In my last blog post, we looked at some of the ways that unscrupulous individuals take advantage of new or inexperienced authors who are self-publishing. A lot of these scams may look perfectly normal and you will actually receive some of the promised assistance or services for your money – just not as much as you should do. In this blog post, we will still be looking at various scams in the self-publishing industry but considering more what happens when you are closer to publication or have already published your book.
Plagiarism
This isn’t exactly a scam, but it is certainly a way that people can take advantage of you and your work. This happens when somebody copies your work and attempts to pass it off as their own. On the face of it, it doesn’t seem like you are actually losing money on this – you don’t pay them anything, and your book still exists and is for sale. However, if readers go to the other book, you will lose sales that you would otherwise have made a profit on.
Plagiarism isn’t as simple as someone copying your work word-for-word. It can be this, but it is more likely that someone will take your work, chop bits out of it and add others in. These may be sections that they have written themselves or perhaps ones taken from other books. Alternatively, they might rewrite the whole thing themselves, just keeping the plot of the book. This is one of the reasons why plagiarism is so hard to act against – proving that it is plagiarism and not just coincidence is difficult.
Another problem with plagiarism is that you will not always even know that it has happened to take any action. Unless you happen to stumble across your own writing in another book or one of your readers informs you of it, you might never find out. This can also be a problem for your own reputation. While it is usually possible to tell which copy is the original one from the publication dates, not everyone will think to check these and might conclude that your work is plagiarism simply because they read it second.
Unfortunately, plagiarism is notoriously hard to fight. If someone has reproduced your book word-for-word, it is actually better for you, as simply notifying the selling platforms should result in the reproduction being removed. They can look at upload dates, see the two books are identical and take down the second one. This is a quick and easy process for you and should get you the required resolution.
However, it becomes more complicated if your work has been edited at all. You might still be successful if it joins together entire paragraphs and sections, as you can point to these specific parts that are still word-for-word. You may have more problems if your work has been paraphrased and restructured. It is incredibly difficult to prove anything in a situation like this and disputes can go on for years, often at great expense to you.
Impersonation
Impersonation is where the scammer actually pretends to be you, copying covers, titles and your name. Their book will then appear when your readers search for you, reducing your sales and giving royalties to the scammer. This can also damage your reputation, as the actual contents of the book may be a cut or inferior version. The only way you can check whether a listing is genuine is to look at the ISBN, as these cannot be duplicated.
Much like plagiarism, one of the problems with impersonation is knowing that it is happening to stop it. If you do find a duplicate copy, your best option is to report it to the selling platform using the procedure they require. Some will simply remove the fake listing, others, such as Amazon, actually redirect the royalties from it to you.
Unfavourable Contracts
If you will be working with an assisted publisher, or buying any publishing services, make sure you check exactly what you are agreeing to and signing away. To start with, look at what happens to the rights of the work. If you are giving these to the publisher, are they constrained in how they can use them? Some contracts allow the publisher to sell the rights on to a third party, meaning you have even less control.
Make sure the contract has a reasonable exit clause. Many contracts stipulate a very high fee for exit from the contract and little to no cooling off period. In addition, what circumstances would actually allow you to leave at all? Some contracts are extremely difficult to terminate. There should also be clear consequences if the publisher fails to deliver what they are contracted to; ideally, the rights will revert to you and all money paid will be refunded.
Wrapping Up
I hope that this helps you to protect your rights as an author and avoid scams. In my next blog post, we will be looking at how to cite sources in your nonfiction book, so come back in two weeks for that!
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