CockyGate and Who Does it Hurt? Also...READERS AREN'T STUPID!
Sorry, I had to add that last because I still can't believe any author would insult their own readers intelligence like that.
But I should probably start from the beginning.
I've made two videos covering this, which I highly recommend you check out, but to summarize, there is an author few have heard of-which has been pointed out happens more with KU authors, nothing against them, but there is a bit of a divide-claimed that others were trying to copy her book titles to use her fame to sell books. And it was confusing her readers, so she registered a trademark.
For the word 'Cocky'.
Since then, she's been sending threatening emails to authors who have 'Cocky' in their title. Even authors who had the title before her books were published. Strangely enough, she's only going after authors who can't afford to bring this to court.
This situation if huge, and ugly, but it sets a dangerous precedent that any author could claim any single word and eliminate the competition. Rather than books doing well on merit, you will see books by whoever had the money to trademark a word.
Which may sound ridiculous, but having money is already a huge game-changer in regards to promotion, artwork, visibility. This would be another hurdle for authors without the financial backing to jump over.
And that's just the beginning.
Courtney Milan wrote a threat covering the whole situation here:
But I should probably start from the beginning.
I've made two videos covering this, which I highly recommend you check out, but to summarize, there is an author few have heard of-which has been pointed out happens more with KU authors, nothing against them, but there is a bit of a divide-claimed that others were trying to copy her book titles to use her fame to sell books. And it was confusing her readers, so she registered a trademark.
For the word 'Cocky'.
Since then, she's been sending threatening emails to authors who have 'Cocky' in their title. Even authors who had the title before her books were published. Strangely enough, she's only going after authors who can't afford to bring this to court.
This situation if huge, and ugly, but it sets a dangerous precedent that any author could claim any single word and eliminate the competition. Rather than books doing well on merit, you will see books by whoever had the money to trademark a word.
Which may sound ridiculous, but having money is already a huge game-changer in regards to promotion, artwork, visibility. This would be another hurdle for authors without the financial backing to jump over.
And that's just the beginning.
Courtney Milan wrote a threat covering the whole situation here:
I’ve had a bunch of people in my mentions ask me for a summary of #cockygate #byefaleena, so here goes...with links, and some new additions at the end.— Courtney!!! Milan
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