Shiloh Walker's Blog, page 16

Hot Takes: Part…who knows? So you want to know how to spot the scammers.

The past few week has been a hot mess in a falling apart handbasket. I do have other words for it, but if I get too free with them, I’ll run off track and I’m doing a hell of a lot of that lately. People paying attention to the #CopyPasteCris mess have probably noticed there’s been a lot of talk about things not necessarily related to plagiarism. Cris Serruya did, after all, plagiarize some major authors, including Nora Roberts.

One question that seems to be prevalent in a lot of minds is how this all happened and how it got so big all of a sudden.

A Reckoning A Long Time In the Making

Well, it didn’t happen all of a sudden. This crap has been going on in the indie world for a while.

If you hang out on social media sites much, you probably heard about #Cockygate. The long story short there, a woman wanders into the writing field, writes some books, decides to do a series with Cocky in it, then suddenly notices other people use the word Cocky–and some of those uses predated hers–but wah, they’re damaging her brand, so she tries to trademark a word. It didn’t go well.

But during the mess, something a relatively small group of authors & readers knew about became something of a focal point.  Not just about Faleena Hopkins, but other authors.

Bookstuffing

Author puts up a book up for 0.99 or whatever, and only part of the book is new content. The rest is backlist books, excerpts and other assorted bullshit. This sums up bookstuffing, but I have an infograph, thanks to twitter user, Anteria Hawbaker.

Now, you might thinking… what’s the problem here? More to read, right? Well, it depends on your point of view.  Those stuffing the books were (and still are) pushing the authors who don’t stuff books farther and farther out of the way on Amazon. If writers don’t make money, they can’t really afford to write. Not to mention if a handful of authors are dominating an area, that’s not leaving much room for you to find a lot of variety. Of course, you’ll always have your big name favorites, but this does make it harder for you to find newer people to love, because it’s harder for newer people to make it in a field that’s getting increasingly narrower.

Additionally, a lot of bookstuffers don’t care as much about craft and use scammy tactics like clickfarms and the kindle flip… please… they even name this shit now.

The comment during the chat.

Chance: “ohhh ehhm what do- uh, I don’t know what that means” pic.twitter.com/lzBP0Ooy8Z

— Nikki (@ease_dropper) June 3, 2018

There’s a lot of this under tags like #getloud and #bookstuffing on twitter. Which has led to some heated discussions going on in social media. A small group of readers has been ringing the bell about scammers & bookstuffing for months and not many have been pay been attention. During this time, the scamming has gotten more and more blatant and now we have a book Frankensteiner with her very own hashtag… #copypasteCris

And So It Comes to This

Inside the indie world, a lot of authors knew there was scamming going on. Not all, of course, but there were signs and plenty have talked.

There’s still a disconnect of sorts between indies and traditionally published authors, though, and from my perspective, there’s an ‘old guard’ of indies and a newer group. The old guard, many of them, started out in traditional publishing, still hang with a lot of traditionally pub authors and I don’t know if there’s as much conversation between the two groups.  I could be wrong. I could be missing out entirely. I lost a sibling just under two years ago and I’m just slowly coming out of a depression, so I’m not quite as in touch with some things as I used to be.

However, I still get the vibe that there’s what is almost a ‘generational’ disconnect between indies and traditionally pub authors and the old guard traditionally pub fit in more with the trad, pubbed authors.  This disconnect reminds me a lot of the disconnect that once existed between print authors and ebook authors…ah, the good old days.

This disconnect also leads to not as much sharing of info and even when people follow each other and are friendly, the things that affect one group (like indies) may not necessarily grab the attention of the other group (frex, traditionally pubbed authors).

This could be apathy, it could be one group not seeing how it affects them or a lack of understanding, it could be a complete lack of awareness this was even going on–keep in mind, there are some authors who aren’t on social media all that much, and when it comes to more established authors or reclusive authors, some aren’t on social media at all. It could be any number of reasonings and I think it’s probably a mix of all across the general group, because that’s reflective of human nature in general.

And now we have this big rumbling, a shocking surprise about all the scamming going on in the Kindle platform and how it’s affecting authors across a lot of platforms.

Indie authors have seen it, or at least a lot of them have, and they’ve been talking about it for months. Serruya’s actions brought it all into the public eye and now a lot of authors are realizing this is all very, very bad for the industry, but for many, it seems like this just sprung up out of nowhere.

Not the case.

Some screenshots from one of the readers who’ve been ringing that scammer bell… Nikki / aka Ease_dropper on twitter.

When I say “KU scammers” I mean the SCAMMERS. If you aren’t a scammer, I don’t mean you. Scamming example: 2-3 guys run a few LLCs & have a dozen or so pen names. They use Sopris Page Press, MBK Hanson, Inc, badboyromancegroup, & probably others. I’m on some of their email lists pic.twitter.com/01zhCrPENm

— Nikki (@ease_dropper) February 24, 2019

These are new release newsletters from ‘authors’ that frequently show up on Amazon’s KU bestseller list. Keeping in mind that Amazon rewards these people with bonuses for selling the most copies, etc, there’s money to be made in selling the most books. They don’t have to be good books. they just have to sell.

They don’t even have to be original…and I do mean original. As in published by one author, under one name, one time only.

See below.

These all came from Nikki’s feed, in the thread from the tweet above, but I’m using the images themselves so people can see the full size images. You can click on it to open a new tab to see names better, and look at the quick release schedule. That’s important.

About that original content

 

And food for thought on how this happens–there are suggestions that these ‘authors’ sell manuscripts once they aren’t bringing in money. Somebody else repackages, recovers, slaps a new cover on. Sound insane?

Well… keep reading.

One of the big bookstuffers who was finally removed from Kindle Unlimited last summer was Cassandra Dee. Look below.  See the covers?

Looks like Cassandra Dee can’t make up her mind which pen name to use. @DavidGaughran @ease_dropper @BSommerland @ivyquinnauthor @romancewriters let’s make sure Amazon is aware of ALL these #bookstuffing pen names #GETLOUD pic.twitter.com/s9qldyTzFl

— Caitlyn Lynch aka Catherine Bilson (@caitlynlynch6) June 11, 2018

But to test this…an experiment!

I took a name at random from the newsletter image and went to Amazon.

 

And low and behold…

This book has been published before. Under another name and has since been pulled from circulation, but with the internet, nothing really disappears.

A lot of these authors are practically ghosts.  No really internet presence. They popped up out of nowhere and there’s no socialization anywhere. That alone doesn’t mean much, because authors aren’t always the most social creatures. But there’s also no website.  Just about every smart author knows a website is crucial. It’s where your fans go to look for you. There might be a facebook page or a twitter, but they’re almost robotic…little real interaction with authors, no real talk about writing craft, or even just how you want to drag your character through the screen and choke him for being a butthead.

Save for the books? They don’t seem to exist. And many of these books look like they’ve been published, pulled then regurgitated with new titles and covers.

So… want to know how to figure out if an author might be a scammer?

Look at the author. Do they have a website? Even new authors tend to have those.  New authors also tend to be active on Facebook & Twitter, etc because it’s something agents and editors look for. If you see a new to author and it’s somebody you’ve never heard of and you can’t be sure if they are legit? Check those things out.

Look at their social media. Even if you’re not on twitter, you can skim a look at their feed. No, not all authors talk a lot, and not all authors are on social media, but if the author you’re interested in has a solid social media profile and has like… oh, …couch, cough, 210k tweets… random number, totally, that’s not how many tweets I have… or even five hundred tweets and they follow a mix of people, etc? They’ve got a website? It’s less likely you’re dealing with a scammer.

These scammers profit because they invest so little in the current persona, then dump it and reinvent a new identity at the drop of a hat. You can’t do that when it comes to social media and rebuilding websites, etc gets pricey, it’s time consuming and leaves more of a digital trail.

So… there are a few ways to vet an author…looking at the website, checking for social media…and if it’s an ebook? Read the sample. Really, those pages above? That stuff ain’t nothing to write home about. Free & 0.99 cents ain’t a bargain if you’re getting crap work anyway.

Also, if you want to do something about it, you can become a BOOK DETECTIVE…this is more helpful if you’re on social media, because the more people involved, the better. Kindle users can easily download samples from books by authors in the newsletter shots posted above. Look for phrases that are descriptive, that stand out.  Copy the text and do a google search for those words.

If you find a match, let people know and people can go to the book’s page on Amazon and report it. There’s a ‘report’ section down near the bottom and you can report books for violations of terms of service. I’d just report the book.  You can click on report inappropriate content, then select violates KDP terms of service. DO NOT REPORT AS COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT. Only the authors of the books can do that.  But repackaged material like this very well is pushing KDP’s quality standards. I’d point out that the book had been published before, post a link to where you found it and ask how that’s holding up the KDP standards for quality work. If enough complaints are made against a book/author, Amazon may take action.

You can also tweet about it. Send them messages on Facebook. Email.  Amazon has altered TOS when it’s clear scammers are abusing the system, but it takes work part of the people to get it done and that means…well, work.

**FYI!!!!  It seems like some people are getting grumbly over a lot of things in various places and missing some important points.

SCAMMING HURTS LEGIT AUTHORS!!!

I want it clear that most people are aware most KU AUTHORS are NOT scammers. Yes, some readers are leery now, and with good reason, thus the reason for the post.

We don’t need to have that argument here. What we need to do is focus on educating AND raising awareness (and hell with Amazon) so we can fix the problem and reclaim the genre some scammers are trying to steal from us.

If you’re coming in here to defend something sleazy like reselling manuscripts to repackage it…well, LOL.  Don’t. Do it on your own blog, because it will last here about as long as it takes me to see it.

Also! If you’re new here… this isn’t about legit ghostwriting.  I ghostwrite on the side and legit ghostwriters aren’t part of this problem.

Thank you for coming to my TED talk.

The post Hot Takes: Part…who knows? So you want to know how to spot the scammers. appeared first on Shiloh Walker.

Hot Takes: Part 3 – It’s a *BAD* idea to piss off Nora Roberts

The past week has been a hot bitch of a mess with the plagiarism, the confusion with some people not understanding the difference with between plagiarism & GW, frustration over how scammers have been screwing things up for writers on Amazon and hello, of course, Amazon does not care.

Everything is crazy, the world is burning burning in romancelandia, but one should always keep isomething in mind.

And Christopher Barnes knows exactly what it is.

There are like the two cardinal rules of Book Twitter if you don’t want to die a painful death:

1 – Don’t come for librarians or libraries.

2 – Don’t mess with Romancelandia. pic.twitter.com/yx8VDJf6K1

— Christopher Barnes (@cbarneswrites) February 20, 2019

Now let me make an addendum.

Don’t ever come for Nora Roberts

Cristine Serruya made the huge, ginornmous mistake plagiarizing Nora Roberts. La Nora.

It’s not because of Nora’s fan base, either. Although, I mean, if you want to piss off a group of readers, hell, why not piss off the fanbase of the most widely read romance author in the world, who has been translated into pretty much every spoken language, including Martian…okay, maybe not Martian, who basically rebuilt a small town around her husband’s bookstore and inspires readers from all over the globe to come visit one of the signings she holds at that store.  That just seems brilliant to me. What about you?

But that isn’t the real problem.

NORA is the problem, and she just became Cris Serruya’s biggest nightmare. Nora dealt with plagiarism before, fought it before, won before and donated every cent.

It was never about the bloody money. —Nora

The last time she was plagiarized, a friend was the one who stole from her, she had people pressuring to play nice and let it go and she still took a stand.

She’s not going to do any less this time.

If I was Serruya, I’d be bracing myself, because not only does Nora have the resources to take this all the way to the end, she’s got the determination to do it, and again…it won’t be about the money.

If we determine Serruya’s theft of my work reaches the bar of infringement, I will sue. I can afford to while many of her victims can’t. —Nora

It’s not about the money with Nora. She’s simply somebody who’ll fight and stand up because she realizes not everybody can.

If there’s any other lunatic out there dumb enough to steal from Nora? You better be yanking that stuff down and fast.

Here’s a warning for anyone who’s stolen any of my work and claimed it as his/her own. I’m coming for you.–Nora

Her blog, in all its angry, beautiful glory is here at Fall into the Story.

The post Hot Takes: Part 3 – It’s a *BAD* idea to piss off Nora Roberts appeared first on Shiloh Walker.

Hot Takes Part 2: Ghostwriting

So, MORE drama in romancelandia.  I mean, seriously, the big girls in this group mostly want to write/read and just get on with our lives.

But you always have to have drama llamas who think they belong, be they bullies threatening to dox bloggers & readers & authors, authors trying to muck up the HEA, or one of the many, and I do mean MANY, oh so many instances of plagiarists muddying the waters.

This time, if you have been paying attention, the plagiarist used a new excuses.

MY GHOSTWRITER DID IT

I called bullshit on that in a hot second.

I ghostwrite
Legit GWs don’t plagiarize
Legit GW/author contracts include wording specifying the above.
Legit authors who USE GWs have ways of checking for plagiarized content.
Plagiarists always blame somebody else. See the crazy that comes with plagiarism (we’ve already hit the next step, BTW…vanishing…poof!)

I could maybe have bought that she hired a hack writer who then sent a bunch of sloppy, scraped up, regurgitated scenes that had been used over and over and she was too lazy to check for originality, but even that was pushing it, and she, as the copyright owner/author, was still responsible. And that’s what happens in the GW/author relationship. If you hire a GW, once the work is complete, the author (the person who hired the GW) assumes copyright and is responsible for the work.

But according to some people who’ve contacted Courtney Milan, #CutPasteCris seems to have sent content she pulled from the books of those she plagiarized and asked them to ‘make it all fit’.

First, before we get started, some terminology I’m going to use.

Author For the sake of this topic, author refers to the name that will be on the cover of the book, the copyright owner.

GW/Ghostwriter/Ghost a person hired by an author to write a book/subject/topic, etc.  A writer for hire.

NDA Non-disclosure agreements, standard in GW/Author agreements.

* * * *

So, during this #copypasteCris fiasco, something that’s been a predominant theme is…

Why?
Question:

Why do people use ghostwriters?

I received several variations of this Q on twitter and in my DMs when I told people I’d take Qs for the blog.

A specific Q from a writer who wanted to remain anonymous was two-fold–Why would I let somebody put their name on my work and why would anybody want to put their name on work they didn’t write.

Answer:

Well, the basic why can have any number of reasons and I can’t explain all of them but I’ll give some of the basic rationale behind contracts I’ve taken, without going into specific details. Keep in mind,  I can’t offer specifics, due to NDAs and professional ethics.

But there are any number of reasons why some works are written by ghosts.

#1 Well-known names like V.C. Andrews, who…well, kind of died just a few books into the successful series. The works & rights reverted to her family. The choice to use a GW here is pretty obvious. The Sweet Valley books about the Wakefield twins were largely written by ghosts.

But the worlds, characters, etc for both of these huge series wouldn’t have existed without the original author & creator. Ghosts made the worlds bigger and kept them going after death in Andrews’ case, and expanded them even more for the SV world, taking the girls down to junior high, onto college, etc in Pascal’s situation. The world is huge and has been widely enjoyed by so many and it wouldn’t have been possible without ghosts.

So…simply keeping a world going or expanding on an existing world or series is one reason to use a GW.

#2 One project I took early on was from an author who had the bare bones of a project already done, and I don’t just mean the outline. It was a solid piece and well done, but this client couldn’t quite finish it and wanted help fleshing it out so it could be published. The basic work, characters, world-building, story arc, character growth, resolution was done, but the client knew it needed more. I was hired to provide that and did so. My words helped fill in the story, but the story itself wasn’t mine. It belongs to that author.

#3 Other projects I’ve taken from a semi-regular client were series-based from a popular series that did well for a particular author but this author wanted to move on from that series and focus on a new one that was taking up a great deal of time.  Readers wanted the initial series to continue. Author wanted to write newer one which was also gaining traction. Author didn’t write fast enough to do both, plus some authors don’t shift gears well, going from one genre to the next, as easily as others and these were two vastly different genres. I was hired to GW the primary series. The series, the characters, the ideas were never mine. I wrote from rough outlines, using plot lines and already defined character profiles, providing stories that wouldn’t have existed without the author’s previously established work. Those worlds belong to that author.

#4 Majority of my projects come from one primary client, an already established author who had a presence long before I was hired. I’m given very thorough, chapter by chapter outlines, very thorough character backgrounds & profiles. I’ve written short stories that aren’t as long as the initial material provided to me by my main client.

I’ve also had several other projects from clients similar to this, people who have the ideas, even the character and storyline they want, but they want a GW to finish the book itself.  I’m paid by the hour, I research, and provide original content. When done, I return the project, knowing it’s not mine. It never was, because the ideas, the characters, the plotline, weren’t mine to begin with.

Storytelling is a lot more than just the words. Storytelling is about the characters, the story itself and everything that happens therein. When it comes to ghosting, I’m there to help with the story.

Now…why do I do it? Why am I willing write a book and let somebody put their name on it? Well, again, the books I ghostwrite aren’t mine. They don’t stem from my ideas. They don’t originate in my mind. The characters weren’t birthed from my imagination.  Somebody else provided the sketched out figure. I just filled in the colors and was well-compensated.

Unethical?
Question:

It seems like cheating/lying. Is it misleading to readers?

Answer:

Variations of this are floating on twitter and somebody who wanted to remain anonymous DM’d. We had a polite discussion, but her opinion is that is was cheating & unethical. I told her I’d discuss it in depth on the blog. Hope this covers it adequately.

Up above, I talked about storytelling.

Storytelling is a lot more than just the words. Storytelling is about the characters, the story itself and everything that happens therein. When it comes to ghosting, I’m there to help with the story.

Stories aren’t just words.  If it was just words, anybody could do it, and any writer could write in any genre. Also, we wouldn’t have the beauty that is The Bad Sex Award. I’m a talented storyteller and can weave an entertaining tale, but I’m no master. In-depth, far reaching plotting skills elude me, but that’s a crucial skill to being a master storyteller.  For example, look no further than Nalini Singh’s beautiful worlds, be it the Psy/Changeling or the Guild-Hunter.

My greatest plotting skills come into play when creating murderous trilogies and I piss people off there because I end them with cliffhangers on the ‘whodunit’ aspects, even if I do resolve each romance by the end of the book.

Storytelling is the entire part of creating a book, from coming up with characters to plotting to character arc/growth to the actual writing. Some writers, pantsers, frex, do a lot of this as they go, although, as a pantsers myself for most of my own personal books, the plotting/character arc stuff takes place on what is kind of a writer subconscious. I’m mulling it over in the back of my mind while I cook or exercise or shower and abruptly, the a-ha moments hit.

Many GW contracts, including the fiction ones, come with what amounts to a story bible. I’ve mentioned these before. I’ve used story bibles myself, but for me? I can’t even make one until my story is done, and then? I hire the job out.  I’m just not organized that way.

With my fiction contracts, I’m provided with a story bible ahead of time. A concise, thorough, chapter by chapter plot. A time line. Detailed character notes with everything from age and place of birth to height, weight, hair color, to education & likes and dislikes.

This describes most of my GW projects. These are ideas and story concepts thought up well beyond a vague idea. I’m paid hourly, I write at my own pace and when finished, turn the story back in and I’m done.  I don’t own any part of it and nor should I, because while I, as previously mentioned, fill in the color, the picture itself had already been provided.  The basic story itself was already there.  I just finished it. The readers who follow an author for a particular sort of story/feel are still getting exactly what was promised.

Tangentially, there are people who have had fabulous ideas for stories, complex & layered worlds they’ve built and outlined, characters, etc. But when it comes to the actual writing part, they’re stumped. I’ve met people like this, I’ve talked to people like this.  I think a lot, if not all, published writers have had somebody tell them, You know…I’ve always thought about writing a book. And you ask, Well, what’s stopping you?

For some people, it’s just the idea of writing that that’s appealing, not the actual work involved. Others start and lose interest. But some do the work, focus on all the complicated pre-work, so to speak, the world-building, research, creating characters.  Then they freeze on the actual writing part. Or they try but can’t actually organize the elements of the story.

Yet they have a story that matters, one they want told and I’ve talked/worked with a few who had very good stories that needed to be told. A ghostwriter can make that happen…and keep in mind, the story wouldn’t be there without the author’s ideas & work. The GW just helped bring the idea into actuality. They make the agreement *beforehand* and if the GW is compensated and agrees to no public acknowledgment and is fairly compensated? That’s a fair and legal deal.

I’m not going discuss the bookchurners who want 10-20k/weekly and are looking to hire ten various writers, expect the GW to provide the story idea, create the characters, develop the character arc, provide the plot & write a fricking synopsis–that isn’t ghostwriting.  That’s actual writing and in the end, the GW is only usually paid a flat fee and not typically a fair one. These are basically nothing more than author mills and IMO, they devalue work and use predatory practice. Some writers work with these sorts anyway because it will pay bills and I get that, but that’s not fair & legit ghostwriting.

I think it’s just another form of plagiarism.
Question:

It’s lying & deceptive to the reader, no different than plagiarizing, really.

Another thing floating around in the #copypastecris fiasco.

Answer:

First, plagiarism involves stealing someone else’s work and can become a legal matter.

From Wikipedia:

Plagiarism is the “wrongful appropriation” and “stealing and publication” of another author‘s “language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions” and the representation of them as one’s own original work.[1][2]

Plagiarism is not in itself a crime, but can constitute copyright infringement. In academia and industry, it is a serious ethical offense.[4][5]

Ghostwriting, on the other hand, involves work for hire. The GW agrees to produce original content and surrender the copyright. Professional ghostwriters only enter into contracted, legal agreements.

Plagiarism and GW couldn’t be any more different. Yes, the GW agrees to create a work, like those I’ve discussed above, but this is a longstanding form of writing and the practice itself isn’t a problem.

Again, from Wikipedia:

A ghostwriter is hired to write literary or journalistic works, speeches, or other texts that are officially credited to another person as the author. Celebrities, executives, participants in timely news stories, and political leaders often hire ghostwriters to draft or edit autobiographies, memoirs, magazine articles, or other written material. In music, ghostwriters are often used to write songs, lyrics, and instrumental pieces. Screenplay authors can also use ghostwriters to either edit or rewrite their scripts to improve them.

Usually, there is a confidentiality clause in the contract between the ghostwriter and the credited author that obligates the former to remain anonymous. Sometimes the ghostwriter is acknowledged by the author or publisher for his or her writing services, euphemistically called a “researcher” or “research assistant”, but often the ghostwriter is not credited.

In some discussions, the issue turns to that GWs in fiction are viewed differently, that the reader and author enter into an agreement, of sorts, the book is a way for author and reader to connect and using a GW invalidates that connection, that the reader has a ‘right’, per se, to know about what really does boil down to a business arrangement between two professionals.

Yes, I’m speaking from a point of bias here, as a ghost myself, but I think this is wrong-minded.

I feel, personally, that the internet has eroded some lines of separation that used to exist. Authors are more available, more accessible and it gives an impression of deeper intimacy. Personally, I’m fine with that…to a point. But I’m not fine with it beyond that point.

A GW deal–and let me preface here that I’m talking about legit, non-predatory deals–is a business arrangement. It’s one that usually comes with that series bible I mentioned, story concept, character profiles, plot, etc. The story itself has a skeleton and the GW fleshes it out.

In that business arrangement, if the author doesn’t want to reference the GW and the GW is fine with this and received fair compensation, then this should be between the those two professionals, IMO.

Readers may feel differently, that they’re being misled about the stories they enjoy, but keep in mind what I’ve said about the entire storytelling craft. It’s more than just words. The characters you like, the plot that keeps you engaged, the twists and turns…very often, those are already crafted by the author. The GW just helps bring it to life.

ETA: Missed a few points…

Attribution is something that’s a sticking point for many. I don’t want that going unaddressed, but at the same time, this does come down to that business agreement.

Some GWs don’t want attribution.

There are some who are published authors in their own right and ghost in genres other than their own and want to keep these areas separate. Attribution would make that problematic and for some who’ve developed a specific platform, it could damage that platform.

There are also likely writers who make decisions related to keeping personal and professional lives very separate (I do) and ghostwriting is no different. Romance writing, especially hotter romance, can come with negative impacts. For an example, , a fellow former EC author. She’s also a school teacher. It was discovered that she wrote erotic romance and a few parents went after her hard, insisting she stop writing or stop teaching. The parents insisted the school board investigate her, etc. No, this isn’t a ghostwriting case, but there are GWs who write erotica and hot romance where this sort of issue could easily become a problem.

That’s a wrap…for now

Okay.  I’ve had some other Qs, but this is already long enough. Some info I might address in a guest blog I’m doing. But…some I won’t. Even though I told people I couldn’t discuss some stuff because of NDAs, etc, a few crazy kids still asked.

Hot takes on plagiarism, #copypastCris & hack writers from a ghost writer’s POV

Yay!  Another twitter rant!

Yay! Another plagiarism scandal!

This time, the ‘author’ claims that she worked with a ‘ghost writing’ partner she hired on Fiverr.

I’m calling bullshit! First…well, Fiverr is a TERRIBLE place to hire a professional GW. I say that *AS* a GW. I’ve been doing that on the side since Ellora’s Cave closed to supplement my income. Some freelance writer sites make it clear they *do* want professional writers. Then there are sites like Fiverr.

That should sum up how I feel about Fiverr.

Anyway, here’s what our plagiarist of the month had to say…

And… oh, boy.  Yes, I’m a tad annoyed. Because this is just bullshit.

Commencing twitter rant, in 5, 4, 3, 2…

So. Um. As a GW myself, I’m calling bullshit. Any decent author out there with biz savvy looking to hire a GW makes it clear plagiarism isn’t acceptable AND that the work will be CHECKED with services like (link: https://www.copyscape.com) copyscape.com

I mean, seriously, @CrisSerruya THAT IS STANDARD FOR GHOSTWRITING CONTRACTS. you agree NOT to plagiarize. I’m gonna post some jobs from upwork to point out this very fact. (note to anybody who checks out, I’m not endorsing any of these, most of the payrates are crap.)

@CrisSerruya  Using Upwork, because Fiverr is NOTORIOUSLY cheap, which means people who  use it likely prey on GW’s, so…if you DID hire a GW? You scammed GW

Upwork job:

“Content must be creative & 100% ORIGINAL! The work will be assessed w/Copyscape every time.”

Upwork job:

“Additionally, all work will be subjected to a plagiarism check.”

Upwork job:

Things we do not accept if hired:

1) Plagiarism.

Upwork job:

Things we do not accept if hired:

Plagiarism

Upwork job:

*Plagiarism: I take it a very serious view with zero tolerance on writers who copy the work of others. All written copies received will go through few plagiarism checkers. The writers will not be paid if the content is not original and will be reported

So… as I said… BULLSHIT. *IF* by some chance it *WAS* somebody else you hired to write a book so you could slap your name on it, YOU didn’t do YOUR due diligence, because once YOU take ownership, & if you had somebody sign copyright over to you, you DID take ownership, Cris

Is it possible you hired a hack-writer who plagiarized on Fiverr? Sure. Anything is possible. But it’s still on YOU for not being responsible and researching.

/Rant over.

I’ve got like 7k minimum to write today.

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Stay Away From The HEA ~ a Twitter Rant

A couple of uninformed authors are at it again.  Trying to reshape the very core of what defines the romance genre. No HEA. No Happy Ever After.

This happens a couple of times a year and I don’t know why. It’s not complicated. Genre rules aren’t there to annoy people. They are there to help everybody.

If I pick up a book that looks, sounds & smells like a romance and turns out to be a psychological thriller where the antagonist who masqueraded as the hero turned around and killed the heroine at the end, then I’m going to be PISSED. And I enjoy psychological thrillers. But when I spend my money and time on a book, I expect to get what I paid for. Readers are entitled to that.

Genres & their classifications help bookstores & librarians purchase books so THEIR readers can avoid being disappointed just like in the above scenario.

What these uninformed authors fail to realize is that those rules protect them–if they follow them–because readers will drop an author in a hot minute and never read them again if that inviolate trust between a romance author and a reader–delivering that HEA.

So. I went on a twitter rant & I’m giving it a permanent home here on my blog.

#StayAwayFromTheHEA

You have to have a #HEA to call it romance unless you want to the romancelandia horde descending on you. Plenty of threads have covered this. You don’t get to rewrite *our* genre rules to suit you.

This isn’t even a matter of *opinion*. These are *industry* standards. You query publishers based on the *romance* genre guidelines. *Booksellers* select romances for their *romance* section based on *romance industry* guidelines.

*Librarians* buy books for their *romance* collections keeping the *romance industry* guidelines in mind. There are *industry standards* for genre fiction, authors who haven’t really spent much time educating yourselves.

These didn’t spring up overnight. These aren’t about *gatekeeping*. These have been formed over many, many years. The mystery genre has standards. Horror has them. SF has them. Fantasy has them. And yes… ROMANCE has them.

There are several professional romance organizations across the world where you can see the *definition* for the romance genre.

RWA

Two basic elements comprise every romance novel: a central love story and an emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending.

A Central Love Story: The main plot centers around individuals falling in love and struggling to make the relationship work. A writer can include as many subplots as he/she wants as long as the love story is the main focus of the novel.

An Emotionally Satisfying and Optimistic Ending: In a romance, the lovers who risk and struggle for each other and their relationship are rewarded with emotional justice and unconditional love.

RNA

 From stories that focus entirely on the developing relationship between two people, to fiction that shows a budding romance as one part of the hero or heroine’s journey, and into books that focus on long-standing relationships weathering storms – romantic fiction is a publishing powerhouse that reaches millions of readers every year.

RWNZ

There are love stories—and then there are romances.

With love stories, you can never guarantee it will turn out well. Romance novels always promise an uplifting, satisfying ending. In romance writing, we call this an HEA—Happily Ever After (though some of the steamier books may settle for an HFN – Happily…For Now.)

Now some people want to grumble, “but there’s no ‘category’ for love story…” Well. Yes, there is. You just have to understand the way categories work, I’m here to help…a mini-twitter workshop for confused authors who don’t understand how romance works.

Behold. BISAC codes. You understand these as *categories* on KDP, which is where most indie romance authors publish. And read more about *why* we use them here. It’s that industry standard thing, again.

These are used to help librarians, booksellers & online sites like AMAZON categorize books for READERS so the RIGHT readers can buy your books. For the *confused* writer, a romantic book with a NON-HEA book, the typical romance buyer is NOT THE RIGHT READER.

So, how do you USE these codes/categories? AMAZON MAKES IT EASY! You don’t even HAVE TO KNOW THE CODES! Let’s look at the KDP.

Now this is where wise writers first use writerly skills to explain romantical inclinations of their romantical book that is NOT a romance, because…no HEA.

Now! KEYWORDS AND THOSE CATEGORIES!!!! Look at the keywords! Small town! Alphas! Vampires! Plenty of ways to get across the ‘romantic elements’. The categories. You can go with women’s fic…

And

If your book is LGTBQ, there are subgenres of fiction…

There are subgenres of erotica, which is a subgenre of fiction!

#StayAwayFromTheHEA

And look, erotic also has subgenres of historical, SF/F, fantasy and horror.

 

If your work is HISTORICAL…

Look! Just for you!

THERE ARE PLENTY OF OPTIONS.

But romance isn’t one of them, because ROMANCE comes with an HEA.

That’s the *rule* of romance, and breaking it doesn’t make you edgy or anything more than a nuisance, and once we’ve dealt with before.

You do NOT to get rewrite *our* genre rules to suit YOU.

It ain’t happening.

#StayAwayFromTheHEA

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Hearts & Wishes…out today!

Hearts & Wishes

contemporary fantasy romance

At twenty-five years old, Holly should be on top of the world. Rich, pampered and adored, everything she could ever ask for is hers, any wish she makes, granted.

Except for freedom—what she wants the most. Daughter of one of the most famous men in all existence—both real and imagined—she lives in near isolation, stifled by her overprotective father, slowly going out of her mind.

The bright spot in her existence is training with her father’s right-hand man, Rhys, although she doubts he’s aware of her crush.

When he’s sent off to deal with a rising threat in the world outside their protected land, Holly’s claustrophobic need for freedom rages out of control. After a heart-breaking betrayal and desperate for a chance at a life, she flees.

Unbeknownst to Holly and nearly everybody else, that rising threat has been waiting for just this moment. If Rhys doesn’t find her soon, her wish to have a life of her own may very we ll be the death of her.

This book was been previously published. It has been edited, but no new material was added.

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iBooks | Kobo | Play | Smashwords

Excerpt

“Go ahead and cry if you want to, precious. Being lonely hurts. The tears might help a little.”

The humiliation was now complete, Holly decided as she leaned against Rhys’ side and sniffed, trying to blink away the tears before any more fell. He was wrong. Crying didn’t help. All it did was give her a headache and make her feel like a weak, whiny moron. This, though—leaning against his long, hard body, breathing in the dark, seductive scent of his skin—helped.

The past four years, she’d been secretly drooling over Rhys.

Drooling and dreaming.

Maybe this is a dream, she thought as he slid his hand soothingly up and down her back. Made more sense than anything else. Especially when the strokes on her back started to drift—an occasional brush of his fingers across her nape, then down lower on her back, brushing the skin left bare between her sweater and her jeans.

It was…nice.

Very nice. It got even nicer when he started to fiddle with her hair, tugging out the band holding her braid, combing through the long locks in a lazy, almost absent manner. His voice, when he spoke, was rough and low.

“You’ve got such lovely hair, Holly.”

Blood rushed to her cheeks. Keeping her eyes fastened on his chest, she didn’t respond. Holly was almost afraid to speak. This was the most contact she’d had from anybody, well, other than her parents, in years—ever. She saw people touching all the time—casual touches, friendly touches, intimate ones like the way a man would stroke a hand down his woman’s back, a possessive, loving gesture, a quick kiss shared before they parted ways, or sometimes, something a little hotter, a little more intense.

Once, she’d gone to take her break a little early and had ended up walking in on a couple of coworkers. They’d pulled apart as though the Claus himself had interrupted them, moving with blurring speed to readjust clothing and then ducking out with muttered excuses.

It all filled her with a sense of jealousy and a sense of curiosity. She wanted to be touched like that. She wanted somebody to touch her, somebody who didn’t care about anything other than her—just her. Somebody who could make her forget about anything but the pleasure, everything but the need.

But she hadn’t gambled on it being possible. Rhys, once more, had proved her wrong. Under the slow, gentle movements of his hand, she forgot about everything but him. Everything but the way he smelled, the way he felt, the way it felt when he combed his fingers through her hair.

Rhys’ own hair was a dark gold, shot through with strands of deep brown, black and red. It was long, every bit as long as her own. More often than not, he kept it pulled back in a braided queue but today it hung free around his shoulders. Unable to stop, she reached out and slid her fingers through the silky, straight strands. Rhys didn’t move but something changed—she felt the tension in the air spike. Nervous, embarrassed, she tried to tug away but the arm around her shoulder tightened.

“Look at me, precious.”

She didn’t want to. But that low, compelling voice didn’t give her much of a choice. Swallowing, she eased back, looked up to meet Rhys’ eyes. They were a vivid, brilliant green rimmed by a band of gold. Usually those eyes were as unreadable as a closed book but today they all but glowed with some unnamed emotion. The green of his eyes darkened and his pupils expanded as he stared down at her. Without speaking, he straightened up on the couch and rearranged her body so that she was no longer sitting tucked against him, but on him. His gaze lowered, fastened on her mouth and abruptly Holly realized something.

Rhys was going to kiss her.

Rhys was going to kiss her. Her. Oh shit. Her heartbeat picked up, slamming away inside her chest as he slid his hands up over her arms, her shoulders, one sliding through her hair to curve around the base of her skull, the other stroking down until he could cup her hip.

This is a bad fucking idea, Rhys’ common sense shouted.

But Rhys rarely listened to anybody’s advice—including his own. Instead of letting her go, taking her home and leaving her be, he pulled her closer, staring into her eyes as he covered her mouth with his.

She was sweet. Sweet, hot…and untouched. He felt the hungry pleasure as it blasted through her body and he could sense the stunned, surprised reaction as she arched and squirmed against him, trying to get closer.

Innocence was something he had little use for. Innocence too often came with a cost he wasn’t willing to pay. And with Holly…there were would be an even bigger cost.

No woman had ever had a hold on his heart and he preferred it that way.

Nice, easy, casual—that was how Rhys liked it. But as Holly’s mouth moved against his, he knew that he was about to take a serious departure from his standard operating procedure. Because he wasn’t going to pull away. He wasn’t going to send her off to her lonely bed and retreat to his own.

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iBooks | Kobo | Play | Smashwords

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Hearts & Wishes… reissuing next week!

At twenty-five years old, Holly should be on top of the world. Rich, pampered and adored, everything she could ever ask for is hers, any wish she makes, granted.

Except for freedom—what she wants the most. Daughter of one of the most famous men in all existence—both real and imagined—she lives in near isolation, stifled by her overprotective father, slowly going out of her mind.

The bright spot in her existence is training with her father’s right-hand man, Rhys, although she doubts he’s aware of her crush.

When he’s sent off to deal with a rising threat in the world outside their protected land, Holly’s claustrophobic need for freedom rages out of control. After a heart-breaking betrayal and desperate for a chance at a life, she flees.

Unbeknownst to Holly and nearly everybody else, that rising threat has been waiting for just this moment. If Rhys doesn’t find her soon, her wish to have a life of her own may very we ll be the death of her.

This book was been previously published. It has been edited, but no new material was added. Read more.

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Play | Smashwords

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Stuff… reissuing an old book, helping out…

Releasing in February. Preorder links in the works!

At twenty-five years old, Holly should be on top of the world. Rich, pampered and adored, everything she could ever ask for is hers, any wish she makes, granted.

Except for freedom—what she wants the most. Daughter of one of the most famous men in all existence—both real and imagined—she lives in near isolation, stifled by her overprotective father, slowly going out of her mind.

The bright spot in her existence is training with her father’s right-hand man, Rhys, although she doubts he’s aware of her crush.

When he’s sent off to deal with a rising threat in the world outside their protected land, Holly’s claustrophobic need for freedom rages out of control. After a heart-breaking betrayal and desperate for a chance at a life, she flees.

Unbeknownst to Holly and nearly everybody else, that rising threat has been waiting for just this moment. If Rhys doesn’t find her soon, her wish to have a life of her own may very we ll be the death of her.

This book was been previously published. It has been edited, but no new material was added. Read more.

Helping out

Image © Vince Schilling via twitter @VinceSchilling

On January 18th, video of Omaha elder Nathan Phillips went viral on social media. The clip depicted the Vietnam Veteran playing a drum while surrounded by a group of teens as they laughed at him.

Vince and Del Schilling, friends of Mr. Phillips, have posted information on their twitter accounts for the Native Youth Alliance for donations in Mr. Phillips’ name at his request and I don’t wish to detract or take away from that.

During my time on social media, through interaction with people like Del and Vince, Maggie Dunne with Lakota Children’s Enrichment, and others, I’ve learned about some of the struggles many Native Americans still face, and the incident in Washington, DC is just the tip of the iceberg and current events are exacerbating these problems.

The government shutdown is on the minds of many and we’re four weeks into it.

Native American tribes feel the impact of shutdowns in a brutal fashion.

If you can spare the money, even $5, visit the fundraiser page at GoFundMe to help.

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The first contender for the 2019 Douchery Award

So, it’s been a crazy few weeks in Romancelandia.

For those who remember #HaleNo, the author who stalked a reviewer a few years back…well, she’s sold a book about the experience like it was a fun little lark.  Tee-hee!

Some other crap-shit about how it’s unbelievable that a courtesan could marry into nobility and have a HEA, but hey…the endless waifs finding their way into nobility are never questioned, a million and one playboy princes sneaking of into the contemporary world and nobody recognizes them…???

There’s been other crap, but I gotta tell you, I think the biggest contender for the 2019 Douchery Awards has already made his presence known, and it’s not an author (thank goodness).

May I present Jimmy Thomas?

Jimmy is a fitness guy…and he also runs Romance Novel Center.  He models for romance cover photo shoots and sells them.

And he hates on fat people. Like…seriously. Here’s a peek at his latest rant over on Facebook..

Yes, disgusting how lazy Americans are! How little self-control, discipline, and care for their health they have. Especially when I see fat kids… That is “child abuse” and it really irritates me

Happy New Year

May it be a good one.

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