Challenges to Authors

When you start writing books and decide to publish, the last thing you think about is that someone could sabotage your name, brand and books. It's something that only happens to other people or in old B movies.

I started out trying to be nice about it. I didn't have a Twitter account...so I contacted Twitter directly. They removed it. Not long after, it showed up again. This time I did an email to the Twitter email address I found. I was informed that they couldn't do anything using that email. By this point, I was very discouraged. So, rather than let my name and brand be dragged through the mud further, I wrote them back and thanked them and politely informed them that the next time it happened, I would put all the info in a FaceBook post and tag the RCMP.

I have followed up. I will now do it each and every time I see my book cover used to advertise sites that have ratings of 'pishing', or other things. I didn't ask to be made a cover girl for 'pishing'. I have made it clear that this is the consequence.

Remember, that your brand, your name, your authorship is an extension of who you are. You can ignore these things and it can affect your brand, book sales, and life. Or you can stand up and say this isn't right. I'm contemplating currently just calling the RCMP and get an investigation launched since many of the sites either get blocked when I try to go in or won't be allowed on FB. I save the information so that if an investigation is launched, they can have all the information.

Don't allow your name and brand be used to sabotage your career as an author. It is great to be kind, but if you are less kind to yourself, you are not going to be of use to anyone including yourself.

Have a realistically unrealistic day. Stand up for right, stand up for good and stand up for yourself. You don't have to be violent or mean to do it. Just post the facts, not emotion. Just facts.

Feel free to share. All you need do is Google yourself to make sure you're not having your precious works of art misused. I don't mind people sharing my book covers if they like it, but to make money by using it to lure people into questionable transactions is more than I could bear.

Thanks for reading my post.