What The February!

Well, that happened.

February came upon us in its usual fashion. Snow, cold, cranky peeps with colds, flu bugs, and other gnarly cruds. It seemed like just another month in the wide world of publishing.

However, mid-February proved that wrong when all hell broke loose.

Plagiarizing.

OMG the Plagiarizing.

Then the book theft… I won’t call it pirating because that makes me think of Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom and I refuse to give a thief that sort of image or kindness.

Either way, be it via plagiarism or outright theft of an entire book, stealing is stealing, and it is wrong. So very, very wrong.

Thieves do not deserve the romanticism of being called a pirate.

Now, I was raised in a rather strict religious family, not horribly so, but certain tenants were drilled into my head at an early age. You don’t cheat. You don’t lie. You don’t steal. Seems simple enough, like these things should be common sense. However, common sense seems to have left the universe.

When a person chooses to plagiarize or upload a book for free consumption without an author’s permission, it goes against all… and I mean ALL of these tenets.

Plagiarists and thieves steal the work and words of others. They cheat the systems put in place to protect the person who created the original content and they cheat the content creator out of potential revenues. They lie to the readers who think they are getting original content in a legal and honest way. This is why, to my mind, thieves do not deserve the romanticism of being called a pirate.

So what happened with this plagiarism to which I refer?

Well, a historical romance author, Courtney Milan, whom I’ve followed on Twitter shared the news that her book – or at least one of her books – had been used by an alleged plagiarist without permission.

I will pause and note two things here… 1- I will not name names of the accused as I do not believe they deserve more attention. 2- I say “alleged” because at this point there have been no charges filed nor convictions.

But the tale does not end there… it gets worse!

Anyway, Courtney backed up her accusation of alleged plagiarism with side by side screenshots of her book(s) and the alleged plagiarists “book”. The evidence as displayed by Courtney was damning at best but then the plot thickened.

The alleged plagiarist then openly stated that she had no knowledge of such theft and blamed a ghostwriter. This seemed to be quite the cop out, in my opinion, but I was on the outside looking in so who was I to say anything? Please note here, that I, personally, do not use ghostwriters – I have too many OCD and control issues. LOL But… and that is a big BUT, I have nothing against the honest, professional ones who do their due diligence and put forth the best product possible. There is, however, a line that needs to be drawn between the upstanding ghostwriters and those who slap shit together and call it a job well done when it really isn’t.

Readers started paying closer attention to the “books” of the alleged plagiarist and speaking out. The list of authors whose books seemed to have been stolen from began to grow and with that, the list of books stolen grew. A Twitter blogger, Caffeinated Fae, began keeping a list of authors and books. And the list grew.

To date, the list comprises no less than 53 books, 34 authors, 3 websites, 3 articles, and 2 recipes. But the tale does not end there… it gets worse!

Of those 34 authors, Courtney’s name features prominently, as does Tessa Dare, Maya Banks, Nora Roberts, and Diana Gabaldon, just to name a few. Yes, you read that correctly. Nora Roberts, the author whose books your mom’s and grandmom’s read in your youth. Diana Gabaldon, whose Outlander books have been made into a most popular HBO series. Yeah, those guys.

Needless to say, this battle is now being fought by bigger entities than little people like myself, people who are willing to stand up for and stand beside their indie counterparts both big and small.

Have I mentioned that I don’t believe thieves deserve to be romanticized?

My sympathy ends where the excuses begin.

Then, let’s talk about book thieves… they suck.

In the grand scheme of things, authors, musicians, artists, movie creators – people who create the things we all love – have had an ongoing battle with what the law terms “piracy” for ages. You’ve seen the notifications when you watch a movie or seen the disclaimers all over the place when you buy a movie or a piece of music or what-have-you. But there are those who take the purposeful and vile act of this sort of thievery to a whole new level.

It has come to light that there are sites here in the US (technically, it’s an international problem, but we’ll stick to the US today) that actively, openly, and willfully encourage the theft of author’s intellectual property. They invite the users of their site to add stolen content. They state in their terms of service that if a book cannot be found, then the user can request said book and return within days or sometimes even hours to get the book. The use of the DMCA is a futile exercise. The operator of the site states if a DMCA has been sent, then they’ll wait for a bit and get the book back. The flagrant disregard for the law, the authors, and other content creators is repulsive.

Thankfully, as your resident weirdo, my books don’t seem to be popular or cool enough to be stolen so I simply soldier on, watching from the sidelines, cheering for the authors – both indie and trad. However, I can’t bring myself to feel sorry for the people who use the sites that willfully steal copyrighted property.

They attempt to garner sympathy with the “I can’t afford to buy all the books I read, I have bills to pay, children to feed, *insert other lame excuse*…” But they have a smartphone or tablet of some sort or they wouldn’t be downloading illegal content. They have internet service or they wouldn’t be downloading illegal content. If they say “but I have to go to the library, or Starbucks, or *insert other place to access free wi-fi* to get my books” then I say check out a book from said library rather than stealing one. Don’t buy that triple shot uber-doodly-whatever coffee from Starbucks, buy a book rather than stealing one.

My sympathy ends where the excuses begin. If you crunch some simple numbers, it will make you violently ill what these thieves and users steal.

Hypothetically speaking…

If one single book thieving site admits to having more than 21 million downloads… holy hell. I should be so lucky. Now, let’s multiply that number by the price of one of my eBooks – which is $3.99, you get about $83.7 MILLION stolen in one year.

Is your ass twitching yet? Mine is.

Now, let’s contemplate longevity… if that same site has been up and running for ten years… TEN YEARS! That is $837.9 MILLION that the rightful owners of the content never saw. That’s nearing a billion dollars. A billion. From one site. (and there are literally hundreds of them) Let that sink in for a minute.

But the authors get paid when the person gets the original file… right? Nope.

The Amazon policy for return does not consider “pages read” or length of time a file has been in someone’s kindle when a book is returned. The modus operandi of these thieves is to “buy” an eBook, download the file, strip the DRM (the stuff that is supposed to keep it from being stolen or otherwise distributed illegally) then they return the book for a full refund.

How do I know this? Because I, like many… no, ALL other authors, have been victim of the “Amazon Return Policy”. I had one single “reader” in Brazil “buy” ALL of my books… not just one or two; not just one series but ALL of my books in one day and systematically return ALL OF MY BOOKS. In less than a week. The same thing happened with a “reader” in Japan.

Do I think these people “read” my books? I’d be a daft prick if I was that naive.

What these “readers” don’t know or most likely don’t care about is that as authors, we can see what is bought, when, and from what Amazon market. We can see where the problems are occurring but we are without recourse to stop this practice as it is “Amazon’s Return Policy” and they refuse to look at or fix the problem.

The reading community and the writing community form a symbiotic relationship.

But, on the bright side… because there is always a silver lining somewhere.

Situations like the plagiarism and the blatant book theft tend to polarize and solidify the honest readers, writers, and the creative community as a whole. The honest authors strive to work harder to give their readers quality books regardless of the time and effort, we work for quality over quantity. The honest readers spend more time doing their due diligence to avoid the scammers and thieves. The honest readers give their favorite authors a virtual hug and say, we understand and we’ll wait for your next beautiful masterpiece. The honest readers remind the honest writers why they write.

And please, don’t kid yourself… as authors, we always know when the readers are genuine in their love for books and reading. We always know. Just as the readers always know which books are being stolen from and let the authors know what is going on.

The reading community and the writing community form a symbiotic relationship and unfortunately, the parasites seem to be overwhelming the ecosystem. We need help from the “Aqua Scum 2003” *from Finding Nemo* to clean the tank but right now, Amazon, the US FCC, and other regulatory bodies are working with an antiquated “under-gravel” filter that has been clogged by the debris of honest authors slowly dying under the toxicity and has been left uncleaned for far too long.

Why did I share the explosive ending to February with you? Because even though I run in the lower echelon of the writing world, I keep my eyes and ears open… I also get asked about the news that circulates. I may be of little consequence, but I do have readers who are spectacular and some of my very favorite people and I will never hide anything of importance from them. I like to believe that they know they can come to me for honest and sincere answers when they ask. I like to believe they prefer to be informed rather than remaining in the dark to the things that may and often do affect them as much as these things affect me.

In closing, I would like to thank my readers for being so awesome. They are some of the most patient and understanding people I’ve ever had the pleasure of being associated with. I would also like to address the liars, cheaters, scammers, and thieves who may see this… those people suck. There is a special Karma for this sort of person and Karma has a pretty heavy hand when dealing justice. Also, if you’re going to do something stupid like lie, steal, cheat, or otherwise break the law… don’t.

Rollercoasters aren't much fun...

It’s true that rollercoasters are fun if you like that sort of ride. Normally, I do but only at carnivals and fun parks. In real life, rollercoaster-like highs and lows aren’t anywhere near the fun.

I’ve been putting this reflection off for a couple weeks now, not because I didn’t know what to say but because the actual reliving of some of life’s cruelest lows weren’t something I wanted to do. 2018 and I weren’t friends.

Sure, I had better sales of my books overall throughout the year, but the bulk of that was courtesy of me finally finishing The Crazy Mountain Series and adding to the Picture of Love Series. Therefore, the bulk of the sales were in the first six months of the year. Sure, I finally finished Malaki’s story… but I didn’t like the working title, couldn’t figure out what I wanted for the cover, and the thought of going through it for editing made me stabby. My alter me finished and released my fantasy story, DragonStar. My kids and I got to see my mom in July and we got to hang out with good friends in Montana. All good things.

However the lows that hindered these highs were so much lower. Our pup, Gus, didn’t make it through the winter before cancer took him in February. Hard realizations that my personal relationship with my spouse has altered to the point of irreparability was my birthday “gift”. Watching my daughter leave home for college was heart-stopping in both its “proud mama” moment and its “holy shit Georgia is a long way away” missing her moment. Having my flash drive fail with all of the most recent book files I had becoming inaccessible shortly after finishing the Malaki story haunts me. Facing the fact that while dementia was shielding my mom from the pain of cancer, cancer was going to ultimately take her from me in September. All of the stuff going on has put further strain on finances to the point of me having to find a job or having the children go without food.

On top of the personal “stuff” there was the crazy of authors (and others) attempting to trademark individual words and the many legal attacks that rippled through the writing community. There were horrible attacks on people for their looks, their weight, their sexuality, their race,… their life both in and out of the writing community. Social media becoming less welcoming to the small business people and more financially focused. Social media becoming terrifyingly toxic in every arena and more censored with each moment.

With all this going on, my mental capacity to focus and function has become an ongoing rollercoaster of its own. Writing has been a challenge simply because sorrow and fear just don’t leave a clear outlet for the stories to emerge from. Looking at the flat sales and the knowledge that I’m still struggling to reach fifty reviews on just one of my fifteen books don’t help. The questions that plague many authors bombard the consciousness. “Why do I bother to write?” “Does anyone want to read my stupid books?” “Would having naked covers and hotter sex sell more?” “Why am I second-guessing myself?” “Writing is my passion, why wouldn’t I write?” “I read my stupid books so do I have to have better sales and more reviews?” Trying to quiet those endless questions is like trying to tell a teenager to stop talking in ‘teen slang’ or trying to pull teeth from a hen.

In the end, I sit back and think of the five or so of you who have read every single book I’ve written (you know who you are) and I think of the joy my paperbacks gave my mom when she held them with that proud look on her face and I know I’m doing the right thing with writing, even if most of the readers of the world have no clue who I am. I think of my kids and how incredibly proud I am that they are smart, kind, caring, good people who will one day be the shiny spotlights who stand out among the dim bulbs. I contemplate how, in spite of it all, I am a bit bent but I am not broken nor will I break from the weight of this rollercoaster’s gravity pull.

As 2019 begins and progresses, I will strive to give my five or so readers more to read in spite of the files I hope to retrieve from that failed drive. I’ll work to remember that those five or so readers are worth more to me than the so-called notoriety of having a ‘bestseller’ title to my name. I’ll continue to seek my mom’s approval and pride in all aspects of my life – personally, professionally, and creatively. And I will hope that in spite of the fact that I love the rush of a rollercoaster ride, 2019 is less of an extreme sport and more of a kiddie ride.

#2018 #HappyNewYear #Books #SHPrattRomanceAuthor

Tools of the Trade

Tool. By definition, it is “something (such as an instrument or apparatus) used in performing an operation or necessary in the practice of a vocation or profession, for example, a scholar's books are his tools” as written in Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster also notes in their student’s dictionary that a tool is “a person used by another : dupe”.

Author. By definition, again from Merriam-Webster, this is “the writer of a literary work (such as a book): one that originates or creates something”.

Authors use tools every day to create the poetry, novellas, stories, novels, screenplays, or whatever creative piece they prefer. Tools like their imagination; their experiences; their heartbreaks; their time; and their passion. Authors also use simple tools like: pen or pencil; computers; paper; thoughts; ideas; and words.

Words. When Merriam-Webster is consulted on this word, it gets a bit more obtuse. Because the word “word” has a wide range of meanings and uses in English. However, by definition it is “a (1) : a speech sound or series of speech sounds that symbolizes and communicates a meaning usually without being divisible into smaller units capable of independent use (2) : the entire set of linguistic forms produced by combining a single base with various inflectional elements without change in the part of speech elements ; any segment of written or printed discourse ordinarily appearing between spaces or between a space and a punctuation mark”.

Words have been used for centuries to convey emotions, thoughts, commands, demands… well, you know, pretty much everything that has been spoken or written. Words are the one building block of an author’s trade that cannot be replaced. We need words. Plain and simple. We need words to convey the stories that itch and ache to be written and shared. As such, no common, everyday word can be claimed by one person alone.

But wait… didn’t Kleenex do that? And Jell-O? Pepsi, Coca-Cola, Tylenol, and Band-Aid… didn’t they claim a word for their own? No. The company who created the item in question gave it a name and then trademarked the NAME as a brand. The word Kleenex, for instance, is a BRAND name thing that people have begun using as an everyday word. Kleenex as a word didn’t exist until 1924 when Kimberley-Clark introduced a facial tissue to remove cold cream and called it “Kleenex”. Today, rather than say tissue or facial tissue, many people simply say Kleenex.

To put it simply, BRAND name words are names of specific things that became everyday common in use. A great deal for the makers of the brands as it’s basically free promotion. But words that were everyday common in use before any of us were born, that have been around for centuries cannot be a BRAND. For instance, you cannot say that “grass” is your brand and therefore if someone wants to use it, they must get permission first. Or words like green, nose, sky, walk, talk, pretty, cocky, or any of the more than 171K words in current use, and 47,156 obsolete words or their approximate 9500 derivatives.

But what makes a BRAND? A brand is a trademarked name for a specific item or person (think Walt Disney). Trademark is, according to the US Patten & Trademark Office (USPTO), “a word, phrase, symbol, and/or design that identifies and distinguishes the source of the goods of one party from those of others”.

That’s all nifty info to have you say. Why do I care and why are you sharing it you ask?

Well, a few weeks ago, it became known that a previously unknown woman who calls herself an author and an actress managed to obtain a trademark on a word… an everyday common word. This word just happened to be “cocky”, a word that was first used in 1768. Now, it’s at this point that things became sticky. This woman made a series of errors in judgement that have taken a situation and made it a production.

First – she assumed no one would care that she did it. She thought no one would fight her when she demanded that other authors change their titles and covers. She thought it would be “no big deal”.

Second – she chose to attempt to enforce her trademark through Amazon. She began impacting those authors who’d already published books with “cocky” in the title by having the books pulled from the sales pages. She also threatened legal action for trademark violation.

Third – she didn’t back down when confronted by the masses of the indie author community with the proof of her incorrect assumption. Nor did she back down when the Romance Writers of America (RWA) and the Author’s Guild began working to counter her at every turn. Nor did she back down when a retired Intellectual Property (IP) attorney filed a petition to revoke the trademark. Instead, she began acting like the trapped animal who must gnaw their leg off to save their life. She defended her actions with the explanation that her readers couldn’t tell the difference between her books and her competition’s. She claimed she was being bullied at every turn and that she was only the victim.

At no point in the fallout of her actions, did this woman acknowledge that she may have been wrong or that she might need to issue an apology. She simply went quiet until Mother’s Day when she released a new book with the “cocky” trademarked title.

Are alarm bells ringing in your mind yet? I will admit that I was suspicious of her motives by the time she started threatening legal action against authors and everyone else. The word “actress” kept flaring in my mind rather viciously. When I heard that a book had been released on Mother’s Day, my whole body practically vibrated with the single thought that this mayhem that one woman had created had been a publicity stunt.

Publicity Stunt. We’ve all seen them. Our good Merriam-Webster defines it as “something done just to get the attention of the public”. Well, previously unknown woman who calls herself an author and an actress was suddenly on the lips and fingertips of EVERYBODY. Blood pressures were off the charts. The furor of this woman’s audacity was astonishing.

And at this point, I wish I could say that the furor died down, unknown woman faded into infamy, and blood pressures dropped. But, alas, I cannot. Unknown woman kicked it up a notch just hours before the holiday weekend was to begin by filing a civil lawsuit against the retired IP lawyer, a publicist, and an author.

Are your alarm bells ringing now? Mine are pealing madly. Previously unknown woman has already stated her first love is acting and that she has an indie film that she wrote and will be starring in IN THE WORKS to begin filming over the summer. I sense that since Mother’s Day her pings in Google searches dropped dramatically and she simply cannot have that. She must bring as much attention to herself and her business to make a thing of her film.

However, I believe we have now reached the point in which her publicity stunt is going to backfire. Her unwavering aspersions toward her readers, her fellow authors, and the entirety of the writing community at large along with her steadfast bleating of innocence and victimization are growing threadbare. There are so many holes in her many variations of explanations and excuses that her true motives are becoming clearer. But in her bulldozer blunt and racing speed attack on specific authors, lawyers, publicists, and others, she has caused significant damage to many careers and livelihoods. In the launch of her lawsuit volley, the indie community has further galvanized against her and vowed to fight her – supporting those most profoundly affected in every way possible, including financially.

If this previously unknown woman continues on the path she’s chosen, she’ll find the battlefield is going to be a mine field of her own making. Karma will drop its full wrath upon the woman’s head and no one will give a damn if she loses everything. She will have destroyed any possible chance to redeem her writing career, her acting career, or her credibility in either community.

But I didn’t spew all this shite just to educate you about the latest, greatest scandals. I really wanted to bring to light the extremely dangerous path that attempting to trademark a common everyday word is. In the weeks since this trademark shit-storm began, new trademark applications have been filed. Trademarks for words like “forever”; “dare”; “current”; “outbreak”; “encounter”; and so, so many more. It is a horrifying thing to think that one day authors will be reduced to trading each other for word use. Words that are tools.

At the end of the day and at the bottom line, the simple truth is that words are tools. They are the tools of the trade that authors use to create. Each tool is vital and protecting the use of every tool is a battle that is just beginning and just beginning to spread into other creative mediums. I hope with every beat of my heart that this trend of trademarking everyday words is nipped before it can become a thorny thicket of a special hell we’ll all be hard pressed to survive.

Authors – and all creators – love to use the tools we have… but none of us like to be the tool.

#2018 #indieauthors #SHPrattRomanceAuthor #Drama #ContemporaryRomance #RomanceNovel #BookLovers #cockygate