But then I found out that was only the tip of the iceberg. There were a whole bunch of other books just like that, using different names and slightly different descriptions and sometimes different covers, but still the same book inside. I spent a little time compiling a whole list to send off to Amazon. Here was the list:
“Transformed”
This exact same book is under at least 4 different
names. See:
“Gender Swapped”:
This exact same book is under at least 5 different pen
names. See:
“Man to Brat”:
This exact same book is under at least 6 different pen
names. See:
“Gender Experiment”:
This exact same book is under at least 6 different pen
names. See:
“Switched”:
This exact same book is under at least 5 different pen
names. See:
I waited a couple of weeks to see if they'd do anything. A few from the list disappeared, but not many. Finally I decided to email them again with an updated list. This time after a few days it had shrunk to just four.
“Gender Swapped”:
“Man to Brat”:
“Gender Experiment”:
“Switched”:
I guess I can't really complain if there's one of just about every book left. I mean the problem was having multiple copies of the same book and I guess now there's not--that I've seen yet. Really I think whoever did this should have his/her account suspended and every book taken down. I mean I've had books deleted for a lot less than that.
Which is really part of the problem. Amazon's justice system is as uneven and often slow-moving as the NFL's. In this case I had to harp on them a couple of times to actually get any significant results. You'd think they would take something like this as seriously as they take fake reviews.
Cindy Borgne told me about a couple of fake books that had shot up the "Movers and Shakers" chart. I guess since the fraud was so obvious and visible the books disappeared shortly after. So sometimes justice can be swift, but it has to be something really obvious. The shady operators in the shadows can be a lot harder to ferret out.
3 comments:
Huh? I guess I'm arriving late to this story. Are you saying that someone copied your books? Or are you saying that there's a spammer/con artist out there that's stealing people's books and publishing under a different name? Either way, that's pretty shitty. I hope Amazon sorts it all out soon. You did a good service to all authors by pointing this out.
I'm not sure if they stole the book just posted it 6 times or so. Imagine if I sold Chance of a Lifetime under all 4 of my names on Amazon?
A lot of times the scam books pop up again pretty cook. Amazon seems to be the favorite place of scammers. They need real people to put an end to it..not bots searching for key phrases.
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