Fanfiction Authors: HEADS UP

Fanfiction Authors: HEADS UP

(Non-authors, please RB to signal boost to your author friends!)

An astute reader informed me this morning that one of my fics (Children of the Future Age) had been pirated and was being sold as a novel on Amazon:

(And they weren't even creative with their cover design. If you're going to pirate something that I spent a full year of my life writing, at least give me a pretty screenshot to brag about later. Seriously.)

I promptly filed a DMCA complaint to have it removed, but I checked out the company that put it up -- Plush Books -- and it looks like A LOT of their books are pirated fic. They are by no means the only ones doing this, either -- the fact that """publishers""" can download stories from AO3 in ebook format and then reupload them to Amazon in just a few clicks makes fic piracy a common problem. There are a whole host of reasons why letting this continue is bad -- including actual legal risk to fanfiction archives -- but basically:

IF YOU ARE A FANFIC AUTHOR WITH LONG AND/OR POPULAR WORKS, PLEASE CHECK AMAZON TO SEE IF YOUR STORIES HAVE BEEN PIRATED.

You can search for your fics by title, or by text from the description (which is often just copied wholesale from AO3 as well). If you find that someone has stolen your work and is selling it as their own, you can lodge a DMCA complaint (Amazon.com/USA site; other countries have different systems). If you haven't done this before, it's easy! Here's a tutorial:

HOW TO FILE A COPYRIGHT COMPLAINT FOR STOLEN WORK ON AMAZON.COM:

First, go to this form. You'll need to be signed into your Amazon account.

Select the radio buttons/dropdown options (shown below) to indicate that you are the legal Rights Owner, you have a copyright concern, and it is about a pirated product.

Enter the name of your story in the Name of Brand field.

In the Link to the Copyrighted Work box, enter a link to the story on AO3 or whatever site your work is posted on.

In the Additional Information box, explain that you are the author of the work and it is being sold without your permission. That's all you really need. If you want, you can include additional information that might be helpful in establishing the validity of your claim, but you don't have to go into great detail. You can simply write something like this:

I am the author of this work, which is being sold by [publisher] without my permission. I originally published this story in [date/year] on [name of site], and have provided a link to the original above. On request, I can provide documentation proving that I am the owner of the account that originally posted this story.

In the ASIN/ISBN-10 field, copy and paste the ID number from the pirated copy's URL. You'll find this ten-digit number in the Amazon URL after the word "product," as in the screenshot below. (If the URL extends beyond this number, you can ignore everything from the question mark on.) Once this number has been added, Amazon will pull the product information automatically and add it to the complaint form, so you can check the listing title and make sure it's correct.

Finally, add your contact information to the relevant fields, check the "I have read and accept the statements" box, and then click Submit. You should receive an email confirmation that Amazon has received the form.

Please share this information with your writer friends, keep an eye out for/report pirated works, and help us keep fanfiction free and legally protected!

NOTE: All of the above also applies to Amazon products featuring stolen artwork, etc., so fan artists should check too!

Redemption of the forgotten love

Funny little snippet for this little angst filled fic that is currently one of my WIPs. P.S. that’s just my working title.

Penelope stared at this man, this high lord who claimed to have been her lover, the father of her daughter, and yes, he very much resembled her. But her memories of him were gone, along with any other possible feelings to tell her otherwise. Despite that, he swore a magic oath to speak naught but the truth to her and that he would never hurt her or Judith.

She nodded and turned away still, intending to think things through when she caught sight of golden fur and a frivolously wagging tail. “Callisto!” She called out and her puppy ran to her.

The high lord startled. “Yes, what? Do you remember me after all, Penelope?” He asked hopeful.

“What are you talking about?” She asked him in confusion.

“You just called out my name.”

“Callisto!” She snapped when the rowdy puppy knocked into the high lord.

“There! You just called me again.”

She stared at him blankly. “Your name is Callisto?” She asked. Staring between the high lord and the puppy that was her daughter’s best friend.

Slow dawning realization appeared on the high lord’s face. “Don’t tell me… you were calling the dog, weren’t you? You named your dog after me.”

“Unknowingly, it seems.”

It seemed as though he deflated a bit, now reminding her greatly of when her puppy experienced great disappointment that the food was not for him.

Plot synopsis: Callisto fell under the Laila’s thrall, hurting and nearly killing the woman he loved and causing her to flee. After she escapes, Penelope loses her memory and she gives birth to his daughter. Sometime after that, Callisto breaks free from the thrall and launches a search. After being mistakenly believed to have died in the incident where she lost her memories, Callisto finds her alive and well, daughter, dog, and all. And now he has to win all three over.

i must ask you reblog this so said beast, you know. actually has attributes

first thing i see on my dash

things got a little heated in the gc today

And put where you're from in the tags if you're comfortable w it!!!