Fan-fiction Plagiarism

[Todeswind]

I'm not sure if this is the appropriate section for this but I've been noticing a disturbing trend in the kindle store, namely that of people copying fan-fiction of of FFN and selling it via Amazon. Most recently I found these when searching for Gaunt's Ghosts in Kindle format.

http://www.amazon.com/The-God-of-Death- ... 105&sr=1-4

http://www.amazon.com/Beyond-Eye-Gods-e ... 6TWVU5XWC2

You'll possibly recognize them as of fanfiction from FFN.

I did a few quick keyword searches under the titles of some other fiction I keep up with and discovered that there were a great many examples of fanfiction being sold via the Amazon kindle store from Warhammer, Star Wars, Stargate, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and a couple of other fandoms. As a fanfiction author and someone who does not want publishers to start smacking fanfiction authors with the IP hammer I find this deeply troubling for obvious reasons.

If you have a free moment please check Amazon to make sure none of your stories are currently being sold on their site without your knowledge. Seriously people we do not want publishers to start going after fanfiction hosting sites as a result of this sort of jackassery.

[B5B7]

If this is happening then Amazon is violating copyright law, even if the stories submitted are by the actual fanfic writers that wrote them, let alone third parties. One of the conditions of all fanfic writing is that it is not done for profit. Doing so breaks the unstated contract between all IP creators/owners and the fanfic authors. The exception is when the fanfic is accepted for publication by the IP owners (as has happened with some Star Trek stories and the Grantville Gazette).

[DaZergRock54444]

That is sad. Especially if someone is copy-pasting the stories to publish. I will admit, I will copy-paste a story to Word, but for the sake of making it more accessible to me for reading in my downtime. I printed out Hull No. 721 so I could read it during the school mandated reading time, but that's it. And after that, I recycled the whole thing, because I was done with it, and it had gotten out of order. In all honesty, the use of someone else's fanfic for your own personal gain is abominable, and if you really want to publish something, write it yourself and go to a publisher. Not that difficult.

[Stark]

if you really want to publish something, write it yourself and go to a publisher. Not that difficult.

Do you really expect to be taken seriously?

Amazon clearly doesn't do much examination of the books published through the Kindle store; they also 'sell' badly-formatted editions of older fiction clearly taken from Project Gutenberg.

[Simon_Jester]

if you really want to publish something, write it yourself and go to a publisher. Not that difficult.

Do you really expect to be taken seriously?

With a name like DaZergRock54444? Probably not.

But he still has a point- it's extremely poor form to sell stuff someone else wrote, especially when there's a risk of having that bring down a copyright violation suit on both you and the person who wrote it. Writers who will tolerate fanfic that isn't sold for money are a lot likelier to crack down when someone starts selling it.

Amazon clearly doesn't do much examination of the books published through the Kindle store; they also 'sell' badly-formatted editions of older fiction clearly taken from Project Gutenberg.

That, at least, raises no copyright issues. Stupid, but not dangerous.

[tortieconspiracy]

Oh, you guy have no idea how bad it is.

[Todeswind]

Jesus, this guy has had his story posted for the better part of a year since GW was informed of it. How is it that TSOALR gets shut down but this prick doesn't?

[Feil]

Jesus, this guy has had his story posted for the better part of a year since GW was informed of it. How is it that TSOALR gets shut down but this prick doesn't?

Amazon is rich and has a lawyer army. TSOALR guy was poor and had no lawyer at all. Welcome to the reality of intellectual property law. Enjoy your stay.

[Skgoa]

Aren't there publishers that specialize in eBooks? Seeing as there is quite a bit of really good fiction on the net and finding a publisher (or even a good editor) is such a problem for authors, there should be many people who would accept an offer to be published. And since it wouldn't cost anything but the time and money spent on editing/cover art, publishers can take on unproven authors.

[Jawawithagun]

There are lots.

Here's a list of some of them: http://www.ebookcrossroads.com/epublishers.html

[ComradeClaus]

Hmph, I was looking at some Kindle at the Amazon site & was shocked at the sheer volume of plagiarized erotica from the 60's-70's-80's era. Of course those were all out of print for a very long time.

But how much stolen FF is good & how much is yaoi fangirl rubbish filled w/ MarySues?

[HMS Sophia]

I really want to ask why you were searching for erotica... But I think I can guess...

[evilsoup]

Well, there's really only one reason to search for erotica. On-topic, this is a potentially scary development, for the reason B5B7 gave. I mean, I'm not a particularly big fanfic reader (in fact I feel a certain shame at reading any fanfiction), but it would be a shame if a few greedy fuckbuckets ended the whole thing.

[ComradeClaus]

I really want to ask why you were searching for erotica... But I think I can guess...

laughs...

you can't tell me you've never read one & thought it was hillarious.

same w/ romance novels. So many cheesy euphamisms. plus it's funny how many covers fabio is on, but is he ever cast as an italian? (like Romeo for example) it's almost always an indian of 1/2-indian or a fifth... but it's still a dream job. look good=get paid a lot.

though the funniest i think was one set in the time of caligula. w/ the male lead a barbarian gladiator from britain. he looked awful bishie on the cover. he should've looked grizzled & battle-scarred considering the fight he was in. Chicks dig Scar right?