Indie

0 comments on "“Independent Publishing and DMCA Abuse” This is very scary. #indies"

Wow, this is very scary => Independent Publishing and DMCA Abuse, or “How a Scammer Got My Book Blocked with Very Little Effort” <= and it’s a currently ongoing case.

Basically, some a-hole sent a fake DMCA notice to Smashwords and Amazon and got Becca Mills’ book “Nolander” taken down. Then he turned around and contacted her, offering sympathy that her book was taken down. From the emails, he’s about a step away from offering to help her get it back up… probably with a request for money.

How did he do it? Well, it looks like he posted snippets from her book on a WordPress site, then pointed Amazon and Smashwords to it and claimed that her book — which was published in 2013 — was published earlier in 2011.

A few backdated posts, and all of a sudden an author is looking at trouble. How dumb is that?

“Nolander” is back up on Smashwords, but remains unavailable from Amazon at this time.

I believe that DMCA Notices can be a powerful tool for authors fighting to keep their works from being distributed without their permission. But I kind of figured a bit of research would be done by companies like Smashwords and Amazon.

Google requires several bits of proof that you’re the copyright holder and that your work is being infringed upon. What’s up with Amazon/Smashwords not even bothering to listen?

Allies & Enemies at Amazon
0 comments on "Where are all of the book remixes at? The Book Remix Project?"

My brain just totally popped with an idea that I feel like I should immediately share with the world:

Book Remixes

I’ve admitted my secret “shame” before – my fondness for reading fanfiction – and one of the things fanfic authors like to do is a story remix.

It’s basically when someone writes a really awesome story that lots of people love. A fanfiction story so great, that someone writes a fanfiction for it. A fanfiction of a fanfiction. It’s like some kind of unintended mindsuck, like the movie “Inception” (which has a very hearty fandom behind it.)

In fanfiction, one author asks the other for permission, then rewrites their story in a different way. Like a lighthearted comedy story could be taken to a very different extreme, or the whole story could be basically the same, except the very end. Sometimes there are remix contests where all kinds of fanfic authors throw their stories into a hat, then other authors rewrite the stories in their own way. It’s just one of those stupid fun things people like to do.

So what stops indie authors from doing the same thing? Like each one of the remixed books could have REMIX in the title and an explanation of what they are on their description pages, or maybe there could be a story collection. It could be like a fun contest for authors to enter – either to exchange books amongst themselves, or to rewrite classic literature in the common domain.

I just think it would be a really fun thing to read.

Imagine: CJ Cherryh rewriting “Brave New World.” And Aldous Huxley rewriting “Fortress In the Eye of Time.”
Mark Twain rewriting “Pride & Prejudice.” And Jane Austen rewriting “Huckleberry Finn.”
Joss Whedon rewriting “Twilight.” And Stephanie Meyer rewriting “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” (or even better, what if she rewrote “Angel?”)