Carolyn:
One of my more obsessive habits is to check out the freebies on Amazon every so often. Sometimes I actually find something I'd like to try and download it.
Tonight, I checked out a book called Black Silk by Jan Gordon and found myself in the midst of a kerfluffle.
http://www.amazon.com/Black-Silk-ebook/dp/B00579ETNI/ref=zg_bstf_154606011_17
Various friends and fans had posted reviews stating that this book was pirated, that it had originally been offered for $2.99, been taken down when the author contacted Amazon and then it reappeared as a freebie.
The author stated: "If you want to read this story please download Black Silk from one of the legitimate sources: Feedbooks, Smashwords, B&N, Sony, Apple, Diesel, or Kobo."
I was horrified, because Lori has several books free on Smashwords and what if the same thing happened to her? Then I started thinking and some questions arose.
First of all, why would a pirate put up a pirated book with the original author's name still on it? That seems sort of dumb.
Second of all, does anyone know how these free books get there? Lori wanted to put her stories on Amazon as freebies and the program wouldn't let her. When she called Amazon, she was told that Direct Publishing wasn't eligible for the free book program, or whatever you want to call it. So, how did this book, which has no publisher listed, but does list Amazon Services as distributor get on the freebie board?
The author posted it free everywhere BUT Amazon, which makes sense if it's directly published (like what happened to Lori), but then damn! There it is anyway. Strange ...
All these people, posting reviews to urge people to get the book at an author approved site, gave a 5 star rating to a pirated version. O.o
So I have to ask myself - is this all legitimate or merely a publicity ploy?
I don't think I want to read the book anymore, lol.
Lori:
Carolyn and I have The Bodice Rippers up on Amazon through KDP, Kindle Direct Publishing. When I asked how to place a free book on Amazon as a writer I was told by two different Amazon representatives, that authors cannot.
Let me say that again: authors cannot place their books on Amazon as free books.
So what bullshit is this woman pulling?
I published 'Black Silk' on Feedbooks and Smashwords. Smashwords distribute to B&N and the other mentioned companies. They do not yet have an agreement with Amazon.
ReplyDeleteI have no idea how the book got onto Amazon. It was apparently published on 5th June. I did not know about it until Wednesday 29th when a fan emailed me to congratulate me on reaching #7 in the free listing at Amazon UK.
I then checked the US site and found it was being offered for $2.99. I thought that perhaps I'd missed an announcement from Smashwords about Amazon. So I contacted them and they stated categorically that they are not distributing to Amazon. I must mention at this point that I did not nor will I receive a penny from any sales at Amazon, and I hope that anyone who did pay for it will get their money refunded.
As I do not live in either the States or the UK I asked a friend to download it and send it to me. She had to remove the DRM! I can't believe there was actually DRM on it. It was deplorably formatted and my contact information had been removed.
I contacted Amazon and had to provide copyright information. It took them six days, but they finally took it down.
This was not a publicity stunt because I do not have any work that is being sold. I'm an amateur who writes fanfiction and the occasional original story.
Initially, when Amazon did not reply to my emails, I was so upset that I told some of my internet friends. They then began a 'review' writing campaign, which rapidly spread to people I do not know. After a day or two of the 'campaign' the book was discounted to zero but was still available.
It is no longer being offered on Amazon.
Black Silk was my first attempt at an 'original' story instead of fanfiction. To date it's had more than a quarter of a million downloads and has caused me more trouble than it's worth. Unfortunately, the internet being what it is, I cannot withdraw it completely.
Nope...no bullshit. It was able to be listed because the thief listed it for 2.99. Then after we left reviews, it was changed (discounted) to 0.00. Which means that the price can go back up.
ReplyDeleteYou can choose to read the book or not. I enjoyed it myself. I was one of the reviewers as Jan has become a good friend. She was upset that someone stole her work and distributed it without her permission. And is it was a poorly formatted copy which would be a negative reflection on her.
It wasn't a marketing ploy as Jan's book already had over 100k downloads at the other sites. She is just a writer who would like to keep control over her own work. I can't see how anyone could blame her.
Unfortunately, there are many eBooks that are pirated. It's scary that someone can just randomly take what it yours and do what he wants with it. This is another reason why there are some authors that don't want to license their work into eBooks.
At least Amazon acted appropriately and removed the stolen book from their catalog after Jan proved she was the copyright holder. If she wanted publicity, she would have left Black Silk on Amazon...don't you think?
This was not a publicity stunt. The book was placed there illegally and someone was attempting to profit from Jan's work. Jan never charged for the book and it is still free to download from Smashwords, Feedbooks and B&N. When Amazon lets someone upload a book onto their site, they need to have some sort of process to verify that it is done with the approval of the copyright holder. Thankfully they have removed it now and I hope it will remain that way.
ReplyDeleteI published 'Black Silk' on Feedbooks and Smashwords. Smashwords distribute to B&N and the other mentioned companies. They do not yet have an agreement with Amazon.
ReplyDeleteI have no idea how the book got onto Amazon. It was apparently published on 5th June. I did not know about it until Wednesday 29th when a fan emailed me to congratulate me on reaching #7 in the free listing at Amazon UK.
I then checked the US site and found it was being offered for $2.99. I thought that perhaps I'd missed an announcement from Smashwords about Amazon. So I contacted them and they stated categorically that they are not distributing to Amazon. I must mention at this point that I did not nor will I receive a penny from any sales at Amazon, and I hope that anyone who did pay for it will get their money refunded.
As I do not live in either the States or the UK I asked a friend to download it and send it to me. She had to remove the DRM! I can't believe there was actually DRM on it. It was deplorably formatted and my contact information had been removed.
I contacted Amazon and had to provide copyright information. It took them six days, but they finally took it down.
This was not a publicity stunt because I do not have any work that is being sold. I'm an amateur who writes fanfiction and the occasional original story.
Initially, when Amazon did not reply to my emails, I was so upset that I told some of my internet friends. They then began a 'review' writing campaign, which rapidly spread to people I do not know. After a day or two of the 'campaign' the book was discounted to zero but was still available.
It is no longer being offered on Amazon.
Black Silk was my first attempt at an 'original' story instead of fanfiction. To date it's had more than a quarter of a million downloads and has caused me more trouble than it's worth. Unfortunately, the internet being what it is, I cannot withdraw it completely.
Today, I received an email from the culprit. He's apologizing and swearing that he did not pubish my work, even though it is apparently in his publishing account at Amazon.
Thank you for responding to our post.
ReplyDeleteMy biggest problem is not with Jan or the people supporting her. My biggest problem is how the book got to be a freebie in the first place and for that matter, why.
As we both stated, it was first offered for 2.99 and when Amazon took it down, was put up as a freebie.
Why? And how?
Why would a pirate put it up as freebie, if they wanted to make money from it?
How did they put it up? Amazon very clearly told Lori that authors (and I presume the pirate was posing as an author, specifically Jan) could NOT list their books as free. Lori wanted to list some short erotica to tempt folks to her longer works and could not. Could. Not. So how did this person?
I know you probably can't answer that question and it's really not directed at you per se. It's just frustrating that a damn pirate can do it and we can't!
And lord knows, Amazon would never give us an answer, lol.
What's scary is that someone stole her book, loaded it on to Amazon, and was charging for it. In talking with Jan yesterday, that was posted for 3 weeks at 2.99 on all the Amazon sites. Only after she found out about it, I left a review on Amazon telling people not to buy it. It was still 2.99 at that time. Then it was taken down. We thought it was Amazon responding to Jan proving she had the copyright. But no...it popped back up the next day for free.
ReplyDeleteThankfully, the matter has been resolved at Amazon and the book was removed. Since it takes up to 60 days for the payments to process, Amazon was able to hold up payment to the thief and hopefully has returned the money to those that bought it.
Oh...and Jan corrected me that it's been downloaded over 250k times. She was really shaken by this. It's kind of like identity theft. All she did was write a story that she wanted to share. Never in a million years did she think that someone would steal her free book and try to make money off it.
From reading the Kindle forum, I know there are a lot of writers that want to post their first book as free. Chalk it up to marketing expenses to get a following. But I think because this person loaded it for 2.99, that's why he was able to do it. Then he dropped the price after we started hollering. And yes...the thief was a he. And that's an even weirder story!
I have several friends that are published, indie published, and self published. We try to look out for one another because they don't have major publishers behind them to do it.