# Piracy on Amazon: Check that author Jay Cute has not stolen one of your books (MERGED)



## LyraParish (Aug 27, 2013)

There is a guy posting other peoples books on amazon and is just overlaying his name on the covers. He has 3 pages on amazon and I thought I would post here incase any of your books have been stolen so that you may contact amazon. Most of them have 1 stars.

Didn't realize pirating had gotten to this point. I know they are everywhere but to actually repost them on amazon? I think it's a new low!
Did I mention they are all enrolled in Kindle Unlimited? SMH!

His name is Jay Cute.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_pg_1?rh=n%3A133140011%2Cp_27%3AJAY+CUTE&sort=relevancerank&ie=UTF8&qid=1418010414


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## Michael McClung (Feb 12, 2014)

Be VERY careful when reporting piracy to Amazon. It happened to me, and Amazon blocked both the pirated version and my original version. That was 2012. My version is still blocked; didn't matter what I said/did/begged/threatened/cajoled.


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## LyraParish (Aug 27, 2013)

Michael McClung said:


> Be VERY careful when reporting piracy to Amazon. It happened to me, and Amazon blocked both the pirated version and my original version. That was 2012. My version is still blocked; didn't matter what I said/did/begged/threatened/cajoled.


Wow. That's good to know. I am under the impression that once your novel is blocked it's impossible to get it unblocked. Looks like Jay Cute is a total jerk. I hope the authors are able to do something and that amazon has changed the policy regarding that and their novels won't be blocked.


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## Guest (Dec 8, 2014)

Michael, that is atrocious. How in the hell does this happen? Don't they have systems that check this stuff before upload? And if not what the hell takes them so damn long to approve. Every day i loose a little more faith in amazon.


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## LyraParish (Aug 27, 2013)

I've been emailed from amazon to prove my copyright. I did it within the time period they gave me and my novels weren't blocked or removed. Not quite sure if this is the same circumstances though.


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## Patty Jansen (Apr 5, 2011)

LOL have you ever seen so many 1-star reviews in one place?

I just saw a tweet by Saladin Ahmed, the author of Throne of the Crescent Moon. He's a tradepub author. There's also City of Bones on there. I guess when the tradepubs get involved, there will be quicker action.


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## Guest (Dec 8, 2014)

how does one prove their copyright?


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## Michael McClung (Feb 12, 2014)

I wish I had the answer. I reported the piracy, got an email from an Amazon attorney, the pirated version was taken down. A day later mine was as well. I emailed, pasting the attorney's email showing that I was the one that had requested the takedown of the pirated copy. Their responses was basically fingers-in-ears. I asked what kind of proof of identity the would require to reinstate my title. 'Nah-na-nah not listening' A few rounds of this, and nothing worked.

I gave up. Changed the title, republished.

"The Thief Who Pulled On Trouble's Braids' was originally titled 'The Blade That Whispers Hate.' I liked that one better. Oh, well. Just keep writing


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## LyraParish (Aug 27, 2013)

Bluehorseshoe said:


> how does one prove their copyright?


I sent them an email from my email address which is lyraparish(at)... with a note stating that I was the copyright owner with a scanned copy of the documentation I received through the US Copyright office. Seemed to have worked because I never heard anything else about it.


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## Michael McClung (Feb 12, 2014)

I find it amusing that he's got one book up titled 'Be Good' and another, 'Be Forgiving.'


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## Michael McClung (Feb 12, 2014)

> ...a scanned copy of the documentation I received through the US Copyright office.


I think that must have made the difference. Good on you for going the extra mile and getting it!


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## 555aaa (Jan 28, 2014)

LyraParish said:


> I sent them an email from my email address which is lyraparish(at)... with a note stating that I was the copyright owner with a scanned copy of the documentation I received through the US Copyright office. Seemed to have worked because I never heard anything else about it.


Thanks for posting, Lyra. Anyone can search the US copyright database at www.copyright.gov. I used your name (the copyright claimant name) and found weak for him, but Eluded doesn't show up (it can take a little while for applications to make it thru to the database).


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## LyraParish (Aug 27, 2013)

555aaa said:


> Thanks for posting, Lyra. Anyone can search the US copyright database at www.copyright.gov. I used your name (the copyright claimant name) and found weak for him, but Eluded doesn't show up (it can take a little while for applications to make it thru to the database).


I went and checked out what I had as well and realized I hadn't registered Eluded. Doing that NOW! lol. I have another to register as well that's currently in an anthology project. For the $35, it's worth it.


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## Moist_Tissue (Dec 6, 2013)

Michael McClung said:


> Be VERY careful when reporting piracy to Amazon. It happened to me, and Amazon blocked both the pirated version and my original version. That was 2012. My version is still blocked; didn't matter what I said/did/begged/threatened/cajoled.


Email [email protected]


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## SB James (May 21, 2014)

Wow, that's ridiculous! How can Amazon not know who the proper copyright holder is if your legal version was published BEFORE their pirated version?
Thanks for posting this.


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## Colin (Aug 6, 2011)

One of our author's titles has been pirated by the same person - The Privateersman by Andrew Wareham.

Pirated copy link: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00QE463J8

Whoever did it has made a right mess of the original formatting.

But I suppose it would make a good headline: Privateersman Pirated!

BTW. Amazon has been notified.


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## Pauline Creeden (Aug 4, 2011)

When one of my books was pirated on Amazon I reported through Authorcentral and they took care of it within 24 hrs. That was 2012 also...


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


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## Michael McClung (Feb 12, 2014)

> How can Amazon not know who the proper copyright holder is if your legal version was published BEFORE their pirated version?


I published through Smashwords. Somebody scraped it from the Smashwords site and put it up using my name as, I assume, a pen name. There aren't that many Michael McClungs out there  I found out a few days later when I went to upload to Amazon. So they were first on Amazon, and they were using my name.

I explained all this to Amazon at the time. Didn't make a difference. The fact that I had correspondence with their own lawyer informing them of the piracy and asking for the takedown, and his affirmative response didn't matter. Screenshots from my Smashwords dashboard showing the publishing date didn't matter. As I said, nothing I said or did mattered.



> Email [email protected]


Oh, I thought about it at the time. But what would have ome out would not have been filtered, and would probably have gotten me banned from KDP. Now, it's water under the bridge.

I think the lesson to be learned here is to register your work and claim your copyright, as the OP wisely did, and I did not.


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## LyraParish (Aug 27, 2013)

Colin said:


> One of our author's titles has been pirated by the same person - The Privateersman by Andrew Wareham.
> 
> BTW. Amazon has been notified.


I hate this. I hope it is settled soon!


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## Colin (Aug 6, 2011)

LyraParish said:


> I hate this. I hope it is settled soon!


This joker has uploaded 37 assorted titles in the past two weeks. If Amazon fails to act or drag their feet, they are in for some bad publicity.










A great attempt at disguising the original cover - NOT!


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## D-C (Jan 13, 2014)

Colin said:


> This joker has uploaded 37 assorted titles in the past two weeks. If Amazon fails to act or drag their feet, they are in for some bad publicity.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


It makes you wonder what the KDP behind-the-scenes book-checkers actually do when you upload a new book.


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## Colin (Aug 6, 2011)

DaCosta said:


> It makes you wonder what the KDP behind-the-scenes book-checkers actually do when you upload a new book.


It certainly does.

I know you can fool a text scanning program by changing as little as 10 - 20 per cent of the text, but from reading the sample, it doesn't look like the pirate has done that. He/she has even left the original copyright notice with author name in the front matter!

Crazy...


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## Jan Hurst-Nicholson (Aug 25, 2010)

There are numerous books that appear to have been stolen by Jay Cute - some still show the name of the original author  . Check on Amazon to see if your book is among them.

They have numerous 1 star reviews saying 'stolen - do not buy'.


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## D-C (Jan 13, 2014)

http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,203278.0.html

Already in discussion


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## Jan Hurst-Nicholson (Aug 25, 2010)

DaCosta said:


> http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,203278.0.html
> 
> Already in discussion


Thanks. Must have missed it


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## Zelah Meyer (Jun 15, 2011)

What annoys me is when Amazon takes down the book or two that have been reported and then _leaves the account active _and free to sell all the other stolen works where the real authors of haven't realised they are being pirated. I'm sorry - but if they've blatantly stolen someone else's book at least twice (giving people one free pass to help out people caught up in rights arguments involving anthologies until those are settled with KDP support), then shut down their account. They shouldn't be allowed to still publish. If a trad pub with deep enough pockets took Amazon to court over a repeat offender being allowed to steal and sell work multiple times without penalty, then Amazon would not have a strong case for having allowed it.


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## Annette_g (Nov 27, 2012)

Hopefully no one will buy these ripped off versions, they even still have the original author's name on the cover! Does he really expect to get away with this?


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Hi, folks, I've merged two similar threads.  Sorry for any confusion.

Betsy
KB Mod


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## unkownwriter (Jun 22, 2011)

I reported it. On at least the last book the inside doesn't match the cover, it's something about bi-polar disorder, with someone else's name! I told them it's been going on for two weeks, with tons of one-star reviews.

Wonder if this stellar idea appears anywhere on _those_ forums?


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## Mike_Author (Oct 19, 2013)

I am literally blown away that a) These books went live (considering the text matching that supposedly occurs before a book goes live to ensure it isn't plagiarised) and b) that they remain live after clearly many, many people have complained. This is a new low for Amazon which hopefully will not be eclipsed anytime soon...

I note that one of the covers uses the exact same template as our other favourite scammer Archie Fraser - wonder if they are one and the same...

http://www.amazon.com/Insider-Secrets-eBook-Self-Publishing-CUTE-ebook/dp/B00Q0MBDSU/ref=sr_1_34?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1418039410&sr=1-34

My next thought is - surely the chances of this person being sued are greater than his chances of being paid by Amazon. This seems like a lot of trouble to go to for nothing as you would have thought there is zero chance this guy will get paid a cracker by Amazon even if he does sell some copies.

Bizarre in the extreme. Amazon will need to shut this down before the media gets a hold of it...


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## Taking my troll a$$ outta here (Apr 8, 2013)

Bluehorseshoe said:


> how does one prove their copyright?


For the pen name, I literally replied to the email they sent with a single sentence: "E.B. Brown is the pen name of Beth Brown." I had to send it from the email address associated with my KDP account.

For the collaboration I manage with other authors, I had to have a copy of the agreement with signed. It was one page of the document listing all of our names sent from the email address on my KDP account.

Neither method seemed like 'proof' to me, but it satisfied Amazon so there you go.


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## johnlmonk (Jul 24, 2013)

Michael McClung said:


> Be VERY careful when reporting piracy to Amazon. It happened to me, and Amazon blocked both the pirated version and my original version. That was 2012. My version is still blocked; didn't matter what I said/did/begged/threatened/cajoled.


Question, when you originally published, did you use DRM? I ask because Amazon might possibly use take that into consideration when they decide to take both books down (forever) or just the 1 (the thief). Just accumulating data here...


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## Michael McClung (Feb 12, 2014)

> when you originally published, did you use DRM?


No, I don't believe DRM is good for the customer. Despite being pirated, my views on that haven't changed.


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## KelliWolfe (Oct 14, 2014)

Amazon _does not do text comparisons_ when you upload a book. That's an admission straight from their copyright agents in an email I received a month ago when I reported someone for ripping off one of my stories. They are utterly horrible about dealing with plagiarism and outright theft. They seem to only want to deal with taking down the individual works while leaving the publisher accounts active. There are accounts I reported for multiple infringements over 2 years ago that are still active and still churning out plagiarized material. Considering how they were doing it then, I'm sure they're making a killing on KU today. Does Amazon care? No.

They don't give a damn about whether your work gets stolen. It's not about you. It's about them having every bit of content they can squeeze into their store. That's the only thing they care about, and they only deal with the issue at all because they are forced to legally.


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## Fictionista (Sep 14, 2012)

Absolutely unFRIKKINGbelievable!


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## Jena H (Oct 2, 2011)

Gotta admit, dude is certainly prolific in a diverse array of books.  Erotica, fantasy, thriller, self-help, non-fiction, etc.  Even "insider secrets to self-publishing"!!!    (Yeah, apparently he's now an expert.)

This is so laughable....  you can totally see the original covers underneath this jerk's overlay.  And if you check the "Look Inside" feature, the original author's name still appears as author.  Even as a pirate this idiot is doing a lazy, crappy job.


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## Guest (Dec 8, 2014)

Yikes. It's a jungle out there.


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## anotherpage (Apr 4, 2012)

LyraParish said:


> I sent them an email from my email address which is lyraparish(at)... with a note stating that I was the copyright owner with a scanned copy of the documentation I received through the US Copyright office. Seemed to have worked because I never heard anything else about it.


What documentation you received Do you get documentation for every book you release?


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## GeneDoucette (Oct 14, 2014)

kalel said:


> What documentation you received Do you get documentation for every book you release?


I think she's talking about registering work with the copyright office. It is true as soon as you create something you are protected by the copyright laws and you own the copyright. But without registering, it's harder to prove you own the copyright.


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## DanaG (Feb 13, 2011)

http://www.amazon.com/City-Bones-Mortal-Instruments-1-ebook/dp/B00Q1WLVXQ/ref=sr_1_10?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1417992134&sr=1-10

This guy "Jay Cute" has dozens of books up, but I really think he messed up when he used the title City of Bones: Mortal Instruments for the book that he "edited", and used someone else's cover and has someone else's author name on that cover.

Seriously, look through his catalog of books. It is amazing.


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## Guest (Dec 8, 2014)

I think Amazon is starting to take the books down.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Hi, Dana--

I've merged your thread with the existing Jay Cute thread.  Thanks for understanding!

Betsy


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## Colin (Aug 6, 2011)

Yes, Amazon is taking action. The link to our pirated book is now dead, history - an ex-link!

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00QE463J8?tag=viglink20273-20


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## Daniel Cane (Oct 16, 2014)

It happened to me a few years ago. I emailed Amazon and they deleted the other guy's copy of my book. They left my alone. Maybe they are different now.


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## CesarAnthony (Jul 10, 2014)

Michael McClung said:


> Be VERY careful when reporting piracy to Amazon. It happened to me, and Amazon blocked both the pirated version and my original version. That was 2012. My version is still blocked; didn't matter what I said/did/begged/threatened/cajoled.


OMG!!! That is ridiculous!


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## DanaG (Feb 13, 2011)

Thanks, Betsy!

Seriously - WHY is the Cassandra Claire book still up? It's crazy. I think she's the most prominent author this person "borrowed" from - also that "One Second After" book was a huge bestseller.

This is literally the worst example of plagiarism that I've ever seen, in terms of utter incompetence and literally begging to be caught.


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## lisamaliga (Oct 28, 2010)

Mine was one of the 37 that was stolen.
Here's the job done on the cover:


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## Andrei Cherascu (Sep 17, 2014)

I actually have to wonder if this guy isn't doing some sort of experiment... like pushing the boundaries just to find out how far he can go. Maybe he is trying to prove a point. I mean, nobody can be this stupid, right?


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## 69959 (May 14, 2013)

All of his stuff appears to be gone now.


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## Zelah Meyer (Jun 15, 2011)

Stacy Claflin said:


> All of his stuff appears to be gone now.


Good!


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## Moist_Tissue (Dec 6, 2013)

I think this guy got his start in publishing the little scam books for the 10% reads.


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## Colin (Aug 6, 2011)

Our book, The Privateersman is perma-free, so why this person thought it was a good idea to copy it and price it at $2.49 is beyond me. And where's Amazon when you really need a price match?


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## vlmain (Aug 10, 2011)

Andrei Cherascu said:


> I actually have to wonder if this guy isn't doing some sort of experiment... like pushing the boundaries just to find out how far he can go. Maybe he is trying to prove a point. I mean, nobody can be this stupid, right?


Never underestimate the stupidity of humans. It's why we have warning labels on everything.


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## lisamaliga (Oct 28, 2010)

Colin said:


> Our book, The Privateersman is perma-free, so why this person thought it was a good idea to copy it and price it at $2.49 is beyond me. And where's Amazon when you really need a price match?


Colin,
Yeah, Jay Cute wanted $2.50 for my perma-free!  And your're right about that price matching issue!


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## hardnutt (Nov 19, 2010)

Bluehorseshoe said:


> how does one prove their copyright?


I suppose the only way for original-to-kindle authors to prove copyright is if they pay to lodge their copyright to the Copyright Office (?) in the US.

When two of my books were plagiarised this August, I was able to supply Amazon with copies of letters from my ex-publishers in which they confirmed they had given me back my rights. Don't know what I'd have done if I hadn't had these as, like many indies, I chose not to register my copyright in the US. I have a lot of books so it would become expensive ($35 each?) very quickly.


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## Colin (Aug 6, 2011)

So it appears that Amazon doesn't auto-scan the text of newly published books - even when the book has the same title. That's a scamleteer's  passport  to piracy heaven. Google can process millions of web pages a day and check for duplicate content. So why can't Amazon spot duplicated book uploads?


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## vlmain (Aug 10, 2011)

It looks like they may have removed his account? I followed the original link in the OP and I got a page that said my search for Jay Cute returned no matches.


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## Rick Gualtieri (Oct 31, 2011)

carinasanfey said:


> Probably because they don't want to.


You probably have a point. Easier to pretend to be a "dumb pipe" and put the onus on others, then to put the onus (and potential liability) on themselves.


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## RJ Crayton (Feb 6, 2014)

LyraParish said:


> I sent them an email from my email address which is lyraparish(at)... with a note stating that I was the copyright owner with a scanned copy of the documentation I received through the US Copyright office. Seemed to have worked because I never heard anything else about it.


Sending a certificate from the copyright office is good in theory, but it takes 6-8 months to receive such a certificate. I've applied for copyrights of all my books, but only have certificates for the ones published in 2013. The Copyright Office has yet to send certificates for the 2014 books (published in May, September and December). So, if the certificate is the only way, it doesn't seem fair. If Amazon took your email receipt from the copyright office or the application number as proof, that would be OK, but the certificate is not helpful for works less than a year old.


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## 75910 (Mar 16, 2014)

I'm not sure of their process but Amazon does find duplicate books in their system.  A few weeks ago I published a novella that was also in a box set (same pen name).  They sent me an email asking for proof I owned the copyright.  I sent them an email from that pen name account and declared that I was the true copyright holder for both books.  A few hours later the novella was on sale separate from the box set.  
So they do catch things but I'm not sure how or what the process is.


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## EthanRussellErway (Nov 17, 2011)

DaCosta said:


> It makes you wonder what the KDP behind-the-scenes book-checkers actually do when you upload a new book.


I believe they're playing Minecraft.


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## LyraParish (Aug 27, 2013)

RJ Crayton said:


> Sending a certificate from the copyright office is good in theory, but it takes 6-8 months to receive such a certificate. I've applied for copyrights of all my books, but only have certificates for the ones published in 2013. The Copyright Office has yet to send certificates for the 2014 books (published in May, September and December). So, if the certificate is the only way, it doesn't seem fair. If Amazon took your email receipt from the copyright office or the application number as proof, that would be OK, but the certificate is not helpful for works less than a year old.


There are other ways to prove your copyright than having the letter from the Library of Congress because not everyone does. I had a friend that sent amazon a "copyright claim email" and they didn't remove her account either. I'll look for the exact verbiage that was used but she didn't have the letter either. I think it has to be an email address that's listed on your author website and/or in the back of the novel, but I'll have to check on that.


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## Colin (Aug 6, 2011)

EthanRussellErway said:


> I believe they're playing Minecraft.


Or Grand (Book) Theft Auto...


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## John Blackport (Jul 18, 2011)

Well, I guess the good news is that Kboards is on Amazon's list of sites to watch. . . KDP's list, anyway.


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## Drake (Apr 30, 2014)

Glad Amazon took action to block this jerk.


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## Jan Hurst-Nicholson (Aug 25, 2010)

I wonder how numerous rejection letters from trad publishers/agents would hold up?


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## rosclarke (Jul 12, 2013)

Colin said:


> Our book, The Privateersman is perma-free, so why this person thought it was a good idea to copy it and price it at $2.49 is beyond me. And where's Amazon when you really need a price match?


Because of KU. If you're borrowing a book you don't have to worry about the sale price, so you're just as likely to pick the $2.49 version as the free one if you're not paying attention. I assume all these scams are intended to get maximum borrows and any sales are a bonus.


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## hardnutt (Nov 19, 2010)

Jan Hurst-Nicholson said:


> I wonder how numerous rejection letters from trad publishers/agents would hold up?


Lol! I've got quite a bundle of those, too, Jan! Six long years' worth.


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## Colin (Aug 6, 2011)

rosclarke said:


> Because of KU. If you're borrowing a book you don't have to worry about the sale price, so you're just as likely to pick the $2.49 version as the free one if you're not paying attention. I assume all these scams are intended to get maximum borrows and any sales are a bonus.


Our perma-free isn't in KU.


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## KelliWolfe (Oct 14, 2014)

KU is a gold mine for scammers. Pick an obscure book by a forgotten author for which the copyright has long expired, say from the late 1800s early 1900s, which Amazon does not have in their store. Change the title and break it into a "serial" of a dozen parts or so and release into Select under your scammer pen name. Use a few phony KU accounts to download copies and boost the sales rank to give it some visibility. You'll probably get caught eventually, but it will likely be months before anyone notices and says anything to Amazon, and in the meantime you're making a few extra bucks a month.

This has been going on for years and Amazon has done essentially nothing to try to stop it. It isn't in their best interests to stop it.


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## H. S. St. Ours (Mar 24, 2012)

Good work, gang. I think this thread (or these combined threads) single-handedly staunched that wound. Keep looking up!


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## Gator (Sep 28, 2012)

T. M. Bilderback said:


> I copyright every single story or novel that I publish with the US Copyright Office. The $35 is worth it, although it makes earning back the investment difficult on some of my 99 cent short stories...LOL


Save yourself some money by registering your copyright on a collection of multiple works by a single author by a single claimant. You must use the standard application, not the single application. The fee is $55.

So $55 / 5 short stories is $11 per copyrighted short story. Easier to swallow, right?


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## Jake Parent (Dec 5, 2014)

Wow. That's horrible. Looks like they took him down though.


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## vlmain (Aug 10, 2011)

Gator said:


> Save yourself some money by registering your copyright on a collection of multiple works by a single author by a single claimant. You must use the standard application, not the single application. The fee is $55.
> 
> So $55 / 5 short stories is $11 per copyrighted short story. Easier to swallow, right?


That's good to know. Is there a limit to how many you can register at a time?


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## Gator (Sep 28, 2012)

vlmain said:


> That's good to know. Is there a limit to how many you can register at a time?


I'm not aware of any limitation on the number of works in a collection, but there are a few restrictions. For example, if it's a collection of unpublished works, they can be completely unrelated subjects. For a collection of previously published works, you'll need a unifying theme, such as a collection of horror stories, not a collection containing your holiday cookbook, advice on home repair, and your latest techno-thriller.

For a collection of works by multiple authors, at least one of the authors must be listed as an author of each work in the collection.

For unpublished works, you're required to deposit one print copy of the work to the Library of Congress. For published works, you're required to deposit two print copies.

ETA: Oh, wait. There's a limit to the size of the manuscript file submitted, so you can't register 50 novels on one standard application.

ETA 2: A correction: for a collection of previously published works, it's not just a unifying theme, but "The collection is made up of multiple published works contained in the same unit of publication and owned by the same claimant."

I can't remember the maximum file size to upload and can't find the info on the US Copyright site. Anyone know? I don't think I can get away with "equivalent to a stack of short story printouts this high!"


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## SA_Soule (Sep 8, 2011)

His page is gone. Amazon must have unlisted all of his books already. He will probably just create a new pen name and re-upload on Amazon or elsewhere.


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## robboffard (Dec 8, 2014)

Hi everybody.

I'm a journalist, and I'm hoping to write about the subject in this thread - i.e. piracy on Amazon.

One of the things I want to do is actually track down Jay Cute, or Archie Fraser, or one of the 'fake' authors. But I'm drawing a total blank, and Amazon have been non-responsive, surprise surprise.

I suspect my difficulty may be that I'm not completely familiar with the Kindle Unlimited program. I'm hoping you guys can help. Assuming a KU user has an Amazon page, how does one contact them?

Any help would be much appreciated.


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## DanaG (Feb 13, 2011)

Rob, who do you write for? As for tracking down any of these people and getting them to talk to you - they're breaking the law. I am pretty sure they know they're breaking the law.  Sure, it's worth a shot trying to get them to talk to you, but it's unlikely that they will. And as for Amazon responding, this doesn't cast them in a positive light, so there's not really any incentive for them to talk to you.

Again, worth a shot, but it may be very hard to get anyone to comment on the record.


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## robboffard (Dec 8, 2014)

DanaG said:


> Rob, who do you write for? As for tracking down any of these people and getting them to talk to you - they're breaking the law. I am pretty sure they know they're breaking the law. Sure, it's worth a shot trying to get them to talk to you, but it's unlikely that they will. And as for Amazon responding, this doesn't cast them in a positive light, so there's not really any incentive for them to talk to you.
> 
> Again, worth a shot, but it may be very hard to get anyone to comment on the record.


I'm a freelancer - I write for The Guardian, Wired and others. (http://rsb.nicole-simpson.com/journalism-2/ - excuse the weird domain name, we're moving my site to a new host!)

I'm confident I can convince them to talk to me (I'm good at that). It's getting hold of them that I'm having a problem with!

And yes - Amazon are notorious for not talking to reporters, whatever the story is about!


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

robboffard said:


> I'm a freelancer - I write for The Guardian, Wired and others. (http://rsb.nicole-simpson.com/journalism-2/ - excuse the weird domain name, we're moving my site to a new host!)
> 
> I'm confident I can convince them to talk to me (I'm good at that). It's getting hold of them that I'm having a problem with!
> 
> And yes - Amazon are notorious for not talking to reporters, whatever the story is about!


If you can find one that hasn't yet been taken down by Amazon, there might be contact info on their author page at Amazon. But it turns out when our members here find such a miscreant and out them . . . . Amazon takes 'em down pretty fast.

They're bold: you might try to track them via FB, Twitter, or the Google.


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## Ava Glass (Feb 28, 2011)

robboffard said:


> One of the things I want to do is actually track down Jay Cute, or Archie Fraser, or one of the 'fake' authors.


Someone on Twitter posted a link to a "Jay Cute, Editor" on Skillpages.com.

http://www.skillpages.com/editor/zamboanga-philippines/jay.cute

"Editor" is what the scammer called himself on Saladin Ahmed's book.

ETA: This is only a POSSIBLE lead. There really could be a freelance editor named Jay Cute out there.


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## robboffard (Dec 8, 2014)

Ava Glass said:


> Someone on Twitter posted a link to a "Jay Cute, Editor" on Skillpages.com.
> 
> http://www.skillpages.com/editor/zamboanga-philippines/jay.cute
> 
> ...


In Zamboanga? I highly doubt it.

But thank you - that's a good lead!


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## Mike_Author (Oct 19, 2013)

Rob - try tracking down Ace McCloud as I think he has a twitter account and FB account also.  He would be best from the fake review angle as he is probably the most notable abuser...doubt any of these guys would reply to a journalist unfortunately however...

I think this is an excellent story to follow - particularly from the perspective of Amazon not taking enough action to stamp this out (or is the problem too big for them even?).  For example, if you look at Ace McCloud's page, it only takes a few minutes to work out the scam (accounts set up to only review either Ace McCloud books or other scammy books, the reviewers immediately defending any bad reviews etc).  I know of at least five people or so who have complained to Amazon however the reviews stay live - meanwhile we have many reports of genuine reviews getting taken down...

This is perhaps a good opportunity for others to highlight some of the issues around this topic.  For me - 

- Hypocritical application of oversight regarding the reviews system
- Unintended consequences of KU (Incentivising short scamlets due to same payout, borrowing scams)
- Lack of text matching upon release to check for plagiarism (I thought there was freely available software which does this?)


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## o.gasim (Oct 5, 2014)

robboffard said:


> I'm a freelancer - I write for The Guardian, Wired and others. (http://rsb.nicole-simpson.com/journalism-2/ - excuse the weird domain name, we're moving my site to a new host!)
> 
> I'm confident I can convince them to talk to me (I'm good at that). It's getting hold of them that I'm having a problem with!
> 
> And yes - Amazon are notorious for not talking to reporters, whatever the story is about!


Not trying to cast a dark cloud here or anything, but do you have some writing credits to your name Rob?

I only ask because this is a thread talking about scammers and a reporter with a brand new account happens to find their way into it with a 'not yet legit' webpage asking for info.

This is one that if it looks like a fish, smells like a fish, and swims like a fish...


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## robboffard (Dec 8, 2014)

o.gasim said:


> Not trying to cast a dark cloud here or anything, but do you have some writing credits to your name Rob?
> 
> I only ask because this is a thread talking about scammers and a reporter with a brand new account happens to find their way into it with a 'not yet legit' webpage asking for info.
> 
> This is one that if it looks like a fish, smells like a fish, and swims like a fish...


The link above should show every story I've worked on 

If it helps, here's my Guardian page (http://www.theguardian.com/profile/rob-boffard)


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## robboffard (Dec 8, 2014)

Mike_Author said:


> Rob - try tracking down Ace McCloud as I think he has a twitter account and FB account also. He would be best from the fake review angle as he is probably the most notable abuser...doubt any of these guys would reply to a journalist unfortunately however...
> 
> I think this is an excellent story to follow - particularly from the perspective of Amazon not taking enough action to stamp this out (or is the problem too big for them even?). For example, if you look at Ace McCloud's page, it only takes a few minutes to work out the scam (accounts set up to only review either Ace McCloud books or other scammy books, the reviewers immediately defending any bad reviews etc). I know of at least five people or so who have complained to Amazon however the reviews stay live - meanwhile we have many reports of genuine reviews getting taken down...
> 
> ...


Wow - bold as brass, that one! Thanks Mike.


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## AnonWriter (Dec 12, 2013)

Anyone have a link to electronically copyright a manuscript? There are too many "services" on google to sort through.


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## KelliWolfe (Oct 14, 2014)

Emily Wibberley said:


> Anyone have a link to electronically copyright a manuscript? There are too many "services" on google to sort through.


You don't need to use a service. Go straight to the source.


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## G. (Aug 21, 2014)

Yes, set up an eco account. It will speed things up the next time you copyright.


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## Kylo Ren (Mar 29, 2014)

Is registering as bureaucratically annoying as it looks?


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## Abalone (Jan 31, 2014)

What a [redacted]

Can we use that word here?

_No, but thanks for asking.  --Betsy_


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## AnonWriter (Dec 12, 2013)

Thanks for the link!

Btw...

You can't submit a college essay these days without your professor running it thru a plagiarism program. It would be easy for Amazon to do the same for .mobi file submissions, wouldn't it? If the text comes in 99% similar to another book already published then Amazon could cut this practice off at the knees.


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## vlmain (Aug 10, 2011)

Gator said:


> I'm not aware of any limitation on the number of works in a collection, but there are a few restrictions. ...[redacted]


Gator, thanks so much for all that great information. This is so helpful!


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## vlmain (Aug 10, 2011)

Emily Wibberley said:


> You can't submit a college essay these days without your professor running it thru a plagiarism program. It would be easy for Amazon to do the same for .mobi file submissions, wouldn't it? If the text comes in 99% similar to another book already published then Amazon could cut this practice off at the knees.


I know. I'm stunned that they don't. It would be so simple to run every upload through a plagiarism checker and a grammar/spelling checker. They are simple things that would make such a huge difference.


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## Colin (Aug 6, 2011)

Here is the seriously underwhelming reply we got after we asked Amazon to remove the pirated copy of The Privateersman (ASIN: B00H86S2ZE).

I think this response is indicative of Amazon's attitude to piracy by what it _doesn't_ say...



> Hello,
> 
> Thank you for your e-mail. The ability to purchase the Kindle title, "The Privateersman" ASIN: B00QE463J8. The detail page may still exist for a period of time, but the title is no longer searchable on our site. We trust this will bring this matter to a close.
> 
> ...


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## Colin (Aug 6, 2011)

vlmain said:


> I know. I'm stunned that they don't. It would be so simple to run every upload through a plagiarism checker and a grammar/spelling checker. They are simple things that would make such a huge difference.


Seeing that they already run a spell checker when a book is uploaded/converted, it would be easy to incorporate a plagiarism checker into the process. Ultimately it is not in Amazon's interest to have the Kindle Store inundated with pirated books.

Why they don't check for copied work seems to defy logic...


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## EC (Aug 20, 2013)

robboffard said:


> The link above should show every story I've worked on
> 
> If it helps, here's my Guardian page (http://www.theguardian.com/profile/rob-boffard)


Pm'ed you.

Incidentally, be careful with the assumption that "Archie Fraser," et al are doing anything wrong. If they own the content, and it's not been plagiarized, then they are perfectly entitled to submit as many short n-f as they like - no matter how poor the content is.

The only question then is, are they gaming the KU system? it's not exactly crime of the century if they are, is it? Remember, this is an authors forum.

Drama - is what we do.


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## Selina Fenech (Jul 20, 2011)

Jay Cute?? Really should have gone with Jared Cutestory...


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## Jan Hurst-Nicholson (Aug 25, 2010)

robboffard said:


> Hi everybody.
> 
> I'm a journalist, and I'm hoping to write about the subject in this thread - i.e. piracy on Amazon.
> 
> ...


You might be able to track down the notorious Karl Jones - he's probably in gaol. See this thread for a real scandal.
http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,190095.0.html


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## Bluebonnet (Dec 15, 2013)

Colin said:


> Seeing that they already run a spell checker when a book is uploaded/converted, it would be easy to incorporate a plagiarism checker into the process. Ultimately it is not in Amazon's interest to have the Kindle Store inundated with pirated books.
> 
> Why they don't check for copied work seems to defy logic...


How does Amazon catch it when someone has published their book elsewhere? For example, if you'd published chapters of your book on your blog. I've seen many writers report that Amazon has told them something like "your book is available elsewhere freely on the web" and demanded that they produce evidence that they hold the copyright. So if Amazon isn't checking for plagiarism, how did they know you had your book on the blog? Are their bots out looking for duplicate text, or does some individual report it to Amazon? If they have bots that can identify duplicate text on the web outside of Amazon, surely they could put those bots to work inside Amazon.


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## Colin (Aug 6, 2011)

Bluebonnet said:


> .... If they have bots that can identify duplicate text on the web outside of Amazon, surely they could put those bots to work inside Amazon.


Yes, they could do that easily.


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## KelliWolfe (Oct 14, 2014)

Colin said:


> Yes, they could do that easily.


And the fact that they could do so and that they are perfectly aware of the ongoing issue of plagiarism and yet they still choose not to do so tells you what?

I'll give you one hint. Who benefits financially whether the plagiarist is found out or not?


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## Guest (Dec 9, 2014)

have to agree with Kelli, there is a kind of "float" where they are still making money while it is "all sorted out" - who knows what they are really up to, Jay Cute is probably a service rep from amazon.

_Edited. PM me if you have a question, thanks. --Betsy_


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## KelliWolfe (Oct 14, 2014)

Bluehorseshoe said:


> have to agree with Kelli, there is a kind of "float" where they are still making money while it is "all sorted out" - who knows what they are really up to,


The trick to it is that Amazon doesn't refund money to the customers who have bought plagiarized books. They don't pay it to the plagiarist, they don't pay it to the author whose work was stolen, and they don't return it to the customer. So they have no incentive to spend a bunch of money fighting the problem.


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## Caddy (Sep 13, 2011)

He is no longer on Amazon.


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## Colin (Aug 6, 2011)

KelliWolfe said:


> The trick to it is that Amazon doesn't refund money to the customers who have bought plagiarized books. They don't pay it to the plagiarist, they don't pay it to the author whose work was stolen, and they don't return it to the customer. So they have no incentive to spend a bunch of money fighting the problem.


Isn't it illegal to live off the proceeds of crime?


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## Vaalingrade (Feb 19, 2013)

Colin said:


> Seeing that they already run a spell checker when a book is uploaded/converted, it would be easy to incorporate a plagiarism checker into the process. Ultimately it is not in Amazon's interest to have the Kindle Store inundated with pirated books.
> 
> Why they don't check for copied work seems to defy logic...


I'll give you one better: the system very clearly remembers what words you've accepted as not typos.

When I put my newest book up, it didn't question any of the made-up words I used previously, but DID flag new ones.


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## Colin (Aug 6, 2011)

Vaalingrade said:


> I'll give you one better: the system very clearly remembers what words you've accepted as not typos.
> 
> When I put my newest book up, it didn't question any of the made-up words I used previously, but DID flag new ones.


I wonder how many pirated books it will take for Amazon to do the obvious and scan for copies.


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## vlmain (Aug 10, 2011)

Vaalingrade said:


> I'll give you one better: the system very clearly remembers what words you've accepted as not typos.
> 
> When I put my newest book up, it didn't question any of the made-up words I used previously, but DID flag new ones.


I didn't know the system did a spell check. I've never seen any indication of one. I've always just received the standard message that my file was successfully uploaded and my book would go live in whatever time frame--I don't remember the exact wording.

Based on a few books I have read recently, they need to beef up whatever system they're using, because it isn't working very well.


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## KelliWolfe (Oct 14, 2014)

Colin said:


> I wonder how many pirated books it will take for Amazon to do the obvious and scan for copies.


They won't do it at all, because there's no percentage in it for them to do so. They will remove plagiarized works when requested to do so because they are legally required to, but they're not going to actively try to remove it themselves because it isn't in their own financial interests to do so.

For every plagiarized sale they get their royalty cut. For every plagiarized work that gets taken down they get to keep the entire proceeds from the sale (and yes, I have deliberately purchased books I knew were plagiarized from my work before it was pulled from the store and my money was not refunded). Plus each work is one more bit of content to draw people to the store, whether it's plagiarized or not. It's a win-win for Amazon.


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## Colin (Aug 6, 2011)

KelliWolfe said:


> They won't do it at all, because there's no percentage in it for them to do so. They will remove plagiarized works when requested to do so because they are legally required to, but they're not going to actively try to remove it themselves because it isn't in their own financial interests to do so.
> 
> For every plagiarized sale they get their royalty cut. For every plagiarized work that gets taken down they get to keep the entire proceeds from the sale (and yes, I have deliberately purchased books I knew were plagiarized from my work before it was pulled from the store and my money was not refunded). Plus each work is one more bit of content to draw people to the store, whether it's plagiarized or not. It's a win-win for Amazon.


Have you specifically asked for the money to be refunded? If so, what was Amazon's response?

We have asked them to refund any monies the pirate made while our stolen book was on Amazon.

That and a few more pertinent/awkward questions.

Awaiting their reply...


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## Tommy Muncie (Dec 8, 2014)

Don't think I had anything stolen, although can't be sure because Amazon removed the page by the time I read this.

If Amazon really aren't doing anything about issues like this then it's going to be too bad for them eventually, because it's one small step to losing the lion's share of the market. I worked in retail for long enough to know that consumer confidence is not to be taken lightly, and if authors stop uploading to Amazon because they get a bad reputation for how they deal with book stealing then they'll be scoring a massive own goal. I just signed up to KDP Select, and I think a lot of indie authors will start getting pretty hot under the collar if the money that goes into it starts to go to plagiarists, regardless of whether or not they have a book stolen by one.


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## KelliWolfe (Oct 14, 2014)

Colin said:


> Have you specifically asked for the money to be refunded? If so, what was Amazon's response?
> 
> We have asked them to refund any monies the pirate made while our stolen book was on Amazon.
> 
> ...


Amazon did not pull the plagiarized books when we reported them. We were informed that we needed to sort it out ourselves with the plagiarist. The books weren't pulled until we notified some other authors that their works had been plagiarized as well, and eventually Amazon pulled them down due to the growing number of complaints. To the best of my knowledge Amazon never offered to compensate any of the other authors for the sales of the stolen books, and since Amazon did not give refunds to the people who purchased the plagiarized books it looks like they're happy playing both ends.


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## Colin (Aug 6, 2011)

KelliWolfe said:


> Amazon did not pull the plagiarized books when we reported them. We were informed that we needed to sort it out ourselves with the plagiarist. The books weren't pulled until we notified some other authors that their works had been plagiarized as well, and eventually Amazon pulled them down due to the growing number of complaints. To the best of my knowledge Amazon never offered to compensate any of the other authors for the sales of the stolen books, and since Amazon did not give refunds to the people who purchased the plagiarized books it looks like they're happy playing both ends.


Thanks for the info, Kelli.

That's pretty shoddy customer service on Amazon's part. I'll keep you updated when/if I hear back from them.


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