New Amazon Plagiarist

[Jada59]

Wow! That sucks the big one!

 

[Bramblethorn]

If these are all stories published on Literotica, wouldn't this be something that Lit could take up with better results? If all of these stories can be documented as being published here, seems like that would be the best course. They could probably quickly correlate the titles, provide dates of first publication and submit a take-down request. That's more of a question because I know nothing about the required steps.

From the stickies:

Recently, several Lit authors have contacted us with concerns about nefarious "publishers" at Amazon.com. These "publishers" steal writing/photos from around the web and publish it on Amazon.com in ebook form. Their goal is simple - to exploit the hard work of others for their own financial gain.

...

If you want to have stolen ebooks removed from the Amazon.com marketplace, the simple way to do it is to file multiple DMCA complaints. This creates multiple copyright strikes against the offending account. Any Amazon author/publisher who gets a certain number of DMCA complaints (not sure the exact number) will be banned from Amazon. The more times a thief gets banned, the harder it becomes to continue making money on stolen ebooks.

DMCA complaints are the only type of action that counts as a copyright strike. Amazon does not apply strikes based on random customer complaints, comment board complaints, etc. DMCA is the only type of complaint that Amazon recognizes.

It is very important that authors file DMCA notices against any stolen eBook that they find in the Amazon.com market. If you recognize ebooks by your friends or other authors, notify them and ask them to file a DMCA complaint.

AFAIK, you need to be the copyright holder or an authorised representative to file a DMCA notice. In theory it might be possible for Literotica to do this on an author's behalf, but I've never heard of it happening and I can think of several reasons why they might be reluctant to do so.

As discussed in previous threads, one thing anybody can do is is select the "Tell us about a lower price" link that appears near the bottom of a stolen story page. Amazon requires that self-pub authors match the lowest price available for their work, so if it's available free elsewhere they're not allowed to charge for it on Amazon. I haven't tested it recently, but last time I tried it seemed to be a pretty effective way to get stolen stories taken down without having to prove copyright ownership.

It wouldn't stop them leaving the stolen material up for free on Amazon, but there's no incentive for them to do that.

 

[yukonnights]

I'm not sure how to respond to this. This isn't about you. Lit's business interests are of value to Lit. However, if you are concerned about Lit, any action you take to support the actual authors would have the side effect of helping Lit as well.

No, I have not contacted Laurel because I think it's safe to assume the OP did that, since she went to the trouble of coming her and even trying to email us individually. Moreover, I don't have control over what Laurel does. I control what I do, so I did what I can do. If you don't want to do anything, that's your choice, but I'm not sure why you're advocating against someone else doing something.

I assume the authors did contact Amazon. If you read the stickies, you now that getting Amazon to budge frequently takes more than the copyright owner's report. More importantly, if you reread the original post, it says:
"I've reported him to Amazon, but it would help if we all lend our voices."

If you don't want to help, that's your call. My point was that I don't know why anyone would advocate that other people shouldn't bother trying.


These aren't about your stories. Your stories and your level of concern over your stories have nothing to do with this. I didn't call you a bad person. I didn't characterize your behavior in moral terms at all. This isn't about you. Not even a little bit.

The supposition that all readers with a gazillion favorites are thieves isn't really relevant, but for what it's worth, I don't believe it to be true and I can't think of any way making something a favorite would assist in stealing it.

I suppose some of my ambivalence is due to the fact that the OP has listed an Amazon Author's page herself in her Bio — ( and also Smashwords,Barnes & Noble, Apple, and Kobo.)

It seems that in itself would provide the knowledge and leverage to get this issue resolved. Why does she need me (us) to report stolen stories that she's already identified as such?

As to Favorite lists and stealing stories; If a person wanted to scoop a large number of stories for pirating, they would first need to identify the ones they thought worth stealing. That would most likely entail making a list based on story stats and ratings. Oh look, there's a ready made one right in my CP. Is this widespread — I don't know. Is it even true — not sure, but it's the way I would do it because it's simple. I'm not the first to speculate on this.

Anyway, this is a terrible inconvenience for those affected. I'm sorry it happened, even though the possibility is inevitable simply because it's the internet. I'll sleep better tonight knowing the OP is connected to Amazon and no doubt has a better understanding of how to deal with this than I would.

 

[Bramblethorn]

I suppose some of my ambivalence is due to the fact that the OP has listed an Amazon Author's page herself in her Bio — ( and also Smashwords,Barnes & Noble, Apple, and Kobo.)

It seems that in itself would provide the knowledge and leverage to get this issue resolved. Why does she need me (us) to report stolen stories that she's already identified as such?

Being an Amazon author doesn't grant her the power to file DMCAs on behalf of other authors whose stories have been stolen, which is pretty much the only form of leverage relevant here. The only person who can do that is the author of the stolen story or their legal representative.

 

[Bramblethorn]

Have you ever had a new Follower and gone to check out their list? For many, if not most, they have no published works — but their list of favorite stories is bottomless. I get these all the time and just assume they are thieves. Why else collect hundreds of stories?

...because they read a lot and like to keep track of the ones they enjoy?

 

[yukonnights]

...because they read a lot and like to keep track of the ones they enjoy?

Maybe. But a list of 350 or so stories like my most recent visitor/fan makes me wonder; Why? Gonna go back and read them all again? Is your life so empty that you could physically read that many in the time since you singed up? I seriously doubt it. How many times do you go back and read the same story? I never do ( I have 12 favorites in my list still needing to be read). Do I get worked up over the long lists of Favorite stories that might include some of mine? No — it's wasted energy to get stirred up over something like that. Stolen stories are probably something that happens every day here in some form or another.

And as you pointed out above; the only one who can do anything is the copyright holder — so then what's the big uproar about us contacting Amazon? Literotica however could step in if they wanted to. That is based on the agreement we all signed up for. But I can no more make Literotica do something than I can Amazon.

This is getting silly folks. I agree, stealing stories is not right or nice. If a person feels moved to do something as an attempt to make it stop, I have no reason to deride them or even have a opinion about them doing what they want. If it makes a person feel better, then go for it — just remember it is whack - a - mole, so be ready for the next one...and the next one...

 

[Bramblethorn]

Maybe. But a list of 350 or so stories like my most recent visitor/fan makes me wonder; Why? Gonna go back and read them all again? Is your life so empty that you could physically read that many in the time since you singed up? I seriously doubt it.

Plenty of people out there have time on their hands right now, and plenty more have unrealistic expectations about what they're going to get back to. Doesn't make them thieves.

As others have commented, why would a thief even bother to set up a Literotica account and fave stuff? It doesn't make it any easier to copy text.

How many times do you go back and read the same story? I never do

You're not everybody. There are stories on this site that I've read maybe a dozen times, because they scratch one specific itch or another.

( I have 12 favorites in my list still needing to be read).

...which brings us to another possibility, people using bookmarks to flag the stuff they might want to read in the future.

And as you pointed out above; the only one who can do anything is the copyright holder — so then what's the big uproar about us contacting Amazon?

Because the guy's stolen from multiple authors, and each of them is a copyright holder, and each of them could report their chunk of the stolen stories.

 

[lovecraft68]

Have you notified Literotica's owners yet? This really is a whack a mole game that's been going on since I've been here. How many letters to Amazon will it take to get the thief expunged? If the authors have been notified and care enough to contact Amazon, seems that should be enough.

Why aren't Lit's business interests of any value or concern? Is not Lit being defrauded too? It's their dime that keeps the platform open for us all.

Have you ever had a new Follower and gone to check out their list? For many, if not most, they have no published works — but their list of favorite stories is bottomless. I get these all the time and just assume they are thieves. Why else collect hundreds of stories?

There used to be interest in typing in the first few sentences of one's story and doing a google search — yep, stories get stolen. I just don't care enough to chase them Does that make me a bad person?

Back in the day, lit did get involved. Especially with the small sites popping up and stealing work from here. They would file the formal take down notices and follow up, they managed to shut a couple of the sites down.

They would do the same with amazon, but a few years back that all stopped and you're on your own. The last time I know for sure they were involved was the Turner situation where a former VE from here was found to have posted 300 e-books in a few months and just about every one stolen from here. But even then Laurel asked me-I started the thread-and others in it to spend the time to compile a list of what we could prove

Lit runs lit, they don't do anything else, and if there is any type of feature here for reporting stolen stories rest assured its broken or just ignored. That's why the posted the sticky at the top of the AH telling people what to do when its with amazon.

We're on our own and this is the hazard of putting something out on the biggest erotic grocery store on the net and the easiest to loot.

 

[ChloeTzang]

I'm not sure we would see the evidence. For those who are victims or are concerned, perhaps a heads up to Laural/Manu would be a start?

This has been raised many many time. Laurel and Manu haven’t ever gotten involved in the past and it’s highly unlikely they will. They don’t own the copyright either and there options are as limited as yours or mine. When this happened to my stories I reported as plagiarism and also as free elsewhere. Amazon removed the offending stories within a few days and the author was removed shortly after that. They never notified or got back to me. They suck, but at least they removed them. One suspects that at some point if this keeps up self publishing may become to much of a nuisance to them to keep going with.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

This has been raised many many time. Laurel and Manu haven’t ever gotten involved in the past and it’s highly unlikely they will. They don’t own the copyright either and there options are as limited as yours or mine. When this happened to my stories I reported as plagiarism and also as free elsewhere. Amazon removed the offending stories within a few days and the author was removed shortly after that. They never notified or got back to me. They suck, but at least they removed them. One suspects that at some point if this keeps up self publishing may become to much of a nuisance to them to keep going with.

No that won't happen, Amazon will, continue to publish works of other authors until they are reported. They make money on each sale and then when they delete the stolen stories they get to keep all the money that people have paid to them for the books that they haven't paid to the plagiarist. So, it's a win-win for Amazon.

As for this monkey, I have nothing to worry about as I don't write in the genera he/she has decide to steal from.

 

[KeithD]

Maybe. But a list of 350 or so stories like my most recent visitor/fan makes me wonder; Why? Gonna go back and read them all again? Is your life so empty that you could physically read that many in the time since you singed up? I seriously doubt it. How many times do you go back and read the same story? I never do ( I have 12 favorites in my list still needing to be read). Do I get worked up over the long lists of Favorite stories that might include some of mine? No — it's wasted energy to get stirred up over something like that. Stolen stories are probably something that happens every day here in some form or another.

And as you pointed out above; the only one who can do anything is the copyright holder — so then what's the big uproar about us contacting Amazon? Literotica however could step in if they wanted to. That is based on the agreement we all signed up for. But I can no more make Literotica do something than I can Amazon.

This is getting silly folks. I agree, stealing stories is not right or nice. If a person feels moved to do something as an attempt to make it stop, I have no reason to deride them or even have a opinion about them doing what they want. If it makes a person feel better, then go for it — just remember it is whack - a - mole, so be ready for the next one...and the next one...

There's no reason that someone stealing stories from Lit. would run a favorites list. They can just copy them from Lit. and paste them into their own separate computer files one by one. There's no reason for them to leave any sort of trail by marking them as favorites here.

 

[AnnieLit]

I continue to suggest that you publish, preferably through a publisher, and have it up on Amazon before letting it be posted to Literotica or any other open-access story site. You then have a publisher to intervene with Amazon and you have proof you can show Amazon that you had it there first. Then you don't have to have obtained formal copyright first or share your true name for erotica works with Amazon. You have other worries then, but I'll keep quiet on those.

How do you do that? To open an Author account on Amazon you have to provide name (ok, can be anything), bank account information and tax info, including SSN.
I got through the initial name/email/phone/verification part just fine, but the rest does not look very anonymous to me.

 

[KeithD]

How do you do that? To open an Author account on Amazon you have to provide name (ok, can be anything), bank account information and tax info, including SSN.
I got through the initial name/email/phone/verification part just fine, but the rest does not look very anonymous to me.

I have a true name account there because I publish mainstream books in true name as well as pen names. I have a review name there that isn't my true name (not to review my own work; Amazon doesn't let that happen, but so there's no tit-for-tatting if I don't write a glowing review for someone else). I signed up for the account so many years ago, though, that I don't remember how it was done or what information I had to provide. My erotica publisher has a publishing house account, though. When someone's trying to steal my erotica and put it on Amazon, my publisher just points out to Amazon that it already exists there through a publisher, and, zap, the stolen work goes away. I'm not personally involved in the transaction at all.

 

[ChloeTzang]

No that won't happen, Amazon will, continue to publish works of other authors until they are reported. They make money on each sale and then when they delete the stolen stories they get to keep all the money that people have paid to them for the books that they haven't paid to the plagiarist. So, it's a win-win for Amazon.

As for this monkey, I have nothing to worry about as I don't write in the genera he/she has decide to steal from.

Never thought of it that way but yes, I can see Amazon doing that.