Shiloh Walker's Blog, page 15
March 6, 2019
Hot takes: A Trip Down the Rabbit Hole
It’s impossible to explain creativity. it’s like asking a bird, ‘how do you fly?’ You just do.
Eric Jerome Dickey
It’s pretty obvious that the scammers out there don’t understand that the value in creativity. I mean, they get pissy if you even suggest they’re doing something wrong. Spoiler alert: They are.
Those of us who value creativity, whether we’re creators of it or consumers or both, understand the value in it. We get how boring the world would be if all things were the same.
It can get kind of boring in the reader market as is when there’s a glut of too man writing to trend and not trying tell unique stories, which is something that we see in romance anyway. But thanks to scammergate — can we call it scammergate? — this is putting a whole new spin on things.
It was up all night last night. (Menopause sucks. I’m 43. This isn’t fair.) Finishing edits on a freelance project and my brain just wouldn’t slow down, which meant I crashed this morning until around eleven and my brain is spongey and relatively useless for actual creative work at the moment, so I spent some time poking around, looking for more scam– I mean, cough, cough, authors.
And again. The first book I picked…right out of the park. Talk about a home run. This puppy has been around the block four times and it’s part of a ‘series’. These authors tend to write in ‘series’. And as evidenced by this piece of art here… (Nikki didn’t title it, so I’ll call it Isabella Has A Fire Sale) You can see that some… ‘authors’ think that ‘authoring’ is about selling and buying used-up manuscripts for resale.
link opens to a twitter momentLet’s see another one in action…four times in action, as a matter of fact, since 2016. Late 2016. Like in October 2016. And it hit the shelves again February 20. That’s over about once every 7-8 or months. And readers actually have been noticing these recycled books. But we’ll get to that in a minute.
First, may I present the newest inductee into the ‘non-author’ Hall of Infamy.
Heather West, and she brought friends, Sophia Gray & Zoey Parker.
Heather bou wrote a book called Lawless. It was released February 20, 2019, and published WITH a copyright of …you guessed it! 2019!!!! No disclosures. No reference to the fact that it had been published before. And not once, not twice! Nope. This one is on its fourth life. Let’s learn about the evolution of non-evolution as far as regurgitated books go.
Lawless by Heather West
If you meander over to Amazon, you’ll find this book.
See on AmazonSee the copyright date.
Looks to be your average every day current release.But… nope. This book hit the mark just a few months ago as
Geez. ReallySee on Goodreads. And really, I mean. GO SEE. Because I want to show you something. These books don’t disappear from Amazon. It’s easier to find what you if you’re looking in desktop mode, although if you’re mobile, it’s see findable. You want the ASIN number.
On the desktop version, it’s under ‘more details’. Like here, I’ll link ya. Copy that ASIN. Go to google and type in Amazon Product Reviews + the ASIN of whatever book you’re checking out. In this case…
B07DN1JPNZ. You end up here and that’s handy if you want to report duplicate content on the KU platform. Now we can’t rightly say this is infringing see it’s clear these people are buying and selling manuscripts like a pair used up tennis shoes, but the incessant regurgitation of these books, repackaged as new with no disclosure as to previous publication date does affect quality.
You can, if you so choose, use the links to report works you discover at the ‘report’ option, found here on each book page. Remember, don’t choose copyright infringement. That’s not the case. Choose ‘inappropriate’, then ‘violates’ and make it clear the book’s been published before and *NO DISCLOSURE WAS MADE*.
People have noticed with many of these, which you can see in reviews and I’ll point a few out in a bit.
THESE WEREN’T THE FIRST HIJINX OF JOSEPHINE & LUCAS…
A simple search of the intrawebs “Josephine, Lucas, MC Romance” or something like that (can’t remember, this shit rots the brain and numbs the soul) yielded this… Mine, by Sophia Gray. Mine. Hah. Funny.
Sigh.
And again… if you copy the ASIN, you find the Amazon reviews. Look at the top critical one. Really.
So the Amazon Review. Goodreads.
This reader on Goodreads spotted it, almost two years ago.MINE pubbed in 2017Sophia’s Book Amazon Reviews | Goodreads
And that leads up the first version…maybe??? Published all of thirty months ago. The names did change since this incarnation. There were Michael and Belle first. Ever since then, they’ve been Josephine & Lucas.
If this isn’t an early incarnation of ‘lucas and josephine’ than Ada Stone probably has a case of copyright infringement on her hands.Ava’s Book Amazon’s Reviews | Goodreads
Each time “Josephine/Elle” is a dental hygienist with a sick mom looking down the death’s door who wants to be a grandma but J/E can’t afford insemination and she hooks with with “Lucas/Michael” and tells him he has twenty-four hours to get her pregnant. Of course, he’s a big bad and she’s too pure and innocent for him, but hey, dirty sex however he wants it for a day, so what the hell. They he finds out she’s carrying his son because of course, in the sexist douchebag world L/M inhabits a daughter wouldn’t have much worth. (I’m assuming).
A review where a reader was questioning the sexual safety practices on Goodreads for Mine. She’s highlighting dialogue only. But that same dialogue, word for word, is in Lawless by Heather West. I downloaded the sample.
Isn’t This A Hot Mess?
AND THEY ARE SERIES!! If you going digging around the author pages of Sophia Gray, Heather West, & Zoey Parker, you might see a lot of similarities. I fell into a rabbit hole, too, because one of the books that jumped out at me? Mortar by April Lust? (Remember her?) You get to meet to Mortar (choke) and Kendra.
Welp. Zoey had a Mortar and Kendra, too. Her book was called A Wicked Vow. The link goes to a review that names them, because Zoey doesn’t…at all. At least not until she changed the name to A Secret Vow.
And people have noticed the rehashing.
Goodreads Review on A Wicked Vow by Zoey ParkerAmazon Review on Mortar by April LustAmazon Review on A Wicked Vow
Why It All Matters
Authors who are writing original new stories or republishing their backlist books at lower prices are getting drowned out by these book packagers who just buy up a series after it’s stopped earning money for another packager, then they reissue them after 6-9 months with no disclosure and a new copyright date. The copyright date is established when the book is created. It doesn’t change because somebody else buys the copyright.
Writing has never been an easy business to make a living from, but when you’ve got scammers selling books by the series-load and talking in private groups and sharing secrets on how to rig the system, driving down costs and using every trick in the book while legit authors spend a couple of months on a work, invest hundreds for edits and covers and then come out and some don’t even break even?
The entire buying & selling of manuscripts cheapens and devalues the very idea of storycraft and these people don’t do it once or twice, and even if they did, that’s not acceptable, but they are doing it over and over and over.
And it’s smothering realy authors. Some might make a few hundred a year? How long can midlist, new and struggling authors do this before they give up?
If enough give up, how will that affect the marketplace and the genre tomorrow? Next year…five years from now?
Are we looking at a future where only the major names sell books and the rest is rehashed dreck?
Readers are paying into the Kindle Unlimited program thinking with the idea they’re going to be having access to fresh new books. But we have authors like Heather West, April Lust, Zoey Parker & Sophia Gray, for starters, who make it clear that at the very least, you have to at the very least vet each book if you want to make sure you’re not getting a regurgitated work.
This is bullshit. Nobody should have to research whether a fiction book has been republished under another a name and title just to know they’re not investing time and/or money on something they’ve already read.
Yes, you can do something about it. You can write Amazon. I was advised to write Jeff Bezos, legal & content. Emails are jeff@amazon.com CC both content-review@amazon.com and legal@amazon.com. If you’re a writer and belong to a writing org, write them and urge them to speak out as well.
If you’ve noticed these regurgitated works and want to do the work to report them? The steps are mostly outlined in this post but there’s more you can do here. You can read the essay Reader J wrote & shared with me. If you’re so moved and have a platform like facebook, etc? Use it. J. also contacted Kind’e Unlimited’s support and voiced her complaints. You can share posts like this. Not just mine, but others who’ve spoken up. Let other readers know. In the end, readers pay into that KIndle Unlimited fund that pays these non-authors and the readers are the ones who make it profitable for Amazon to continue it. Make it clear you want originality and do it loud.
Push for change, loud enough and hard enough and you’ll get it. But it can’t just be the authors affected negatively speaking up.
Readers have to make it clear that this shit impacts them, too.
The post Hot takes: A Trip Down the Rabbit Hole appeared first on Shiloh Walker.
March 5, 2019
Mirror, Mirror… part 2. Up for preorder!
Behold, the new cover for Blind Destiny…releasing next month.
I shared the other day but now there are links!
Mirror, mirror on the wall…who’s the baddest of them all?
reissuing in March 2019
Grimm’s Circle, Book 7
Myrsina knows the stories. As one of the oldest of the Grimm, she had a hand in writing most of them, but only she knows the dark origin of the Seven Bloody Sisters. It springs from the place of her birth—and her death. A place of pain and misery to which she plans to never return. Unless forced.
When Luc appears on her doorstep, her heart twists with suppressed longing for the man who can never be hers. The only man who can make her do the impossible—go home.
Luc may be blind, but through their unique, bittersweet connection, even he can see that the task laid before them is ripping Sina’s soul apart. This time it isn’t as simple as fighting a demon that has escaped from the netherplains.
Sina must go back in time—to that cursed ground—and right a wrong that she unknowingly brought about. To write a new ending to a story that may give them both a chance at happily ever after. Assuming they survive.
Amazon | BN | Kobo | Smashwords
**curious about the ‘Snow White’ inspiration behind Sina? Check out the Myrtle. It’s one of a number of ‘Snow White’ tales.
Check out the Grimm’s Circle series here.
Candy Houses, Book 1, is available on all platforms AND KU.
Book 1 is only 0.99 & the others in the series have special pricing going on now, too!
Amazon | BN | iBooks | Kobo | Smashwords
The post Mirror, Mirror… part 2. Up for preorder! appeared first on Shiloh Walker.
March 3, 2019
Hot Takes: Reader J follows up with a reader’s perspective
J. emailed me back while I was working on formatting her chat with Amazon and told me she’d written an essay, her first in the thirty years since she’s been out of school. She shared with me and it’s very well done and an excellent look at how the scammers inundating the market is affecting readers, too.
I asked her if she’d like me to post it to my blog and she responded with an emphatic yes.
So…without further ado…
Kindle Unlimited – One reader’s perspective
With the emergence of digital publishing, new authors now have access to a tool that allows them to get their books out using Kindle Unlimited and other digital content platforms. I pretty much stick with Kindle Unlimited because of convenience. I’ve tried Smashwords a few times, but that is about it as far as exploring this new frontier of publishing.
Kindle Unlimited is not my only source for reading materials, but it is one I use frequently. I also browse book stores, borrow from the library, download eBooks from my library, and swap books with friends. I don’t do the ARC thing because then I’m asked for an honest opinion and sometimes that is not helpful to me or the author. Plus, it makes it seem like work and I already have two jobs, thank you very much.
A little background: what makes me a reader?
I would say I’m a READER, not just a reader. I read at least one book per day. That is a low estimate. My book log for last year had 637 titles on it…and I read every one of them. When I have a rare day off, I’ll read two or three books.
(Funny story: When I was 12, I received a box set with three books for Christmas. It was The First Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever by Stephen R. Donaldson. I went back to bed and didn’t come out of my room until the following morning. When I told my mother that I’d finished all three books she was PISSED! She thought her gift would last me at least a month.)
If I’m in my car for more than an hour, I’ll listen to a book on audio, but I still count that as reading. Sometimes I’ll be working on three or four titles at a time.
I’ve been reading for as long as I can remember. Seriously. When I was in Kindergarten or first grade, my mother would ask me to practice by reading the newspaper headlines to her while she was putting on her makeup before work. If she was interested in the article, she would have me circle the headline. When she had a break at work (she bagged groceries at the base commissary) she could read the articles she was interested in without wasting time browsing through the paper. Neat trick, right? My earliest memories start AFTER I learned to read.
In October 2016, I became so fed up with the crap offered on TV that I unplugged it. I still haven’t plugged it back in. Yay! More time to read! (I do occasionally cheat and schedule my weekly visit to the local laundromat to coincide with puck drop for a hockey game I’m interested in watching. Yay, laundromat TVs!)
You like to read. So What?
I point out my background as a reader to give some perspective of where I’m coming from here. I love discovering new authors. When I like a book, I track down every book on the author’s back list. I have my stand-by favorites that I’ve been following for thirty or more years, but I’m always looking for new authors to add to my favorites list. Kindle Unlimited is a great source for my search. Likewise, when I find an author whose books are absolutely awful (sorry, authors, sometimes this does happen) I add them to my NO-GO list so I can avoid them in the future. For the past six months, I’ve selected several books on Kindle Unlimited thinking I’m getting a new title by an author I’ve not read before only to find that it is a recycled book. More often than not it was previously published by an author on my NO-GO list. Amazing how many of the books I mark as unreadable show up later under another title by a different author. I imagine it would take a reader who reads one or two books per week a little longer to spot this trend, and that is what scammers are counting on. So not only are books being recycled on Kindle Unlimited, the one’s being recycled are CRAP! Then, I came across a blog post by a Kindle Unlimited author that explained how this happens. It was an eye-opener for me.
So what’s up with Kindle Unlimited?
Several professionals in the industry have opened this conversation, which is great news. The fact that it is being discussed is a good start. I am not a professional in the industry. I’m just a reader. I have nothing to add to the conversation about copyright law, digital rights management law, requiring statements of disclosure when a book was previously published under another title, etc. Right?
Wrong! As a reader, so BUYER of this service, Kindle Unlimited needs to acknowledge that I as a reader have an expectation that they are selling me the product I expect to receive. They need to develop and apply quality control measures that will ensure that recycled crap stays off of their platform. I place the emphasis on recycled because I do realize that one reader’s crap is another reader’s Jane Austen. I’m not trying to discourage any author from publishing to a platform that can help them hone their skills and develop a voice in the publishing field. Who knows? One day I may discover an author through the local library, and start looking for their backlist and find their early works only available on Kindle Unlimited! It could happen. (I remember discovering Jayne Ann Krentz when I was in college, then tracking down her backlist. Anyone else tracked that particular backlist? Greatest…treasure hunt…EVER!)
So how should we fix this?
(100% opinion piece – but I’m gonna share it anyway.)
What Kindle Unlimited MUST Do:
Require any author publishing on their platform to disclose the book’s provenance. (Is provenance the correct word here? Maybe use the term publishing history?) Develop a clear policy that defines what constitutes FRAUD in the representation of a book’s publishing history.
Actively seek financial reparation from any author, business, or organization found to be participating in repackaging content WITH THE INTENTION TO COMMIT FRAUD. This last part is important. Authors will often repackage previously published content in the form of anthologies, or for other legitimate reasons. When they do this, they will include a statement that discloses the book’s history. (Ever seen one of those “This book was previously published as ____ in 20__” statements in a book description?) By seeking financial reparation from these individuals, KU makes the consequences outweigh the potential profit so they leave the platform. Face it, scammers are lazy, so if KU makes it hard work to pull off a scam, they’ll go somewhere else. Essentially, Kindle Unlimited needs to take away their toy and send them off to find some other playground.
What Publishing Professionals MUST Do:
Keep calling them (the scammers) out on their bullshit. Kindle Unlimited may not be listening, but we the readers ARE listening. Help us avoid the scammers and we will love you forever. We may even start tracking down your backlists to add to our infamously infinite TBR lists.
What we the Readers MUST Do:
Now that we’re aware that this is happening, use that “report this item” button on Kindle Unlimited any time we come across a recycled title that is not advertised as a recycled title. It will help Kindle Unlimited find the scammers quicker and maybe get the platform cleaned up and back to providing a service that reader’s and author’s love.
I’m sure there is WAY more to this issue that needs to be resolved on the professional side and by the industry professionals, but as a reader, this would be a great start.
~J.
March 2, 2019
From Shiloh…
Yesterday, I posted this and wanted to repost. It’s been expanded a bit.
Readers, if you feel that this is affecting you, you can contact Amazon, too. If you’ve seen practices like Reader J, if you’re fed up with quality issues plaguing the Kindle Unlimited platform, you’ve got a voice and power with it.
You can email
jeff@amazon.com CC both content-review@amazon.com and legal@amazon.com
This especially goes to authors, though. If you’re worried about the market, etc because of this, do NOT expect others to fight the fight for you. You have to speak up on your own, too. You don’t have to be vocal about it. God knows that can be a pain in the ass and scary, considering how the trolls attack. But they can’t stop you from emailing Amazon. They can’t stop you from contacting RWA or ITW or SFWA if you’re members. Don’t let fear control how use your voice.
Adding in this from La Nora…
Those of you who work in the indie world, if you don’t start naming and shaming this sort of deplorable scheme and those who perpetuate and profit from it, it won’t ever stop. I don’t mean those who have, and continue to try, but those who keep silent out of fear.
Stand up for yourself.
I can speak out, but there’s no point and will be no stop to it, if you don’t stand up.
Some of you have asked what you can do.
Do this. – Nora, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot
PSA to the visiting trolls (please note, this isn’t directed at authors or readers who have differing viewpoints…it’s directed specifically at scammers who are pissed off I’m shining a light on this)
You might want to take note of my response to trolls, my response when you threaten to report me to Amazon, my response to somebody suggesting I try writing books…(really? 90+ books? I stopped counting but 90+ and several dozen are with traditional pubs, twice that with digital first pubs…and you want me to try writing some books…LOL. Okay.)
Oh, and take a look at the disclaimer.
Basically, hassle me all you want. It won’t have any effect except to fuel me on.
The post Hot Takes: Reader J follows up with a reader’s perspective appeared first on Shiloh Walker.
March 2, 2019
Hot Takes: Looking at how this affects readers
So, something that a lot of people are overlooking in this mess of scammers are readers. No, I’m not saying this to curry favor with readers. I’m still a reader and I wonder about how this impacts readers now, and how it can impact them five, ten years from now.
I wouldn’t be a writer if I hadn’t been a reader first. I can remember all the weeks I spent back when I was a kid, twelve years old, riding my bike about six or seven miles with a backpack full of books to the library so I could turn those books in and get a bunch more. The cycle would repeat all over again a week later.
I’m a writer now because I had books that fed the growing writer in me then and because of that, I know how important it is to protect the voice and platform of creators.
I’m also…me because of those books, because I had access to those books, because I had a glimpse outside of a world beyond the one where I lived.
I grew up with an alcoholic father. I was surrounded by racism. Yes, I’m white, but even at a young age, I knew there was something wrong there and I hated it. Books helped me figure out just what that wrong thing was. There were growing problems with drugs and violence in the neighborhood where I lived much of my childhood. Yet I never got drawn into any of that. The bullying I dealt with? I ignored. I had a paper route which I did mostly so I’d have book money and the teasing and bullying I got when I’d leave on my bike to do that? I ignored. I already had insights into a world where people weren’t judged on whether or not they hung with the cool crowd or had already had sex or whether they did what everybody else did just so they didn’t stand out and I wasn’t going to settle for anything but finding a world like that on my own.
Reading had given me a way out, because I knew there was more outside the narrow walls my current world had presented at the time and nobody was going to get in my way.
And many of the lessons I learned about being a woman who could stand up and make her own way…? I learned from reading silly ol’ romances. There’s value in this genre that goes deeper than 0.99, 1.99, 2.99 or even 15.99 or 24.00.
It can be the value of making and changing lives and I’m not going to ignore the assholes who think they can overtake the genre, cheapen it by flooding the market with regurgitated works repeatedly.
Now that is a personal viewpoint.
From a general, non-emotional, practical reader standpoint, when you buy a book that’s released in 2019 and there’s no disclosure about being previously released and no information about its earlier releases on the copyright date…it’s deceptive. It’s misleading. It’s bullshit. Readers can and do pick up on these things. Especially in romance, because, folks…we’re voracious, we’re read by the truckload, and yes, we’ll figure it out if books are being regurgitated. We deserve better than that.
And no…it’s not just me saying that.
YES…It Affects Readers
A reader emailed me yesterday. Below is the text of her email, in its entirety, with no changes made, save for swapping out her name with Reader J and the Amazon Rep’s name.
I asked Reader J if she’d mind if I shared and she was more than happy for me to do so.
Visiting website:
Comment: Just wanted to share a chat transcript with Amazon regarding the scammers at KU. Thought you’d appreciate it.
Hello,
Here’s a copy of the chat transcript you requested:
Initial Question: I have recently become aware of an issue that’s been plaguing the Kindle Unlimited & KDP Platforms for some time, namely the practices used by some participants who buy up manuscripts from other participants after the income stream has dried, then repackage, recover, sell as new on KU with no disclosure that the work has been previously published, not even a mention on the copyright page. They use a rapid release schedule, and may or may not use click farms and other methods to help bolter standing, but the repetitive cycle of constant releases pushes them higher up in visibility, earning them a larger share from the KU proceeds and on their part, they do no true work, make no disclosure about the fact they’re releasing rehashed work and are flooding KU with recycled works that make the quality of the platform rather questionable, while many authors with new stories, fresh voices struggle to find any visibility at all.
As a subscriber of Kindle Unlimited, and as a reader, I have sele
01:33 PM PST N.(Amazon): Hello, my name is N. I’m here to help you today.
Let me connect you to a member of the team that will best be able to help you with this. It will only take a moment.
01:34 PM PST Amazon Rep C.(Amazon): Hello, my name is Amazon Rep C.. Please give me a moment to review the previous correspondence.
01:35 PM PST Amazon Rep C.: I am sorry to hear about the inconvenience caused
01:35 PM PST Reader J: Let me sum it up. Kindle Unlimited is allowing scammers to recycle old books under new names. It’s dishonest, fraudulent and annoying. I’ve canceled my KU membership until Amazon puts in some better controls.
01:36 PM PST Reader J: Just want to be sure someone there knows WHY I canceled my subscription, and maybe can look into the fraud happening over at Kindle Unlimited.
01:39 PM PST Amazon Rep C.: Okay
01:39 PM PST Reader J: I realize that the loss of my $119.88 per year isn’t much in the grand scheme of things, but I’ll be passing the information about the scammers using the Kindle Unlimited platform along to all my friends. And their friends.
01:40 PM PST Amazon Rep C.: I have forwarded your valuable comments to the appropriate team for consideration
Just to confirm, are you an Author Reader J?
01:40 PM PST Reader J: No, ma’am. I’m a reader.
01:41 PM PST Reader J: I read at least one book per night. I have become very frustrated lately that the books I’ve been selecting are books I’ve read before, under a different title or by a different author.
01:43 PM PST Reader J: I keep book logs of what I read because I participate in a reading program at my local library. That’s how I started noticing that the same books were showing up under different titles. Then I found an author’s blog that explained how it was happening.
01:43 PM PST Amazon Rep C.: I am collecting all the information to forward
01:44 PM PST Amazon Rep C.: Please stay connected
01:45 PM PST Amazon Rep C.: Did you noticed this anywhere else too?
01:49 PM PST Reader J: Only on Kindle Unlimited. The only other digital platform I use is Libby by Overdrive which is managed for libraries, so all content is vetted by librarians. For now, I’ll stick with Libby and check out books from the library. I hope Kindle Unlimited can put some better controls in place to fix this, because I really like the access provided. I’ve just become tired of the diminishing quality of titles available because of these scammers.
01:49 PM PST Amazon Rep C.: Thank you so much for bringing this to our attention
01:50 PM PST Amazon Rep C.: I have successfully forwarded your valuable comments to the appropriate team for consideration. Our customers convenience is always our top priority
01:50 PM PST Reader J: Thank you.
Thank you.
Amazon.com
Readers Deserve Better. We All Do.
If you bought a new movie at the store and it turned out to be Starship Troopers (sorry, I can’t think of a worst movie), but the producer had retitled it, put a new wrapper on it and changed nothing else inside it, you’d have the right to feel cheated.
Likewise, if you purchase a book or download it through a platform you pay to access, you’ve got the fricking right to expect new, original content if it’s marketed as such. And unless it’s disclosing the fact that’s been previously published, that’s exactly what’s happening.
Yesterday, I blogged and asked authors to speak up and contact Amazon. Readers, if you feel that this is affecting you, you can do the same. If you’ve seen practices like Reader J, if you’re fed up with quality issues plaguing the Kindle Unlimited platform, you’ve got a voice and power with it.
You can email
jeff@amazon.com CC both content-review@amazon.com and legal@amazon.com
PSA to the visiting trolls (please note, this isn’t directed at authors or readers who have differing viewpoints…it’s directed specifically at scammers who are pissed off I’m shining a light on this)
You might want to take note of my response to trolls, my response when you threaten to report me to Amazon, my response to somebody suggesting I try writing books…(really? 90+ books? I stopped counting but 90+ and several dozen are with traditional pubs.).
Oh, and take a look at the disclaimer.
Basically, hassle me all you want. It won’t have any effect except to fuel me on.
The post Hot Takes: Looking at how this affects readers appeared first on Shiloh Walker.
March 1, 2019
Billie Jowls, whoever that is, doesn’t like me
She’ll languish in moderation…I heard that phase from somebody, but can’t remember who.
Anyway, I wanted Billie to know, I see her loud & clear, but…well, my blog is mine and you don’t get to use it to spew your bile. Feel free to go to wordpress.com to set up your own and spew it there.
However, since you clearly want attention, I’m giving it to you.
World, Billie Jowls thinks I’m a cunt.
Oh, btw, the comment in moderation about my cover? Relax…I use a distributor and a professional cover artist. If there’s a problem, the Amazon rep that works with my distributor will let the said distributor know and I’ll ask my artist for a quick photoshop touch-up. That’s…like…*so* easy to fix, You talk like you’re an ‘authentic author’. Don’t you know these things?
The post Billie Jowls, whoever that is, doesn’t like me appeared first on Shiloh Walker.
The next hot take… an open letter to Jeff Bezos
Writers, we have a problem. Doesn’t matter if you’re writing about slaying zombies, speeding through space, chasing down rogue CIA agents gone bad, killer clowns in space, historical hijinks or sexy smooches on the beach…we’ve got a problem. I’ve blogged about this several times the past few days, the problem with scammers taking over the Kindle Unlimited program and how it’s affected the Amazon Kindle platform as a whole, and genre writing.
On that note…we all need to take action here, and I’ve written RWA, my writing org. Today, I wrote Jeff Bezos and am posting the letter here, hoping to encourage more people to do the same.
ETA: It was suggested that I also write to content & legal at Amazon. Emails below.
jeff@amazon.com CC both content-review@amazon.com and legal@amazon.com
Letter below.
~*~
Mr. Bezos,
I’m writing about an issue that’s been plaguing the Kindle Unlimited & KDP Platforms for some time, namely the practices used by some participants who buy up manuscripts from other participants after the income stream has dried, then repackage, recover, sell as new on KU with no disclosure that the work has been previously published, not even a mention on the copyright page. They use a rapid release schedule, and may or may not use click farms and other methods to help bolter standing, but the repetitive cycle of constant releases pushes them higher up in visibility, earning them a larger share from the KU proceeds and on their part, they do no true work, make no disclosure about the fact they’re releasing rehashed work and are flooding KU with recycled works that make the quality of the platform rather questionable, while many authors with new stories, fresh voices struggle to find any visibility at all.
This issue compromises the very art of storytelling, yet some continue to defend it, ignoring the readers, your customers, and the very base who that bolsters the creative industry. You can see their viewpoints, erroneous as it may be, defended on several blogs, including Nora Roberts’.
http://fallintothestory.com/blowback/#comment-183197
https://yourcheekywench.com/2019/02/26/as-the-scheme-turns/
One such comment, from Nora Roberts’ blog, posted below:
The link you posted above is suggesting that authors cannot sell their intellectual property (their books) to other authors and publishers. It’s literally calling someone a “scammer” for selling the rights to some books they wrote. The link you posted above is suggesting that authors cannot sell their intellectual property (their books) to other authors and publishers. It’s literally calling someone a “scammer” for selling the rights to some books they wrote. How on Earth is that a scam? By that measure, every single traditional publisher that has ever bought rights to a book (and subsequently published that title with their own cover and marketing spin) would be a “scammer”. That’s silly. Do you genuinely think it’s a scam for someone to sell the publishing rights/copyright for their original work to another person? If that person then packages and sells that book to the masses, is that a scam?
This person equates the practice of an author regaining their backlist books and repackaging/reissuing them to somebody who sells a work for another to repackage/recover and sell as a completely new work entirely.
It’s mentioned several times on Kboards and in other places that the failure to disclose is problematic, but as evidenced by the screenshot above, that’s clearly no concern to some, to say the least.
There are several screenshots where this practice is discussed and defended.
The screenshot above with red text is from the Kboards site and has since been deleted so I can’t provide you with a clean copy, but this user has attempted to defend this stance on other blogs, such as Nora’s mentioned above, and Suzan Tisdale’s, also mentioned. The discussion on Kboards is here, although one must have an account to access. The direct link is https://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,309267.0.html
These shots discuss KU author Isabelle/Marci Fawn.
How to be a KU author lesson continued. with more examples. you're welcome.
Step 1: Join a forum like Dirty Discourse & find the section with stories for sale. Example: here's Isabella/Marci Fawn selling her ghostwritten bad boy catalog for $1000 each pic.twitter.com/gLp3kdUywQ
— Nikki (@ease_dropper) October 12, 2018
People buy these books, change the names of characters, then recover/repackage and reissue as new, with no disclosure that the books had been previously published.
KU readers pay into the KU program expecting new, fresh content from an author who is advertising it as such. Readers not in the KU program download a book from Amazon have the right to expect a book with a 2019 copyright to actually be a new book, released for the first time in 2019.
Copyright, as you’re likely aware, is established when the book is first published and it doesn’t change simply because a book is unpublished. Even if it’s sold to another, the copyright, text, etc, the copyright date remains.
Copyright establishment, etc is clearly stated on Copyright.gov
In this area for ‘‘notice’, see where it references the year.
The copyright notice generally consists of the symbol or word “copyright (or copr.),” the name of the copyright owner, and the year of first publication, e.g., ©2008 John Doe.
When protection starts is also addressed. When protection starts
Your work is under copyright protection the moment it is created and fixed in a tangible form that it is perceptible either directly or with the aid of a machine or device.
Copyright law addresses derivative works which significantly change the piece in Chapter 1 of the law itself, https://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap1.pdf
Specifically, this is addressed in this section here.
103 · Subject matter of copyright: Compilations and derivative works (a) The subject matter of copyright as specified by section 102 includes compilations and derivative works, but protection for a work employing preexisting material in which copyright subsists does not extend to any part of the work in which such material has been used unlawfully. (b) The copyright in a compilation or derivative work extends only to the material contributed by the author of such work, as distinguished from the preexisting material employed in the work, and does not imply any exclusive right in the preexisting material. The copyright in such work is independent of, and does not affect or enlarge the scope, duration, ownership, or subsistence of, any copyright protection in the preexisting material.
So even attempting to claim modification to a bought work as a derivative piece and therefore new is wrong–the copyright to the original piece remains the same and does not get extended. But the buyers of these previously published works haven’t even done that. Beyond a search & replace to change the names, the works are unchanged. They also make no attempts to let anybody know they’re reselling previously published material.
On my blog, I openly walked people through how blatantly some engage in this practice. One book had been pubbed & repubbed three different times just since 2016, each time with a new copyright date, which is unethical and I question whether it could even touch on fraud.
The original copyright date still stands. This could potentially be a legal matter as the people engaging in this may be fraudently extending the copyright each time they reissue an already copyrighted work with a new, invalid copyright year. As an example, the above link discusses a piece I uncovered, Savage Vow by April Lust released as new this year, but was originally published as Rafe by Ellen Harper in 2016.
By not informing readers that the work they’ve bought, even legally with the copyright, is a previously published work, and even going to so far as to put in a copyright date with the current year, they are misleading readers. It is entirely possible they’re violating FTC guidelines on truth in advertising and regulations on consumer fraud and deception , as mentioned by a visitor to my blog.
Cassandra S.28 February, 2019 at 2:13 pm
I’m not a lawyer, but…
It seems to me that slapping a new title and new author name on a previously published book and then advertising it as a new, original work without any disclaimers whatsoever runs afoul of FTC regulations on consumer fraud and deception and also violates truth in advertising laws.
Might be interesting to take some of the research done on repackaged books, plus any ads or newsletters advertising them as new works, and see what the FTC thinks.
Anyone have a contact at the FTC?
On a related sidenote, apparently there’s a practice where scammers are encouraging people to play their Romance Package books all night since they are paid by the minute. Really??? And I was just happy I had a couple of books in it.
Any successful business, such as Amazon, will have those who come in and attempt to scam customers, but Amazon has a responsibility to their customers and to those who legitimately and ethically provide content to take action when matters like this are brought to their notice.
Amazon cannot continue to ignore these issues. It’s violating the trust of the readers who contribute to KU, the customers who buy kindle books, to the authors who legitimately and ethically use your platforms and provide content.
To this extent, I’ve reached out to RWA’s board, as a longstanding member, and I’ve encouraged fellow members to do the same.
I’m also encouraging other writers to take the same action, to contact their respective writing organizations to see how this matter can be addressed. I’m also asking those who have more expertise and knowledge in areas regarding FTC regulations and specific areas of copyright law to chime in.
I will be honest. It has not been easy to speak up so vocally about this. I’ve been attacked personally via email and have been the recipient of some nasty and derogatory comments elsewhere. I had to put moderation up on my blog.
In some ways, I’ve been luckier than some may have been, likely because I’ve been quick to call people out and I’m not shy about smacking somebody down when they attack me. But at the same time, going through personal attacks is never easy.
Additionally, I’ve lost work hours trying to fight this and my own career really needs me to focus on it, as I’m not exactly selling like hotcakes. There’s also the fact that being outspoken often comes with the risk of alienation.
But this is an issue that needs be addressed, and in the open.
Below you’ll find my letter to the RWA Board, which includes the links and information that led to my involvement in this.
It’s in your control, Mr. Bezos, to fix this. Please do so.
Sincerely,
Shiloh Walker
To the Members of the Board:
With the next board meeting coming up, there’s a matter affecting numerous writers within RWA that I feel needs to be addressed. I understand that the agenda is full, but this is a problem that has been ongoing for some time and it’s getting worse.
After it was discovered that Cristiane Serruya plagiarized more than two dozen authors, something else brought back into the focus on social platforms was the matter of how certain players in the industry are manipulating the Kindle platform—namely Kindle Unlimited—in a manner that is affecting authors in a negative manner. It’s severe enough that I’ve seen several writers comment on how they’ve given up writing altogether.
Some focus has been placed on ghostwriting, but that isn’t my concern. I ghostwrite myself, so I’m biased, but professional ghostwriters in honest contracts with ethical clients don’t pose a problem, regardless of whether anybody agrees on the practice on a personal level.
The issue boils down to the deceptive practices used by scammers, with everything from buying reviews, to keyword manipulation, clickfarms, etc. But the worst, in my opinion, is something I’ve recently become aware of and that’s the matter of a group of select individuals who sell manuscripts amongst themselves, then repackage as brand new works and reissue so they continually have what looks like endless new releases.
There are literally no changes made to many of these works, sometimes not even the character names. Yet they put a brand new copyright date on the book to make it look new.
I found two different books that had done this, and I didn’t have to search. I simply pulled these names off a screenshot I saw on twitter, did a phrase search on Google and they were there. One title had been published in 2016, 2017, and 2019, each time as an original work.
Amazon has been made aware of this, of course. Readers have contacted them, individual authors have. But they’ve taken little to no action.
I, personally, feel there’s a matter of legality going on with the copyright dates, as copyright dates, once set, don’t change. Derivative works can add additional copyright dates and there are other factors that come into play, but that original date stands.
These practices are deceiving readers and they are drowning writers. Romance is being hit especially hard due to the popularity.
I’ve got screen shots of the information I’ve found myself on my twitter feed, and there are more screenshots by the reader who clued me in on what was happening.
This is a screenshot of the newsletters where I found the names I researched.
https://twitter.com/ease_dropper/status/1099504870527250432
Some of the works the reader found. She’s been doing this for months and reporting the scammers for months.
https://twitter.com/ease_dropper/status/1099504873245167616
https://twitter.com/ease_dropper/status/1099504876105666560
The first time I looked into this, I used ‘author’ Paula Cox. I simply did a web search with some text from the Kindle app and it pulled up a second, unpublished book that was still on the internet.
https://twitter.com/shilohwalker/status/1100108458701942784
The work had been published before as Jenny Jax.
https://twitter.com/shilohwalker/status/1100109632104730625
Today, before writing this letter, I pulled another name from the list, April Lust. I grabbed the most recent work and this one was the one that been published twice over before making its current debut.
https://twitter.com/shilohwalker/status/1100109632104730625
https://twitter.com/shilohwalker/status/1101150815912374279
https://twitter.com/shilohwalker/status/1101150815912374279
https://twitter.com/shilohwalker/status/1101152859733876736
https://twitter.com/shilohwalker/status/1101153261296500740
https://twitter.com/shilohwalker/status/1101153656123154434
https://twitter.com/shilohwalker/status/1101156064282714115
https://twitter.com/shilohwalker/status/1101156659974545409
https://twitter.com/shilohwalker/status/1101157704628867072
There is nothing on these works to indicate they’ve been previously published. The works are issued with new copyright dates, which seems to be some sort of violation of copyright law. This all works up to these people feeding a slew of recycled material into the Kindle Unlimited platform which is funded by readers who think they’ll be accessing original content.
I’m asking for RWA to look into this and consider speaking to Amazon on this issue. RWA, as an advocate for writers, has access to lawyers and other with more specialized knowledge than I have at my disposal. I understand this is a big request, but I firmly feel this is a matter that is affecting not just members, but the area of genre fiction as a whole. It’s cheapening our work, devaluing our work and if we don’t take action and demand Kindle see the value in the works we provide to them, there will come a time when hardly any authors can afford to provide work.
Thank you for your time.
Shiloh Walker, RWA Member
—
Shiloh Walker
http://www.shilohwalker.com/website/
The post The next hot take… an open letter to Jeff Bezos appeared first on Shiloh Walker.
February 28, 2019
Hot Takes, Copyright Fakes & How We Fix This
I had another moment. A twitter moment, that is.
But I want to have it here at my blog, too.
Alright, people…let’s play a game. I’m going to do another #HotTake on the blog in a bit but I’m going to let you see how I collect the info for this. Now bear with me, because some of this requires info gathering which can be slow. I’ve laid out a lot of this beforehand, but once I get down to the nitty gritty, it takes more time.
First… have you checked out the #WTF on Nora Roberts’ blog?
It stems from a comment made by one Mr. Frost.
Frost, you see, views books as ‘assets’. That’s it. Commodities to be bought and sold, and readers aren’t really even considered.
Those aren’t my words. See? MY words are in red. Frost is quite active on the forums at Kboards.
To him, selling the copyright of his book for them to repackage as a BRAND NEW BOOK with a new title, a new author name, a new COPYRIGHT date, is the same as me reissuing my Grimm’s Circle series, even though I make it clear these books were previously published.
Frost took exception to an addition Nora Roberts made to her previous post the day before, Blowback.
The addition? A twitter moment I put together highlighting some shit scammers use to bilk @amazon @amazonkdp @amazonbooks out of money, at the expense of legit, hardworking authors.
The moment, How to spot scammers…and raise hell, is here. Read, share, tweet and RT, because people need to see this info.
Since posting that moment and since Nora shared it, I’ve had a small but steady stream of trolls and whiners hit my blog, most of whom had their comments deleted. There’s now light moderation in place, as I’m not giving them *my* platform to do *their* propaganda. I’ve also had threats to ‘report’ me to Amazon, abusive emails, etc, so…yeah, I’ve pissed some people off. And I LIKE IT.But there’s more work to be done, because more people need to realize what’s going on, and draw awareness to it…AND we need to people moving on our behalf. I’m not talking Nora, either. Bless her heart for the work she’s done and for being willing to speak when others haven’t.
But if more people who ARE affected by this don’t speak out, why should anybody else care? So, small press authors, indie authors, midlist authors…you’ve got work to do. YOUR career is at stake.
You’re drowning in a sea of scammers. I’m going to show you one of the biggest tricks they’re pulling to make sure authors like you and me STAY drowning.
Follow along
Behold, a list of people turning @AmazonKDP & KU into their personal piggy bank… and also playing fast and loose with COPYRIGHT LAW. Is Copyright Fraud a thing?
Because it should be.
These are screenshots provided by twitter user, @ease_dropper, aka Nikki. These are newsletter lists by people who ‘release’ so-called ‘new’ books frequently.
Spoiler alert: many of them aren’t new.
BTW, trolls…yes, I’m familiar with your hate-on for Nikki, but I’m doing an experiment that pretty much proves the scamming so save your invalid arguments for people who give a flying fig. Legit authors don’t & readers are tired of being scammed.
Also…you might notice that if you comment, your comment doesn’t show right away. That’s a handy thing called comment moderation. Legit comments, concerns, questions will be cleared quickly, no problem. Shit-stirrers, however…well. This is my house. I decide who gets to cause trouble in my house. And no, that’s not censorship. You can go yell whatever you want on the street. Freedom of speech doesn’t entitle you to free use of my platform. You can thanks some of the assholes who’ve posted over the past few days for that.
On The Case
Let’s pick a name…We’ll go with the first name, April Lust. I’m trying really hard not to roll my eyes at that name, too. Actually, no, I’m not. But I digress.
Let’s get to work, April…show me what you got. I went to Amazon and picked out her most recent release.
Savage Vow. MC subgenre.
I’m just going to loop @AmazonKDP @AmazonHelp @amazon in here, too because the FIRST name on the list that I picked? Turned out to be a WHOPPER.
I opened the book and found some text to search.
See, April Lust’s “new” book, Savage Vow with a copyright date of 2019 isn’t new.
And while she might own the copyright NOW…she can’t alter the copyright date.
Here’s the text I searched for.
And this came up…
I couldn’t access the site. So…no proof. I won’t make statements with proof.
So, I searched out the title on Goodreads. Same genre. Oh. Look at the copyright.Same storyline.But…that’s not enough.
Look here. A review for the book. See the text?
See what happens when we search for THAT text in April’s ‘new’ book… with its 20 fricking 19 copyright date.
THIS HAPPENS
.
BUT…the fun doesn’t stop there. Because guess what…THIS BOOK WAS PUBLISHED EVEN BEFORE THAT.YEP. This book has been used hard and put wet several times over. Let’s look at the very first page of this book by April Lust, to which she claims a COPYRIGHT IN 2019…meaning THAT IS WHEN THE BOOK WAS FIRST PUBLISHED.
Meet Rafe, by Ellen Harper COPYRIGHT 2016
Tell me something, Amazon. How are you maintaining any quality by allowing these scammers to manipulate the #KindleUnlimited & kdp platforms like this?READERS PAY INTO #KU EXPECTING ORIGINAL WORKS, NOT REGURGITATED WORKS BY DECEPTIVE SCAMMERS.
And MEANWHILE, the authors who don’t screw the system get drowned by the cheats AMAZON rewards!
Fix the platform, Amazon & deal with these cheats.
Additionally, about that COPYRIGHT FRAUD thing… as I said, I don’t know if that’s a thing, but if it’s not, it should be.The copyright date of a book isn’t interchangeable just because the original rights owner SELLS the rights to another person.Copyright is there to protect rights owners and it’s a matter of LAW. You don’t get to CHANGE the dates to suit you just by unpublishing and selling it.Copyright FAQsThat date doesn’t change.
EDITED TO ADD:
Cassandra, a visitor to my blog from the other day left this comment.
Cassandra S.28 February, 2019 at 2:13 pm
I’m not a lawyer, but…
It seems to me that slapping a new title and new author name on a previously published book and then advertising it as a new, original work without any disclaimers whatsoever runs afoul of FTC regulations on consumer fraud and deception and also violates truth in advertising laws.
Might be interesting to take some of the research done on repackaged books, plus any ads or newsletters advertising them as new works, and see what the FTC thinks.
Anyone have a contact at the FTC?
Ummmm… I know nothing about this, but this is an interesting angle. ANYBODY??? And does anybody have newsletter or screenshots of Facebook ads?
What can we do?
People are asking on twitter and blogs…what can I do?
One of the best things you can do is be aware of the problems, but don’t throw the baby out with the bath water. Indie authors, small-press and midlist authors (like me…whimper) are struggling to make it and we need your support. Try our books out. You might love us. Hey, read me…totally. I rock at romantic suspense, if I do say so myself and my contemporaries are pretty fun, too.
Also, this isn’t saying that everybody who does well in the top list are manipulating them. That’s not the case. At all. There are plenty who get there by good, old-fashioned story telling. And FYI? If you look at the blurbs? Sometimes you can tell a quality, well written book apart from a scammer book just by read that blurb.
You don’t see attention grabbing tricks like GIANT BOLD FONT SAYING SHOCKING THINGS THAT IMMEDIATELY MAKE YOU READ ON JUST FOR THE WTFery OF IT ALL.
Additionally, some of these scammers slip out of the top spots or never make it in. This Lust chick’s book has been two weeks..damn, must be time to pull it and sell it!!! Anyway, there are honest, legit authors who are doing things the fair way and rocking it like the awesome people they are.
But others drift by without catching attention and if they don’t make money, sooner or later, they’ll give up. If that happens to enough of us, how many books filling the Kindle platform are going to become regurgitated pieces we’ve seen over and over?
Yeah, but…who is legit and who isn’t?
While it’s understandable to leery, there are sources where we can all find reliable folks to recommend reads. The Bookbub deals they mail out regularly are vetted and they don’t grab just anything, plus they tend to look for variety. One thing about this rehashed books is that they don’t care about variety. Bookbub also lets readers do ‘follows’ like on Twitter and you can find people who share your taste in books. Goodreads is another source and you don’t necessarily have to participate. Just read reviews on books you’re interested in. Eventually, you can find reviewers with similar taste so you can find reads through them.
Always download the sample. Many of the screenshots Nikki shared were by people used tricks like fat breaks between paragraphs which made the books longer (more page views). Things like that, other sketchy formatting, poor editing, all indicators that somebody is more after money than telling a story. FYI, authors like money but we want to tell a story, too.
Here’s something I always do. I actively avoid a book that has nothing but glowing, praising reviews. There’s always somebody who dislikes a book. I’ve disliked books from even my favorites. So if a book has 50 reviews on release day and all of them are all hugs and kisses and sparkly roses with unicorns bursting out…it’s possible those reviews were bought and paid for. Not always, but possible.
But how do we change things?
It seems a lot of people feel helpless and frustrated and that’s a sucky feeling, I know. See how I’ve ranted the past week?
But we’re not helpless. Consumers are the ones who fill that Amazon kit, remember? So in the end, if consumers speak loudly enough, Amazon is going to realize they need to fix their best.
Write Jeff Bezos at jeff@amazon.com. The more he hears from us, the more he’ll realize this is a problem. But he has to realize it will cost him money–our money if he doesn’t take action.
If you see issues like what I detailed above? REPORT IT and if you’re on social media, SHARE it so others can do the same. DO NOT REPORT AS COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT. As these works are being sold between the people publishing them, they’ll claim copyright. However, Kindle readers have a right to expect a new book if they buy one with a copyright date of 2019.
Go to the book’s page and scroll down until you see an area like this, select the option “REPORT AS INAPPROPRIATE” then you’ll see a “Violation of Amazon Kindle Terms of Service”.
Include a link to the original work and state something along the lines of that as a reader, you have the right to expect a new work if the copyright date states XX XX 2019. The copyright date will be in the details section right below the book. Then provide the link to the previously published book and point out the earlier copyright date. I mentioned that while the author may have the copyright, it was deceptive to release it as a ‘new’ work since it had been released in 2016. COPYRIGHT DATES DON’T CHANGE JUST BECAUSE THEY HIT UNPUBLISH.
But about the writers? It’s their pool, shouldn’t they clean it up?
Absolutely. Scammers are slowly choking the life out of writers. I feel that strongly. I turned to ghostwriting because a publisher shut down and I was losing a big part of income due to my backlist being removed from sale. But even as I return those backlist books to the public for purchase, even as I publish new books, I make even less. I have an established reader base. Friends I know who are popular authors are doing the same. Their new books are practically invisible where once they were major sellers. And new writers struggle to even get noticed at all. If new writers can’t get a foothold, where are the storytellers we expect to entertain us in twenty or thirty years going to come from? Or are we just going to re-reading regurgitated books into infinity?
There will be naysayers who argue that I’m jealous of the success of others and to that…let me laugh. Success that is bought through paid reviews, clickfarms and via recycled books isn’t success. A hack may make money, but there’s more to being successful than that alone. So…screw that idea sideways. With a rusty, tetanus-ridden railroad spike.
Originality matters. The value of a good book matters. A reader’s ability to trust they’re getting a new book when they download a book that just released? It matters.
So, to that end…I’m asking fellow authors and other industry professionals to write their professional organizations to step up and look into this matter.
I belong to RWA, a well-known writing organization that has acted as an advocate for matters that affect romance writers.
As this is a matter that is affecting genre fiction as a whole, if you’re a writer who belongs to organizations like Author’s Guild or SFWA, these groups have also acted as author advocates in the past. The more we speak as one voice, the better our chance to convince Amazon to take action against those who use Kindle’s platforms as their personal piggybanks.
This is not just a romance genre problem, and it’s not just a small-press or indie writer problem. It’s affecting midlist writers as well and will eventually affect all published fiction authors and likely those in non-fictions.
Below is the letter I sent to RWA. I urge fellow RWA members to send letters of their own and fellow writers to contact their own writer organizations.
To the Members of the Board:
With the next board meeting coming up, there’s a matter affecting numerous writers within RWA that I feel needs to be addressed. I understand that the agenda is full, but this is a problem that has been ongoing for some time and it’s getting worse.
After it was discovered that Cristiane Serruya plagiarized more than two dozen authors, something else brought back into the focus on social platforms was the matter of how certain players in the industry are manipulating the Kindle platform—namely Kindle Unlimited—in a manner that is affecting authors in a negative manner. It’s severe enough that I’ve seen several writers comment on how they’ve given up writing altogether.
Some focus has been placed on ghostwriting, but that isn’t my concern. I ghostwrite myself, so I’m biased, but professional ghostwriters in honest contracts with ethical clients don’t pose a problem, regardless of whether anybody agrees on the practice on a personal level.
The issue boils down to the deceptive practices used by scammers, with everything from buying reviews, to keyword manipulation, clickfarms, etc. But the worst, in my opinion, is something I’ve recently become aware of and that’s the matter of a group of select individuals who sell manuscripts amongst themselves, then repackage as brand new works and reissue so they continually have what looks like endless new releases.
There are literally no changes made to many of these works, sometimes not even the character names. Yet they put a brand new copyright date on the book to make it look new.
I found two different books that had done this, and I didn’t have to search. I simply pulled these names off a screenshot I saw on twitter, did a phrase search on Google and they were there. One title had been published in 2016, 2017, and 2019, each time as an original work.
Amazon has been made aware of this, of course. Readers have contacted them, individual authors have. But they’ve taken little to no action.
I, personally, feel there’s a matter of legality going on with the copyright dates, as copyright dates, once set, don’t change. Derivative works can add additional copyright dates and there are other factors that come into play, but that original date stands.
These practices are deceiving readers and they are drowning writers. Romance is being hit especially hard due to the popularity.
I’ve got screen shots of the information I’ve found myself on my twitter feed, and there are more screenshots by the reader who clued me in on what was happening.
This is a screenshot of the newsletters where I found the names I researched.
https://twitter.com/ease_dropper/status/1099504870527250432
Some of the works the reader found. She’s been doing this for months and reporting the scammers for months.
https://twitter.com/ease_dropper/status/1099504873245167616
https://twitter.com/ease_dropper/status/1099504876105666560
The first time I looked into this, I used ‘author’ Paula Cox. I simply did a web search with some text from the Kindle app and it pulled up a second, unpublished book that was still on the internet.
https://twitter.com/shilohwalker/status/1100108458701942784
The work had been published before as Jenny Jax.
https://twitter.com/shilohwalker/status/1100109632104730625
Today, before writing this letter, I pulled another name from the list, April Lust. I grabbed the most recent work and this one was the one that been published twice over before making its current debut.
https://twitter.com/shilohwalker/status/1100109632104730625
https://twitter.com/shilohwalker/status/1101150815912374279
https://twitter.com/shilohwalker/status/1101150815912374279
https://twitter.com/shilohwalker/status/1101152859733876736
https://twitter.com/shilohwalker/status/1101153261296500740
https://twitter.com/shilohwalker/status/1101153656123154434
https://twitter.com/shilohwalker/status/1101156064282714115
https://twitter.com/shilohwalker/status/1101156659974545409
https://twitter.com/shilohwalker/status/1101157704628867072
There is nothing on these works to indicate they’ve been previously published. The works are issued with new copyright dates, which seems to be some sort of violation of copyright law. This all works up to these people feeding a slew of recycled material into the Kindle Unlimited platform which is funded by readers who think they’ll be accessing original content.
I’m asking for RWA to look into this and consider speaking to Amazon on this issue. RWA, as an advocate for writers, has access to lawyers and other with more specialized knowledge than I have at my disposal. I understand this is a big request, but I firmly feel this is a matter that is affecting not just members, but the area of genre fiction as a whole. It’s cheapening our work, devaluing our work and if we don’t take action and demand Kindle see the value in the works we provide to them, there will come a time when hardly any authors can afford to provide work.
Thank you for your time.
Shiloh Walker, RWA Member
If there are other writers out there who wish to write their organizations, you’re welcome to use my screenshots and my links in your letters. You can contact Nikki on twitter at @ease_dropper to request to use her images.
But don’t stay silent. Ignoring this will only make it worse.
In short, genre fiction belongs to us, the people who create it, the people who love it, the people who help bring it to life, share it, review it, talk about it, laugh and rage and scream about it. We see books as more than assets and while these author mills who churn out piles of pages like they’re cutting up potatoes think they understand all these genres we love so much, while they think they understand the authors and the readers who help drive this industry, that’s bullshit. It’s ours and we can take it back if we work hard enough.
The post Hot Takes, Copyright Fakes & How We Fix This appeared first on Shiloh Walker.
February 27, 2019
Mirror, mirror on the wall, who’s the baddest of them all…
Behold, the new cover for Blind Destiny…releasing next month.
This is a reissue of book 7 in my Grimm’s Circle series and I loves it so.
Mirror, mirror on the wall…who’s the baddest of them all?
reissuing in March 2019
Grimm’s Circle, Book 7
Myrsina knows the stories. As one of the oldest of the Grimm, she had a hand in writing most of them, but only she knows the dark origin of the Seven Bloody Sisters. It springs from the place of her birth—and her death. A place of pain and misery to which she plans to never return. Unless forced.
When Luc appears on her doorstep, her heart twists with suppressed longing for the man who can never be hers. The only man who can make her do the impossible—go home.
Luc may be blind, but through their unique, bittersweet connection, even he can see that the task laid before them is ripping Sina’s soul apart. This time it isn’t as simple as fighting a demon that has escaped from the netherplains.
Sina must go back in time—to that cursed ground—and right a wrong that she unknowingly brought about. To write a new ending to a story that may give them both a chance at happily ever after. Assuming they survive.
pre-order links coming soon!
**curious about the ‘Snow White’ inspiration behind Sina? Check out the Myrtle. It’s one of a number of ‘Snow White’ tales.
Check out the Grimm’s Circle series here.
Candy Houses, Book 1, is available on all platforms AND KU
Amazon | BN | iBooks | Kobo | Smashwords
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February 26, 2019
Hot Takes: Part …Oh, honey…you went and pissed me off.
Wow. I think I stirred the pot with my scam talk yesterday. Some scammer types aren’t happy. Which, hey, that pleases me, but on the other hand…honey, you pissed me off.
Nora Roberts saw my blog post from yesterday & emailed me about linking it to hers. No, I didn’t fangirl squeal, Laura. I’m getting better, I swear. BTW, did you know know Nora once complimented me on my necklace? So we’re totally best buds now.
But I’m getting offtrack.
I want to talk scammers, not my BFF relationship with the Queen of Romance.
It’s been an interesting week for me, really. Some pithy emails from various people, most of whom have never met me, being snidely condescending or outright insulting about the topics I’ve been discussing. Most of the emails, I’ve ignored, because frankly, they don’t deserve my attention if that’s going to be their attitude.
I’ve deleted a couple of asshole comments at my blog, because well…I don’t tolerate assholes in my house. I’ve flat-out called one person out on one post because it was obvious they wanted to derail shit.
Some of the crap has been insulting & disheartening, but I can’t say I’ve really been pissed.
Until today. And the prick didn’t even have the balls to come outright and address his/her comments to me.
I, however, don’t have that problem.
First, before we get started
Let’s touch on the definition of scam, from our friend, Merriam Webster:
scam
\ ˈskam \
Definition of scam(Entry 1 of 2)
: a fraudulent or deceptive act or operation
Scammer would be somebody who participated in such. Oh, say, exploitive actions that engaged in dishonest tactics to deceive for financial gain.
Meet Frost.
Frost clearly didn’t like my Twitter talk about scammers, especially as it relates to how they engage in the practice of selling manuscripts. See the comment left below on my BFF/Nora’s blog.
In reply to Nora Roberts.
The link you posted above is suggesting that authors cannot sell their intellectual property (their books) to other authors and publishers. It’s literally calling someone a “scammer” for selling the rights to some books they wrote.
How on Earth is that a scam?
By that measure, every single traditional publisher that has ever bought rights to a book (and subsequently published that title with their own cover and marketing spin) would be a “scammer”.
That’s silly.
Do you genuinely think it’s a scam for someone to sell the publishing rights/copyright for their original work to another person? If that person then packages and sells that book to the masses, is that a scam?
I’m genuinely open to talk if you want to have a quick dialogue about this stuff. That link you posted is just an honest author trying to sell the books THEY wrote, and some random silliness besides.
So, Nora linked to a twitter moment I’d done that was connected to my blog post Hot Takes: Part…who knows? So you want to know how to spot the scammers. The post addresses everything in that moment and then some, highlighting how some ‘authors’ buy books from other ‘authors’, repackage them with a new name & cover, without disclosing any of that and sell the books as new.
Sidenote: there’s no ‘authoring’ going on here. Not even in the form of legit ghostwriting. There’s no creativity. There’s no work. They buy a used-up manuscript, dust it off, slap a cover on it, SOMETIMES change names with find/replace, then SELL THE THING AS NEW. THAT IS NOT BEING A WRITER. THAT IS NOT BEING A CREATOR. THAT’S NOT EVEN ACTING AS A FRICKING PUBLISHER. THE WORDS YOU WANT ARE AUTHOR + MILL.
‘Frost’ comes in and tries to make it sound like when a legit author gets their rights back on a backlist title, then reformats, recovers and reissues, it’s the same thing as a scammer buying a manuscript he didn’t write, recovering, repackaging and passing it off as his own.
Let’s look at a couple of things here…
He’s saying people who do this…
Yeeesh I wonder if she paid her ghostwriter $1000 each. Anyway, buy some books. Looks like N Alleman & J Chase purchased a few. See how they changed the character names & book summary. That’s important. pic.twitter.com/bM9fMcHrRu
— Nikki (@ease_dropper) October 12, 2018
Are basically doing the same as when I do this…
They are saying that publishers who take older stories and package together into an anthology, then NAME that anthology like this…
is the same as an author who does this…
Several author names are in the emails. Others are Evelyn Glass, Kathryn Thomas, Ellen Harper, Nina Park, Heather West, etc. They recycle their books (purchased from ghost writers) through different pen names in order to always have “new” releases. pic.twitter.com/YYjFMkGxI5
— Nikki (@ease_dropper) February 24, 2019
Or…
let’s look at my experiment!!!
And a google search showed…
This isn’t repackaging backlist books or rebranding under another pen name. THAT looks like this.
Authors rebrand for specific purposes, when moving in another direction, when switching houses, when switching genres. I rebranded this series, the Grimm series, after I branched out into urban fantasy as J.C. Daniels. The Grimm were always more UF romance than paranormal so I wanted to attract both my paranormal romance fans and my UF fans.
But there was never any issue with deceiving readers.
Additionally, when authors reissue previously published books, they don’t pass them off as new creations…new covers? Sure. But there’s another indicator.
The copyright, geniuses. Whether you buy it, sell it, etc–the original copyright year???? If a book was published was in 2016 by Jenny Jax…
Then you can’t really claim a 2019 copyright by Paula Cox in 2019.
That copyright doesn’t magically go out of existence just because she sold it to Paula Cox.
And there’s no sign the ‘author’ bought/reissued the book or that the book was previously published.
So…Frost…authors and publishers who repackage books, especially authors who repackage their unavailable backlist books to make them available for readers, are not, nowhere in hell, engaging in anything close to this shitty practice of buying books that were recently selling on Kindle, or other digital platforms, then removed, sold for a profit, repackaged under another, completely unrelated name, recovered, repackaged and sold as a completely new book in an attempt to deceive readers into thinking that very same thing.
Either you folks aren’t very bright or you think readers & authors aren’t.
In either case, please…keep arguing this, because the more you do, the more awareness you’ll bring to what you guys are doing. Because I am not shutting up about it and these posts & tweets are getting ready by a lot of people. I mean, especially since you went and engaged NORA FRICKING ROBERTS in ‘quick dialog’ instead of me.
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February 25, 2019
A break from Hot Takes and you’re gonna hate me for this one… Jimmy, you douche.
Do you remember a few weeks ago, I introduced you to this year’s first contender for 2019 Douchery of The Year Awards? Jimmy Thomas came in strong, showing how he was the TOP douchebag.
But with all the current fiascoes, I think he’s feeling insecure and had to make another showing. He CLEARLY doesn’t want to have people like #copypastecris nudge him out of contention, because he went ALL OUT for this one.
I mean… WOW.
Where to we start?
I mean, setting aside the political arguments of legalizing the sex trade, let’s look at his language.
GIRL
Per Merriam Webster…
Definition of girl
1a: a female child from birth to adulthood
Let’s look at that. Adulthood is generally recognized as the legal age of 18, right?
You hear the word girl, you think kid. Right?
So is this guy really suggesting an acceptance of girls in prostitution? Whether they are okay with it or not, it’s not fricking okay. It happens because of predatory assholes and because of demand. That doesn’t make it acceptable.
Then he keeps going by suggesting millions of women and girls want to have sex and get paid. We’ll ignore the women part, because there are women across the globe who engage in the sex trade willingly and that’s not the issue.
But he mentions several times over, and separately…GIRLS.
It’s like he keeps pointing to the fact that GIRLS, those who are NOT LEGAL ADULTS and YOUNG ENOUGH TO EASILY BE TAKEN ADVANTAGE OF, should be able to participate in the sex trade!
JIMMY, IF THAT IS YOUR THINKING, YOU’RE NOT JUST A DOUCHEBAG, YOU’RE AN EVIL EXPLOITIVE DOUCHEBAG.
That’s the worst, but it’s not it.
He also goes on to make it clear that women *owe* men sex.
After all, women want boob jobs, make-up, fake eyelashes, SHAMPOO, lip injections, SHAVING, waxing…
Yes. Let’s equate a MAD NEED TO RIP OUR BODY HAIR BY THE ROOT to a desire for sex. Except, well, I’ve never met a single woman who woke up with a female version of a woody to roll over, grab her…waxing kit and let ’em rip. BECAUSE THEY DON’T EXIST.
Surprising NOBODY, it appears Jimmy has already deleted his latest epic rant, but the internet remembers everything.
Here’s something else for it to remember. NOT ONLY IS JIMMY AN EXPLOITIVE DOUCHE, HE’S A DUMB ONE.
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