotica. As far as I can tell, the only reason the channel still exists is that it has not garnered any attention from the puritans of YouTube.

They want to repurpose some of my stories as entries on their channel and maybe even audiobooks on librivox, but from what I can tell, they are in no real danger of retiring off the profits to a Caribbean island. In fact, I can't even see a way for them to monetize this unless Google Ads works for audio erotica.

Personally, I don't see a story of mine as a YouTube vid with 100 - 200 views as a good or bad thing. Maybe I can politely suggest to them to take their audio skills to Pornhub where it will at least not face the ignominy of being taken down.

What are your views?

EDIT - Apparently Lit won't let the URL link work but it leads to a channel with a small number of videos ranging from 100 to 200 views. Each of them is, presumably, a dirty story in Spanish narrated by a male and/or female voice.

 

[Haulover]

Here's their YouTube channel:


https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq2xwkwZ4KlgzJH3iULSn9g

If that doesn't work, then copy/paste the following into your browser - and remove the spaces before hitting 'Enter':

https:// www. youtube. com/channel/ UCq2xwkwZ4KlgzJH3iULSn9g

 

[Desiremakesmeweak]

Looks real ta me!

 

[KeithD]

1) If it is on Lit, then you no longer have licensing rights. Per the submission guidelines; Lit now owns it.

False. Lit. has been given nonexclusive use permission only. The author retains copyright and can publish it anywhere else she/he wants. The only thing the author has lost is first-publication rights--either to the Lit. publication or to an earlier one.

 

[SimonDoom]

Actually read the thread before you go on the attack asshole.

Why are you calling someone an asshole who responded, correctly, to your statement? Failing to notice that another person corrected you before does not make somebody an asshole. Why engage in that kind of nasty name-calling with people?

 

[AlinaX]

Indeed - although surely Literotica.com is one place where assholes are worshipped and adored.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Actually read the thread before you go on the attack asshole.

Alina's post wasn't there when I posted my response, so yes, I did read the thread, and posted a response accordingly. Sometimes that happens, different time zones, I don't know. It wasn't an attack, just weird timing of two posts.

Suzie looked at Simon fondly. "Aw, you guys, looking after each other"

 

[SimonDoom]

Indeed - although surely Literotica.com is one place where assholes are worshipped and adored.

By some, but not by all.

 

[KeithD]

Why are you calling someone an asshole who responded, correctly, to your statement? Failing to notice that another person corrected you before does not make somebody an asshole. Why engage in that kind of nasty name-calling with people?

The statement that Lit. owns the copyright is so false and so misleading that it's fine if several users post that it is to assure new users not to be led down that rabbit hole.

 

[SimonDoom]

The statement that Lit. owns the copyright is so false and so misleading that it's fine if several users post that it is to assure new users not to be led down that rabbit hole.

I agree. Lit is extremely clear about this, and Misshotndeep was completely wrong. There's nothing especially bad about that, but it's a point worth correcting so people don't have the wrong idea.

Regardless, name calling is inappropriate.

 

[Damoiselle]

1) If it is on Lit, then you no longer have licensing rights. Per the submission guidelines; Lit now owns it.
2) I would suggest you wait till after their channel is open. Even then, ask about the context of the episode and the purpose of the channel.
3) Get everything in writing. Not email! A notarized actual contract. This is a business transaction. Treat it as such. The contact being exchanged may be intellectual, but you are still providing goods.

It might be a good idea to edit the initial comment here with an edit: correction. It would hopefully eliminate additional efforts to correct you from newcomers to the thread, and prevent any new writers from getting panicky that they may have misunderstood the submission guidelines.