Fake books are among us. Is Amazon a monster allowing others to steal our work while they still reap their cut? What can we do about it?
Nathan Bransford, in his recent newsletter, shared an article about David Goggins who is suing Amazon for allowing fake copies of his book to be sold on Amazon. He says that he went to a book signing and they had purchased 150 fake copies but he still signed them, but made a video before he did. Read all about it. https://www.geekwire.com/2024/author-and-former-navy-seal-david-goggins-sues-amazon-over-bootleg-books/
This led me to find other's with the same problem. Shocked, I discovered that Jane Friedman, an author who spoke at a VWC symposium, somebody we might actually have met, had a similar problem. With her case, someone was using AI to write books then listing her as the author. So people were buying these books based on her name. https://janefriedman.com/i-would-rather-see-my-books-pirated/
In her blog post, Jane Friedman quotes Amazon. “Please provide us with any trademark registration numbers that relate to your claim.” She continues with, "When I replied that I did not have a trademark for my name, they closed the case and said the books would not be removed from sale."
What can we do? Personally, I'm not about to run out and buy copyrights for all 21 of my books (that would be expensive to do at one time) nor am I going to buy a trademark for my name or my "Jazzy's Books" from the United States Patent and Trademark Office, (USPTO.... which is a trademarked acronym), I do think that it's something to consider if you fear anything like this happening to you.
That brings me to another question that David Goggins answered in his video. How do you know how to buy the original, legit, copy? You click on the "other new and used" link and look at the Ships from, Sold by, and Cust Service. They should all say "Amazon"
But this is NOT the same as other stores selling your book via IngramSpark. Because IngramSpark distributes your title to other retailers besides Amazon, you will find your book titles in many different places. Look at my books on Thriftbooks. The titles that are "available" are straight from IngramSpark where my Amazon only titles (I printed through KDP only) are "not available" Seeing this though, makes me wonder if Thriftbooks is really selling used books or buying from IngramSpark and posing them as "used".
Also, via Ingram Spark, you will find your books on many other "online" bookstores all over the world. Here's one of mine on Mighty Ape Australia. Kind of overpriced... but it's there.
In the end, the publishing world is full of problems and traps and new issues that are introduced through the use of AI. You are the only one who can determine what lengths you need to do to protect your work. But for me, for my Jazzy's Books, I'm not going to backtrack and file for my copyrights, or trademark the name, but for my new MG novels, I might, at least, get a copyright from the official copyright office.
Just another bill to pay as an Independent Author.
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