Amazon Ebook Copyright Complaints & How To Fight Stolen Ebooks

[HuckPilgrim]

I clicked it yesterday and today I got a request for bitcoin and a threat to send compromising pics of me doing something to all my friends. If that happens, you have to hope it will help my writing career at least a little.

 

[gordo12]

I noticed the recommendations to use Google to search for stolen stories.

As someone who has used the search engines for close to eighteen years I've found Google results are circling the toilet rim and headed for a flush the last two years. I often do thousands of searches/day (software)

4 unique lines out of one of my stories (posted 6 months) completely failed on Google, but Bing nailed the story as first result 4/4. That's in line with the results I've been seeing for the last couple of years.

Even a change is search parameters pulls up the same Google results that just got rejected. Strange because Google measures that and shouldn't be posting them again.

I'd highly recommend adding Bing into your searches if you're looking for stolen stories. It's just a little more effort.

 

[12356416514a]

As someone who has used the search engines for close to eighteen years I've found Google results are circling the toilet rim and headed for a flush the last two years. I often do thousands of searches/day (software)

What happened to google? Didn't they just display everything and let the people deal with it? I notice them blocking a lot lately. I have a harder time finding stuff on google.... well the kinky stuff. What is it with their hate for porn?

literotica is completely blocked from german google for some reason. Have to go through a lot of loop holes to be able to search lit using google.

 

[ChloeTzang]

What happened to google? Didn't they just display everything and let the people deal with it? I notice them blocking a lot lately. I have a harder time finding stuff on google.... well the kinky stuff. What is it with their hate for porn?

literotica is completely blocked from german google for some reason. Have to go through a lot of loop holes to be able to search lit using google.

Use DuckDuckGo - google’s gone down the flusher along with Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook and the MSM. You have to find alternatives. DuckDuckGo is one. Mind dot com is another. Gab is a third.

As for what happened to google? Cough cough. Snorts coffee. Really? Uh. Last two years? I thought that was obvious.

 

[gordo12]

As for what happened to google? Cough cough. Snorts coffee. Really? Uh. Last two years? I thought that was obvious.

Umm, I was being generous. Didn't want to sound like a grumpy old man

 

[redzinger]

Found at least one of mine on here (don't click if you don't have protection on):
http://eroticstories.thelove18.com/

Can't find a contact email as all the links redirect to iffy sites.

 

[Ada Stuart]

Story stolen by Amazon

Oh my god. I just found one of mine being sold at Amazon.com. I don't believe it :-(

https://www.amazon.com/Christmas-Lovers-Skylar-L-Caine-ebook/dp/B07M5SZJBP/ref=sr_1_25?keywords=christmas+lovers&qid=1554146141&s=books&sr=1-25

They just changed the name of the male lead and published it - probably with a lot of grammatical errors and everything.

My original is here: https://www.literotica.com/s/christmas-lover

I'm so angry!!!

Does that mean that I'm finally a real author?

And does this mean that I can never publish this story myself?

I did file a complaint - thanks for all the good advice in this thread on how to do that.

 

[KeithD]

Oh my god. I just found one of mine being sold at Amazon.com. I don't believe it :-(

https://www.amazon.com/Christmas-Lovers-Skylar-L-Caine-ebook/dp/B07M5SZJBP/ref=sr_1_25?keywords=christmas+lovers&qid=1554146141&s=books&sr=1-25

They just changed the name of the male lead and published it - probably with a lot of grammatical errors and everything.

My original is here: https://www.literotica.com/s/christmas-lover

I'm so angry!!!

Does that mean that I'm finally a real author?

And does this mean that I can never publish this story myself?

I did file a complaint - thanks for all the good advice in this thread on how to do that.

It doesn't mean you can never publish the story yourself. If you haven't obtained a formal copyright for it, though, you might have trouble establishing ownership that a publisher/distributor will accept.

You should be able to get it off Amazon by reporting that it's available for free on Literotica. There's a button on the book page at Amazon to report the availability of essentially the same work cheaper (like zero) elsewhere.

 

[NotWise]

You should be able to get it off Amazon by reporting that it's available for free on Literotica. There's a button on the book page at Amazon to report the availability of essentially the same work cheaper (like zero) elsewhere.

I found my "Valentines for Cinderella" on Amazon under the author name of "Chan Shah." As near as I can tell it's unchanged from my original, except that he added the title to the first page, and mispelled it.

I reported it as free on Lit, and another reader reported it as plagiarised, but nothing has changed.

 

[KeithD]

I reported it as free on Lit, and another reader reported it as plagiarised, but nothing has changed.

Yes, the response is uneven. Amazon, I'm sure, was clueless on how sticky all of this can get. I don't have the problem, as nearly all of mine appear on Amazon, through a publisher, before anyone else could steal them and put them up. Amazon pretty clearly can understand the ownership of something that already is on Amazon.

 

[Ada Stuart]

Thanks KeithD

It doesn't mean you can never publish the story yourself. If you haven't obtained a formal copyright for it, though, you might have trouble establishing ownership that a publisher/distributor will accept.

You should be able to get it off Amazon by reporting that it's available for free on Literotica. There's a button on the book page at Amazon to report the availability of essentially the same work cheaper (like zero) elsewhere.

Oops, I've never gotten around to get a formal copyright to it. How do I do that? Will I need to get a publisher?

And thanks for the tip on the button. I just tried to and hopefully that will stop them from earning any more money on the theft.

 

[KeithD]

Oops, I've never gotten around to get a formal copyright to it. How do I do that? Will I need to get a publisher?

And thanks for the tip on the button. I just tried to and hopefully that will stop them from earning any more money on the theft.

Getting a formal copyright straight from the U.S. Copyright office can cost from $35 (electronic registration) to $85. Most folks don't do this for erotica, especially for what they are going to give away for free on the Internet, because it's almost impossible to invoke it even if you have it. You don't need a U.S. Copyright in the UK, but you have the same problem of trying to control it as those in the United States do, and Literotica is U.S. based anyway.

You don't need a publisher to get a U.S. formally registered copyright. The kicker is that you can't get into a U.S. court without having a formal copyright, so there's no believable leverage if you don't have one--and not much if you do, because of the problem of tracking down someone to sue (not to mention that you've valued it at zero by putting it on the Internet for free).

My answer is to take the monetary value out of it up front by my publisher putting it on Amazon before anyone else can. Then I don't bother playing whack-a-mole with it. I go to writing the next one.

 

[Ada Stuart]

Thanks KeithD

My answer is to take the monetary value out of it up front by my publisher putting it on Amazon before anyone else can. Then I don't bother playing whack-a-mole with it. I go to writing the next one.

Thanks, KeithD, for that exellent advice

I appreciate that you took the time to explain it so well. I'm quite new to this and since I'm not a US resident I'll move on to the next story.

Maybe someday I'll beat them to it and publish it myself

 

[Zeb_Carter]

Your link no longer works, so it looks like Amazon took it down.

 

[Ada Stuart]

Reply from Amazon

Your link no longer works, so it looks like Amazon took it down.

Yes, it has been taken down it seems, although Amazon just emailed my saying that

"I'm sorry but I couldn't find an Amazon.co.uk account under the e-mail address from which you've written.
For security reasons and to protect your privacy, we can only take action on an account or send account information when the request comes from the e-mail address related to that account. Please ensure you are contacting us from the email address associated with your account, this is the only way to be certain that the request is coming from the account holder and that all personal information is protected. We're sorry for any inconvenience this causes."

And to top it all, I got an email from the thief (zaire10mbiz@gmail.com) writing:
"Hi. I’m the author of the Christmas lovers book that is on Amazon Kindle. Amazon contacted me saying that this is your book and you have the rights. I believe there’s some sort of mistake. "

with no signature or anything.

What I really wonder is:
Why was Amazon sending this zaire my email?

Luckily, I only used my pen name.

So, the bottom line seems to be: Amazon only took down the story since it was free of charge on Literotica

 

[Zeb_Carter]

Yes, it has been taken down it seems, although Amazon just emailed my saying that

"I'm sorry but I couldn't find an Amazon.co.uk account under the e-mail address from which you've written.
For security reasons and to protect your privacy, we can only take action on an account or send account information when the request comes from the e-mail address related to that account. Please ensure you are contacting us from the email address associated with your account, this is the only way to be certain that the request is coming from the account holder and that all personal information is protected. We're sorry for any inconvenience this causes."

And to top it all, I got an email from the thief (zaire10mbiz@gmail.com) writing:
"Hi. I’m the author of the Christmas lovers book that is on Amazon Kindle. Amazon contacted me saying that this is your book and you have the rights. I believe there’s some sort of mistake. "

with no signature or anything.

What I really wonder is:
Why was Amazon sending this zaire my email?

Luckily, I only used my pen name.

So, the bottom line seems to be: Amazon only took down the story since it was free of charge on Literotica

Did you contact them via the information in this post...

https://forum.literotica.com/showpost.php?p=58632247&postcount=1

 

[HuckPilgrim]

And to top it all, I got an email from the thief (zaire10mbiz@gmail.com) writing:
"Hi. I’m the author of the Christmas lovers book that is on Amazon Kindle. Amazon contacted me saying that this is your book and you have the rights. I believe there’s some sort of mistake. "

The thief is fishing. I think she got your email some other way. She stole your story, then got your address somehow. I don't think Amazon would send her your address. I wouldn't respond, if at all possible.

 

[Bramblethorn]

The thief is fishing. I think she got your email some other way. She stole your story, then got your address somehow. I don't think Amazon would send her your address. I wouldn't respond, if at all possible.

Seconded, all of this.

 

[Hypoxia]

Related: Microsoft announces it will shut down ebook program and confiscate its customers' libraries (via BoingBoing)

Microsoft has a DRM-locked ebook store that isn't making enough money, so they're shutting it down and taking away every book that every one of its customers acquired effective July 1.​

Anything you've downloaded from or uploaded to a commercial site can go away at their whim. Don't trust the bastards.

 

[Ada Stuart]

Did you contact them via the information in this post...

https://forum.literotica.com/showpost.php?p=58632247&postcount=1

Yes, I used the standard letter and approach. But to no use, it seems

 

[Ada Stuart]

The thief is fishing. I think she got your email some other way. She stole your story, then got your address somehow. I don't think Amazon would send her your address. I wouldn't respond, if at all possible.

Oops, too late

I was so angry that I replied. Stupid I should've known better......

Note to self: Think before acting

Ouch, so now they'll probably steal everything else I have on Lit - good luck on cleaning all the spelling mistakes though

 

[Hypoxia]

Are you sure this message wasn't posted on April 1st?

From ZDnet on 2 April 2019. Sadly, it's real.

Meanwhile, Amazon-related (from over a year ago): Criminals are laundering money by selling books of computer-generated gibberish on Amazon.

 

[SweetOblivion]

Copyright - Adult Read

Recently, several Lit authors have contacted us with concerns about nefarious "publishers" at Amazon.com. These "publishers" steal writing/photos from around the web and publish it on Amazon.com in ebook form. Their goal is simple - to exploit the hard work of others for their own financial gain.

Thank you to everyone who has contacted us about these issues and we'll continue - as we always have - working with Lit authors to fight against anyone who tries to infringe on your work!

Was just browsing and found a load of the stories I have posted here over the years have been posted on a site called https://www.adultread.io. I imagine if my writing has been stolen - and a large number of stories have been pinched between late 2017 and late last year - the same will have happened to others.

Advice?Help?

Sweet Oblivion

 

[rubysubrosa]

When I searched for a line from my story "The Playeur", I found a site called www.literoticatokindle.com. It won't load when I click on it, though. Looking forward to getting blackmailed for bitcoin.

 

[Stultus]

I had a nice email today from someone warning me that one of my Stultus stories was being sold on eBay. Yep! Oddly, he/she/it picked probably one of my 5 worst stories to resell :?

Thief's Amazon page: https://www.amazon.com/Simon-Gerrard/e/B07VQSRL4F/ref=dp_byline_cont_ebooks_1

I've already sent an Infringement notice for my story (his title: My Brother's Hot Wife), but someone please check all of his other listings... some of the descriptions sound very familiar, like some of Harddaysknight's or Just Plain Bob's stories. Can't remember...