I no longer plan to participate in the KDP Select program once my current contracts expire due to erratic and chaotic accusations of plagiarism.
Piracy is a huge problem and is often much more coordinated than authors realize. The even bigger problem is Amazon's unintelligent, punish-the-author approach to managing copyright issues. The pirates are laughing all the way to the bank while the authors are destroyed.
How does this happen?
When you take advantage of those 5 measly free days that Amazon uses to lure authors into the KDP Select program, so do the pirates. They come through, scrape your story, repackage and resell it on Amazon and all over the internet. (Hell, sometime they even shell out a few bucks to buy your book in order to steal it.)
Which results in Amazon accusing YOU of plagiarism once they find the plagiarized content. (Please, for the love of books, register your copyright!)
Amazon has been known to only give authors one day to respond to their accusation--better hope you're not sick or in the midst of a power outage or traveling. Even if you respond and prove you are the copyright owner, they have also been known to suspend, not just the book in question, but your ENTIRE account.
Once that happens your books' rankings are dust. Any momentum you've built up is gone and you will be starting over from scratch.
This is happening to authors right now. People are losing everything they've built. All for 5 free days and a buck something per lend.
I don't know about you, but the benefits of the KDP Select program are nowhere near enough for me to assume that kind of risk.
KDP Select gives Amazon way too much power, power they are abusing with draconian impunity.
I think I will advise my friends and hubby who are authors to avoid this like the plague!
ReplyDeleteMichelle, what will happen when Amazon is the only one left and they rule the world?
ReplyDeleteThank you, For this article. Not enough is being said about the downside.
Did you think about sending a formal letter from your attorney to Amazon and/or other web sites?
ReplyDeleteIn Italy, to prove the paternity of your own work, all you need to do is to send it by priority mail to yourself and keep the package closed, so the date on the postal package will be the proof for the judge (who will be the only one entitled to open it during the suit).
This is why EVERYONE should officially register their copyright to EVERY piece they publish. I've been doing that from the first, and this just reinforces for me the importance of doing it every single time. I am very much afraid there will be more of this if authors don't copyright their material.
ReplyDeleteI'm a newbie...how do you register your copyright?
DeleteIn the US you can do it online rather easily, for $35. There are some minor glitches as copyright procedures have not kept up with the ebook revolution, but it's not overly difficult.
DeleteI need to register another book and am thinking of doing a post with screen shots as a tutorial.
M
This is interesting. I know authors who love their KDP program and have seen results from it. I'll pass this info on. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteChiara: I have read that no court here in the US has accepted the 'mail copyright' but I am not a lawyer and could be wrong.
ReplyDeleteHere's what I know and have heard...
1.Amazon has said to an author that they would only accept the US Copyright certificate.
2.To date, they haven't required the certificate just a statement from the author asserting they own copyright. However, sending in this statement has not prevented account suspension and loss of rank and, I believe, 'also bought' links.
And yes PLEASE register your copyright formally--this should be a priority. It is only $35. Do a Kickstarter campaign, if you must, to afford it but do not leave yourself vulnerable to criminals.
Michelle
Thank you very much for your information, I didn't know that Amazon required the US certificate: it's way better for me to protect my works the american way, to avoid problems there. After all, no one reads books in Italian, but the English translation may be vulnerable to pirates.
DeleteMichelle, i am naive to all this but if you are published by a publisher dont they hold the copyright? Or is this an issue for the countless self published authors who are taking advantaged of the program at amazon? Seems to me Amazon should take no uncopyrighted material which forces the self published to get their copyrights. I just found a pirate site that is so full nyc published authors it is ridiculous, and the law puts the burden of proof in the hands of the author not the site who is pirating the stuff, what a stupid law.
ReplyDeleteThis is an indie issue and one area where publishers offer a real benefit to authors--although traditionally published authors have been pirated and plagiarized as well, but the publishers have the protection of different contracts, in house lawyers, and industry associations--all things indies lack.
DeleteSorry, I don't agree with half of what that article you linked to said. As an author, the second you put pen to paper you own the copyright of your creation. Yes it's sensible to take steps to ensure that you can establish that, but you don't have to register anywhere. Keep the notes, your WIP, email drafts to yourslf (more reliable than the posting method, which has long been considered redundant). You don't have to spend a fortune getting your copyright certified.
ReplyDeleteThen the idea that your book can be ripped while free for a period and uploaded to Amazon by a pirate is nonsense. Firstly, as that article pointed out, Amazon made a stand against the flood of Public Domain works it had available by deleting duplicate content about six months ago. If someone rips your book off Amazon and uploads it back onto Amazon, they'll be caught almost immediately. The example in question was never an Amazon book to begin with. You're in more danger if you put your book on another forum and someone tries to upload it to Amazon. But this has nothing to do with the Select programme anyway (of which, coincidentally, I am not a member, for other reasons). Anyone can buy a book off Amazon and get a refund on it, the book doesn't have to be free. I could nab myself the bestseller now, copy the file and then 'return' the book and I'd have a book I knew was successful for nothing.
Most pirates are interested in the biggest return, that's the point. As a rule they're not going to rip off the works of unknown, untested indies and try and make it big, they're going to rip off the big boys. You might get the odd one, but it will be small scale and the chances of it happening to you are remote. Certainly remote enough that you don't have to worry about avoiding certain distributors as a result.
There is an issue about how far Amazon should go to compensate the copyright owner should this happen, that's the subject of a whole other debate between distributor and publisher (indie, in this case), and legally it's still a sticky area. The law will always put the burden of proof onto the accusing party (i.e. the copyright owner) as long as the accused is innocent until proven guilty, and I'm sorry but that's the way it should be.
Well Amanda Hocking was an unknown, she started with Amazon e-books... if she had followed your advice, she'd be in trouble now.
DeleteIn what way? She started with Amazon and stayed with them, and she hit the big time without losing it all to piracy. I'd say she proved my point. It's much more likely her books will be targeted now than it was two years ago. I'm not saying that no indie is going to be targeted by pirates, but the likelihood diminishes in direct corrlation with your popularity.
DeleteKate, I disagree with you on the idea that they only go after the biggies, this site has many midlist as well as self published authors as well as the biggies, http://www.ebookr.com/search/ This is a subscription site that offers free downloads in many different formats and the authors I have spoken to at no time have given these guys the rights to their work. I find the law is pertaining to digital rights ridiculous in that the authors has to prove her work is copyrighted but the site doesn't have to prove they have a copyright to offer the work on their service. Seems to me either way if you are in a selfpublished author pay the money and get a copyright, easier to prove you own the work.
ReplyDeleteCan the piraters 'scrape' the books for content only if they're free on KDP Select? What about non Select titles that are free or paid from Amazon? I'm a wee bit confused.
ReplyDeleteIt doesn't matter who steals or how they steal, the problem is Amazon's crushing enforcement. We are not going to stop piracy (although I do think the flagrant plagiarism will die down as author awareness makes it less profitable), but we do need to stop Amazon from destroying people's hard work and income. Their response must become more reasoned and rational.
DeleteKDP Select is an exclusivity contract that is heavily policed by Amazon. So what is happening is people sign up and Amazon scours the internet for violations...and finds them due to piracy and plagiarism. Then they destroy you per my post.
M
Any the risk goes away if you don't sign up for KDP? I think not. KDP is not the enemy. Amazon is not the enemy. The issue of piracy is more complex than one marketing strategy.
ReplyDeleteAmazon's idea of enforcement is the enemy. Their practices are needlessly draconian and destructive.
DeleteM
Maddie,
DeleteI agree with you. Piracy has been around for ages. I worked for a major university for 23 years accepting theses and dissertations on a daily basis. Only a handful of graduating students applied for the registered copyright because it doesn't actually protect you, rather gives you the legal right to take the person your believe to be a pirate to court, and who can afford that? I can't. IMHO, registering a copyright is like placing a bet that your book out of the millions published is going to be the one plagiarized or pirated. As for the KDP program...I've been an author for years and I've made more money through that venue in six months than I have in the entire time I've been writing. I'll be sticking with it as long as my publisher sees fit to keep our books exclusively there.
First, I have to respectfully disagree with the poster who said the pirates are only interested in "big" authors. I am a no-name who has been pirated, as have most of my no-name friends. The problem is huge.
ReplyDeleteSecond, I think all of us believe in "innocent until proven guilty". The problem is that even when you prove a pirate guilty, there are no consequences. It's like we're asking a store owner to catch the shoplifter, haul him to a judge, prove the store owner owns the merchandise (all valid) and then, when convicted, the judge lets the thief go. Next day, the thief is walking out of the store with his stolen merchandise, and setting up his own selling booth right outside the shopowner's door again. And, once more, he's "innocent until proven guilty". Without consequences, the laws have little meaning. And, btw, the store owner is selling a loaf of bread for $2, because he paid $1 to buy it from the baker. The thief can sell the same loaf for 50 cents, because he got it for free.
Meanwhile the court is penalizing you for letting the thief get your stuff!
DeleteM
First, let me preface this with saying I have dealt with plagiarism online previously in conjunction with a large media company. I have some direct experience as are writer here even though I am not the affected author mentioned in my post.
ReplyDeleteThe deja vu is incredible. These situations always hurt the writer. Always. Amazon has no interest in your survival, only theirs.
Second, there is a difference between 'owning your copyright the second you put pen to paper' and proving that. Copyright registration is HOW you provide evidence of ownership. Things like dated manuscripts and the like would end up in a court case and are not necessarily something Amazon would be willing to evaluate. Keep in mind, they have told at least one author the gold standard is registration, not that sealed manuscript you mailed to your Aunt for safekeeping.
Third, those of you who have not tangled with large companies such as Amazon working to protect their interests, not yours, have NO idea how swift and crushing their actions will be should you end up in the cross hairs.
Gah! that's so terrible!! It's one thing to share a story from the same author, but to repackage it and say it's yours--ugh. I don't get people.
ReplyDeleteI don't agree with you on this. I have seven books on Amazon and have not, as far as I know, been pirated. But pirates target every author, not just those on KDP. I don't think I will be spending several hundred to copyright my book.
ReplyDeleteI don't understand how Amazon can say you are the offending party at all. The publishing date is squarely on the page. If the pirates publish after you, isn't that a pretty big sign that they stole from you?
ReplyDeleteMichelle, I would like to see some citation on these claims. So far you've offered rhetoric, but nothing to substantiate them.
On the other hand, I've seen some very good posts about how KDP has helped other authors. They've shown their data.
I can understand being afraid of piracy. But this appears as if you read the attached article and that's it. You even said yourself that they are accusations.
This reads as sensationalism, not hard facts.
On no Jeff, this is not sensationalism, it happened to authors I know as I watched. I did much more than read one little article, I literally watched someone I know lose everything. Someone who is afraid to speak out because they fear more problems. I've seen other authors kill themselves jumping through hoops to prove to Amazon they own their work with very little professionalism on Amazon's part.
DeleteThey gave Amazon exclusive content and this was their reward; harassment, unfair, inconsistent procedure and policy.
Further, publication date means nothing. Amazon has no idea if you are a disgruntled crit partner or hacking someone's email. Just because you are first to publish on Amazon means nothing to them. Again, this is why registering your copyright is so important.
I actually understand this viewpoint, what I can't understand is how they fail to notice the plagiarizers upload 50 books in one day with terrible amateur covers. This is a standard pattern, but Amazon is blind, punishing the people who are not uploading like robots and who pay money for good covers.
One plagiarizer uploaded Bram Stoker's Dracula and Amazon did not notice. But, then again, that book wasn't in KDP Select.
When you enroll in KDP Select, Amazon polices the contractual exclusivity you agreed to. Should they find pirated or plagiarized copies, they will blame you. They have proven all too prone to taking you down and asking questions later.
Michelle
Unfortunately i think it can get worse, as a Dane (From Denmark :) ) i can think up possible scary scenarios. I'm afraid of the litature that can get translated to diffrent languages and then sold as new books, without the indie writer having the faintest idear. books in Denmark cost 8-10 times more in retail, due to labour cost and taxation. I'm sure no one but me and my bank account would know if i translated a good book and sold it off.
ReplyDelete@caroline Clemmons, you are probably not aware of the hundreds of sites that sell pirated books. I sometime find sites normally hidden that offers software, and in increasing number e-books.
I've seen sites that had tousands of books, of writers small and big, offering their pirated stuff in blind ignorance of the amout of work that has gone into it. only because they "think information wants to be free".
The ease of copying a digital books gets easier and easier with better copy tools.
@Carol riggs, what's not to understand, put up 70-100 good books in diffrent names and diff. places, and you could have a western lifestyle income, and a richer one of if living outside that zone.