Editor’s Letter – August 2011
Plagiarism is Thievery
Dear readers and contributors,
First, sorry for the unsexy editor's letter! We are sad to report that a woman with the username Bela0rose copied the gorgeous story Be a Door, by Madeline Moore from our site and, after changing the title and name of the main character, posted it as her own work on Fetlife.com. This was not the first time she’s done this to someone. Fortunately, a reader -- Beth H. -- found the double post and alerted Madeline to the plagiarism.
Screenshot of plagiarized work:
Madeline reported the situation to us as well as to the administrators of Fetlife.com, and they succeeded in having the plagiarized work taken down. We have asked Bela0rose for a sincere apology to the author. Unfortunately, her three apologies thus far have been less than sincere; she says sorry, but does not admit that she intentionally plagiarized the piece, stating that she only failed to credit the work. However, her comment on the plagiarized story, “I did enjoy writing it,” demonstrates that her intentions were to the contrary. We ardently hope that this experience will dissuade her from plagiarizing in the future.
Screenshot of Bella0rose taking credit for stolen work:
Unfortunately, BellaOrose isn’t the only person out there stealing work. In May, erotic author and blogger Tracy Ames ran a news story “Plagiarism is the New Black,” discussing the epidemic. Plagiarizers like “Elizabeth Summers” have been copying free erotic stories from websites and blogs and posting them for sale on Amazon.com. If you search Amazon now, you’ll notice that, thankfully, “Elizabeth Summers” is no longer there (although we do worry that the culprit could easily change pen names and carry on with the racket.)
What every writer needs to know about plagiarism:
Plagiarism is a serious offense, which, in this day and age of easily copied and shared information, is becoming more and more prevalent. This can cause great stress on authors, as words are our livelihood, our bread and butter, and sometimes the very embodiment of our souls.
Fortunately, the practice is illegal, and in serious cases, should you have the time and gumption, you may opt to file a lawsuit against the offender. Penalties can include fines of up to $25,000. For a great summary of copyright law, read this article by Ronald B. Standler.
And here is some information on the Digital Millenium Copyright Act which specifically works to protect internet copyright.
How to check for plagiarism of your work online:
As an author, it’s your duty to be vigilant and make certain that no plagiarizer has gotten their greasy fingers on your work. Erotica author Sharazade suggests using Google to keep track of your work. She says, “You need a search string of 7 words, inside quotation marks, and you can often find a piece with fewer, as long as you're not searching for a stock phrase like ‘Once upon a time.’ I believe you can even set up a Google alert for a search string, so that if your phrase appears somewhere else, Google will send you an email with that site. So, for example, you could set up an alert for ‘He’s just finished securing me to the door’.”
There are also several paid plagiarism checking programs available for use, like the ones colleges and high schools often use -- www.turnitin.com -- or free ones like PlagiarismChecker.com.
*Writers,* we encourage you to check stories you’ve published with us now. If you find a plagiarized piece, please report it to info@oystersandchocolate.com.
What to do if you’ve been plagiarized:
- Report the plagiarism to your publisher immediately, if applicable. This way, your publisher can use steps at their disposal to help you in the matter. Don’t expect too much though, small publishers have limited resources, but they may be able to help you “out” your plagiarizer and help force them to stop operations.
- Take a screen shot of your work in its legal form (if the work is published online) and another screen shot of the plagiarized work. Save both to your files as proof.
- If you have any email history, dated manuscript documents, or contracts to prove your rightful ownership of the work, make sure to have that handy should proof of ownership be requested.
- If the plagiarizer has published your story to a third party site, report the plagiarism to the administrator of the website where your work has been plagiarized. In some cases, the administrator can remove the work from their site for you. In other cases, they can contact the plagiarizer to order them to remove it, or even ban the user from their site.
- If
you've been victimized on Amazon.com, you can start filing a complaint
by using this form. Select “publishing rights” and then select
“reporting copyright infringements.”
- If reasonable attempts are made and the plagiarizer does not remove your work. It's time to out the plagiarizer! It’s important that the thief in question not get away with their misdeed. . Here are a few ideas to out the plagiarizer:
-First, gather information. If you have an email address or name and/or penname of the plagiarizer, use the search features on Twitter and Facebook to find their social profiles. Google their name/penname/email address to find other websites or forums where they may have published plagiarized work.
-Spread their name far and wide as a plagiarizer. Post threads on Facebook, Twitter, and Linked In. Send emails out to your professional contact list. Wherever possible, include a link to the offender’s social profile, email address, or website contact page and request that your network send the plagiarizer a message chastising them and demanding retraction of the work and an apology to the rightful author. The more messages you can send to the plagiarizer via yourself, the publisher, and your network, the better. It’s important to be loud and assertive! You want the offender to think twice before doing something like this ever again.
-*A note on slander, harassment, and privacy: be careful not to overstep your boundaries. Keep the messages to the point. Do not send messages to the loved ones or family members. Do not harass, threaten, or stalk the offender. Stay professional.
-Wherever possible, add comments to articles the offender has posted online. If you can’t remove the article s/he has plagiarized, post a comment (or several) stating that this is a plagiarized piece and provide a URL directing the reader to the legitimate source.
-Often this won’t be the plagiarizer’s first offense. Check their site/social profiles to see if they have posted other works that may not belong to them. If possible report these other offenses to the rightful authors and/or publishers.
6. If you’ve lost a significant amount of time and money, you have every right to file a lawsuit. Speak with an attorney if you decide to go this route.
All of us legitimate authors need to stand together to fight plagiarism of our work. Together we can expose these thieves one at a time – and not in a sexy way either.
Xo
Jordan and Samantha