Every once in a while, there’s some major news about an author stealing passages from other authors’ books. Here’s a new one on me: taking recipes from online recipes, passages from Wikipedia in their entirety, AND stealing passages from authors’ books, THEN sending these to ghost writers to turn into books. Quickly! She’s a Brazilian “author” and a lawyer, she knows better, and she even was brash enough to enter one of her books in the RITA awards contest–which is a big deal in the romance writer’s association. She said that Fiverr folks did it, but then ghost writers have been coming out of the woodwork saying that she sent them the passages and told them to incorporate them in her books. They didn’t realize they’d been plagiarizing works.
Bent out of shape sunflower–where there’s a will, there’s a way!
So, she’s pulled her books down from sale’s sites, RWA has removed her book from the awards’ consideration, she’s closed her Facebook and other social networking sites, shut down her website, she’s been outed.
Okay, folks, here’s a hint: Readers read other authors’ books. When we write our books, they don’t read only OURS. If they love a certain genre, they will read several books in that genre. If a writer steals passages from other authors, guess what happens? Fans will notice! They do!
I’ve written a couple of romance time travels, one still needing revision and hasn’t been published, but I loved reading them. Mine isn’t like anyone else’s. I don’t want my books to be a copy of anyone else’s. But I remember reading reviews on one author’s work on her time travels on Amazon, thinking I’d buy her books because I love time travels and there aren’t that many of them, and man, was she being blasted for copying other time travel authors’ books’ (major authors), passages shared on the reviews–they had her number. Of course, I didn’t buy her books.
Lots of my readers re-read my books over and over again. They know them better than I do. So if they do that with mine, they do that with others, and if we’re copying each others’ books, what do you think will happen? Fans will tell on the offending writer! Really! It’s happened a number of times. No one knows until readers out them.
There was a YA writer who did the same thing. She made New York Times Bestseller! She is at one of the Ivy League colleges and her English instructor said he couldn’t believe it. Her writing was not exemplary. Her daddy had payed handsomely to get her into the college because she kept doing so poorly on the entrance exams. Then what happened? She was found out! Numerous fans of other YA works shared the plagiarized passages and all of a sudden, the famous college student was outed! She was proven to be a FRAUD.
What’s incredible too is that the plagiarizer of the romance books even dedicated a book to herself for all the hard work she does writing her books. Ha!
It’s frustrating for those of us who work and work and work at this stuff, trying to come up with new ideas, new ways of saying the same thing–falling in love, making the commitment, solving plots–when someone is gaming the system. See, it’s not just that she’s stealing other authors’ work, but she’s getting the books out there as fast as she can, and the more books you have out in a shorter period of time, the better your rankings. I’m a fast writer, but dang, I wish I could put out a book a week and not have to work so hard.
Yet, I truly love what I do, and I own the characters, the stories, and my name is on my work for MY work.
Okay, baby is on her way soon and I’ve got to get some writing done! I’m nearly 8,000 words ahead on my word count–all my words too! Even though I say I’m ahead, this is just to make minimum word count. The books usually run longer–by 10,000-20,000 words, so I need the extra time to write the extra words.
Have a super day and make it uniquely yours!
Terry
“Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy is reality.”
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