Remember last week's post about plagiarism and pirating in the modern "wild west" internet/digital publishing world?
Well...this happened. I'll let Robert Swartwood explain it all. I'm too tired. Too frustrated. I've been sorting this mess out since the mid-afternoon.
The thing which boggles me the most? The pirate can't be making (much) on his/her/its knock off of Echoes of the Dead. It's not exactly flying off the virtual shelves for me, either. Robert might not have noticed it if said pirate hadn't listed the book as a free promo.
It's not like it was erotica or something. I hear that stuff sells.
Sheesh.
I have some history with plagiarists and pirates.
One of my classmates at K-State plagiarized a term paper in Psych 350: Experimental Methods. Not a pretty sight. A few of my stories were nabbed and rebooted a few years ago (remember this?). This Christmas, some brave soul "published" an anthology of Christmas horror without rights from the authors. (Um... the antho included Stephen King, Ramsey Campbell, and many more big names.)
eBookr has quite a selection of my stuff for "free". (All you can read, folks!)
But this Amazon trick? This sh*t is just out of hand.
Welcome to the digital future.
We're just getting started...
Showing posts with label plagiarism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label plagiarism. Show all posts
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Thursday, January 19, 2012
The Digital Gold Rush and Plagiarism
In light of the recent kerfluffle at Amazon.com over plagiarized erotica (thanks to the good posters at Kindle Boards for bringing this to my attention), I've been doing some thinking.
Dangerous, that thinking thing.
A number of author's were angered--incensed--that stories were stolen from free-to-read websites and sold for profit on Amazon. Yes, it stinks. But it won't go away. Not ever.
Plagiarism has a long and healthy history in the world of content creation. In Shakespeare's time, an actor was only given his lines on tiny slips of paper which contained his lines and cues for fear the plays would be stolen. Modern technology has only made the process easier.
It's a digital gold rush.
Thank goodness Wikipedia is back today, because I'm quoting directly:
"A gold rush is a period of feverish migration of workers to an area that has had a dramatic discovery of gold."
I'm speaking of content gold, here. Follow my logic:
Some of the sites (Literotica in particular) don't appear to be publications in the traditional sense (meaning they don't reject most of their submissions and just about anyone can post). Countless similar sites exist in other genres, from fan fiction to poetry. While this isn't a case of people stealing stories from Newsweek or Fantasy and Science Fiction, it is still theft.
I'm not a fan of plagiarism and piracy; no author should be. (I've been a target of plagiarism in the past, remember?) But I'm not stupid, either. You put your content out there in today's wide-open wild west, and poachers are probably going to strip the juiciest bits like digital vultures on a rotting digital 'possum. Are we ever going to stop them? No. Not ever.
What can an author do?
Know the risks of posting online and take those you feel comfortable with. Most of all, get paid for your writing. If the Literotica scandal has shown these erotica writers anything, it's that there's a market for their words.
Publish them yourself and get paid. It's not a dirty thing to accept compensation for your work. If you don't, somebody else might.
Dangerous, that thinking thing.
A number of author's were angered--incensed--that stories were stolen from free-to-read websites and sold for profit on Amazon. Yes, it stinks. But it won't go away. Not ever.
Plagiarism has a long and healthy history in the world of content creation. In Shakespeare's time, an actor was only given his lines on tiny slips of paper which contained his lines and cues for fear the plays would be stolen. Modern technology has only made the process easier.
It's a digital gold rush.
Thank goodness Wikipedia is back today, because I'm quoting directly:
"A gold rush is a period of feverish migration of workers to an area that has had a dramatic discovery of gold."
I'm speaking of content gold, here. Follow my logic:
- Many authors post on Kindle Boards about how lucritive erotica can be.
- Plagiarizer goes to the web and trawls for free stories (and there are a ridiculous number of them out there--in any genre).
- Ctrl+C then Ctrl+V and a few formatting moments and voila, a book.
Some of the sites (Literotica in particular) don't appear to be publications in the traditional sense (meaning they don't reject most of their submissions and just about anyone can post). Countless similar sites exist in other genres, from fan fiction to poetry. While this isn't a case of people stealing stories from Newsweek or Fantasy and Science Fiction, it is still theft.
I'm not a fan of plagiarism and piracy; no author should be. (I've been a target of plagiarism in the past, remember?) But I'm not stupid, either. You put your content out there in today's wide-open wild west, and poachers are probably going to strip the juiciest bits like digital vultures on a rotting digital 'possum. Are we ever going to stop them? No. Not ever.
What can an author do?
Know the risks of posting online and take those you feel comfortable with. Most of all, get paid for your writing. If the Literotica scandal has shown these erotica writers anything, it's that there's a market for their words.
Publish them yourself and get paid. It's not a dirty thing to accept compensation for your work. If you don't, somebody else might.
Friday, November 5, 2010
The Public Domain Illusion
Most of you have no doubt heard of the brouhaha surrounding Cooks Source Magazine and writer Monica Gaudio. If you haven't, take a moment to read this fairly complete article or stop by Monica's Livejournal for the scoop straight from the victim's digital mouth.
The bit which really frightened me, as a writer, was Cooks Source managing editor Judith Griggs' response regarding the web as public domain:
But honestly Monica, the web is considered "public domain"...
I thought only my students were so asinine. The good news, I suppose, is my students are still learning about things like copyright, intellectual property, and plagiarism. (I hope.) The bad news, for all of us trying to carve a niche in the business of "content creation," is such concepts are a hard sell for the next generation.
They've grown up with free. The internet has made "everything" free; granted, I'd argue most of the "everything" is of less value than premium content. A downloaded mp3 file may be corrupted. But what about fiction...Fantasy, Strange Horizons, Clarkesworld, Lightspeed, Tor.com...a number of top tier genre venues are free to read. Yes, they pay their authors, and pay them well. If the web was public domain...hell, we could all create POD copies of The Year's Best Fantasy and Science Fiction and fill them with stories from these online venues. Public domain my ass.
I've happily posted stories (mostly flash fiction), novel excerpts, and more for "free" online. Excuse me: to read for free online. Does it cheapen my work?
I don't know. I think I know how J.A. Konrath or Cory Doctorow would respond. Maybe.
A comment to one article (from The Guardian) scared me more than any suggestion of "public domain". I believe the author of the content is Todd Howe; he goes by tehowe42 in the comments:
I'm now even more dubious about the legitimacy of copyright law in the way it stifles the sharing of information when no actual physical commodity is stolen.
I could hear my students' voices in that comment. Be afraid, folks. Your thoughts and expressions are no longer your own. That story you just wrote? The "world" owns it. Make sure to send the royalty checks on time. If you understand anything about the history of copyright law, note it was, in part to encourage artists to create and feel safe that they would reap the financial benefits of their work if it was successful (at least for a limited time). Before copyright law, creative ventures were there for the stealing. (Um, why do you think some people question Shakespeare's authorship of his plays?) I, for one, don't want to return to a world of cut-throatery where the most devious could steal bread from the table of the most creative and prolific.
And yes, cut-throatery is not a real word. Yet.
The bit which really frightened me, as a writer, was Cooks Source managing editor Judith Griggs' response regarding the web as public domain:
But honestly Monica, the web is considered "public domain"...
I thought only my students were so asinine. The good news, I suppose, is my students are still learning about things like copyright, intellectual property, and plagiarism. (I hope.) The bad news, for all of us trying to carve a niche in the business of "content creation," is such concepts are a hard sell for the next generation.
They've grown up with free. The internet has made "everything" free; granted, I'd argue most of the "everything" is of less value than premium content. A downloaded mp3 file may be corrupted. But what about fiction...Fantasy, Strange Horizons, Clarkesworld, Lightspeed, Tor.com...a number of top tier genre venues are free to read. Yes, they pay their authors, and pay them well. If the web was public domain...hell, we could all create POD copies of The Year's Best Fantasy and Science Fiction and fill them with stories from these online venues. Public domain my ass.
I've happily posted stories (mostly flash fiction), novel excerpts, and more for "free" online. Excuse me: to read for free online. Does it cheapen my work?
I don't know. I think I know how J.A. Konrath or Cory Doctorow would respond. Maybe.
A comment to one article (from The Guardian) scared me more than any suggestion of "public domain". I believe the author of the content is Todd Howe; he goes by tehowe42 in the comments:
I'm now even more dubious about the legitimacy of copyright law in the way it stifles the sharing of information when no actual physical commodity is stolen.
I could hear my students' voices in that comment. Be afraid, folks. Your thoughts and expressions are no longer your own. That story you just wrote? The "world" owns it. Make sure to send the royalty checks on time. If you understand anything about the history of copyright law, note it was, in part to encourage artists to create and feel safe that they would reap the financial benefits of their work if it was successful (at least for a limited time). Before copyright law, creative ventures were there for the stealing. (Um, why do you think some people question Shakespeare's authorship of his plays?) I, for one, don't want to return to a world of cut-throatery where the most devious could steal bread from the table of the most creative and prolific.
And yes, cut-throatery is not a real word. Yet.
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
On Plagiarists, Fake Names, and Other Random Things
Let me say one thing about stealing someone's fiction and claiming as your own: it doesn't pay. It doesn't pay in financial terms, and it sure as hell doesn't pay in the destructive force said plagiarist calls upon him/herself, especially in the era of Google searches and the interwebTM. Not to mention a whole slew of explicatives I'd love to sling at plagiarists for being total %($&#@s, but this is a "family oriented" blog after all. (Like hell it is.)
Evidently there's a new plagiarist in town, but he's not new at all.
From Jodi Lee: "I was recently tipped off (via twitter) to proof that David “Doc” Byron has been plagiarizing works, presumably from people that have submitted to one of his many little for-the-love projects."
You can track the discussion from there.
This has happened before, to me. I'm sure it happens all the time. I don't understand the mind of some people, especially when stealing someone's story and posting for free online...or giving away to a FTL market...dude, nobody's reading your steaming, stolen, pile of dog sh*t. (Not that the original story was dog sh*t...it just became so when you put your name on it, thief.) Are you trying to build a reputation? Well, you have one. Jerk.
Speaking of names (cool off, Angry Aaron), I intended to post a little bit about fake names (for fiction). Yes, we're all familiar with random name generators, especially for fantasy and science fiction...check out this site for run-of-the-mill, normal people names (and other information). Kind of spooky...it gives you a fake credit card number even. (I hope those are fake--sheesh.)
Speaking of random, Andrea Allison of Southern Writemares plays around with random titles at her blog. My suggestion? Mix and match the words from various titles and generate something truly random, like "Flowers of Shards" or "The Twinkling Boyfriend".
(I think I've heard of that last one...)
Speaking of overused transitional phrases, have a great day, huh?
Evidently there's a new plagiarist in town, but he's not new at all.
From Jodi Lee: "I was recently tipped off (via twitter) to proof that David “Doc” Byron has been plagiarizing works, presumably from people that have submitted to one of his many little for-the-love projects."
You can track the discussion from there.
This has happened before, to me. I'm sure it happens all the time. I don't understand the mind of some people, especially when stealing someone's story and posting for free online...or giving away to a FTL market...dude, nobody's reading your steaming, stolen, pile of dog sh*t. (Not that the original story was dog sh*t...it just became so when you put your name on it, thief.) Are you trying to build a reputation? Well, you have one. Jerk.
Speaking of names (cool off, Angry Aaron), I intended to post a little bit about fake names (for fiction). Yes, we're all familiar with random name generators, especially for fantasy and science fiction...check out this site for run-of-the-mill, normal people names (and other information). Kind of spooky...it gives you a fake credit card number even. (I hope those are fake--sheesh.)
Speaking of random, Andrea Allison of Southern Writemares plays around with random titles at her blog. My suggestion? Mix and match the words from various titles and generate something truly random, like "Flowers of Shards" or "The Twinkling Boyfriend".
(I think I've heard of that last one...)
Speaking of overused transitional phrases, have a great day, huh?
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