Some of you may have noticed that there is a big scandal that came to light this month regarding an "author" plagiarizing a number of books and legitimate authors in order to gain a name for herself (assuming her as the name on the books and social media links was female). Most everyone in Romancelandia, and even outside of that world, have seen the posts and the hashtag (#copypastecris) on social media. In the wake of this newest issue in the world of self-publishing, some major names in the traditional publishing world discovered our plights.
Nora Roberts has taken up the fight. Or at least, she is so long as the backlash doesn't continue. Good God, are legitimate self-pub indie authors actually giving her backlash? What the hell!? I cannot begin to understand why anyone with a piece in this fight for legitimacy to want her to back down. We are all fighting for the same thing! Or at least, we should be. Shouldn't the point be to have a legitimate career, at whatever level we deserve and/or desire (the two are not mutually exclusive here), and to bring our stories to readers that will enjoy them?
I have been following this since it blew up with multiple authors being betrayed by this person who stole the words (whole passages of text!) in order to boost herself into a career that she seems to have no business being in. Writing is not meant to be easy. It is not! It is hard work and time and and inexplicable amount of effort.
I am not, by any means, a voice that will be heard above the crowd. I have a few books that have less than 10 reviews between them. I haven't even had a sale in weeks. A few page reads on KU have popped up, and my hope is to make $5 this month. And that was with promos, sales, a free book on Valentine's Day, a giveaway running (which has ZERO entries), and a social media presence. Granted, my SM presence is a little lower this month, but I did break my wrist at the end of January, so I couldn't type for almost 2 weeks without a crazy amount of pain. I get a pass for that.
And, in the meantime, I have been writing another book, I finished a first draft of a *SPECIAL* project, and I've got a day job and being a single parent to occupy my time as well.
But, I am a writer. I am a self-published indie author. I would, someday, love to make a living doing this thing I love called writing. Not because I want to be rich and famous, although I wouldn't say no to being so, but because I legitimately LOVE WRITING. I love telling stories. Ask anyone who knows me now or knew me growing up. I have such a deep-seeded adoration for reading and telling tales that I cannot imagine a life without words.
But without change, that is going to happen. We will have lost the voices that could be the next Nora Roberts level author. We will never know the stories that would be told. Not if we continue to allow the travesty of a system that has so many loopholes for scammers to continue. I do not think KU was meant to be this way. I think the concept of a subscription service is great. Authors getting paid by the page read? Yes! That could amount to a significant chunk of change over time. More than a book purchased by a library once and read over and over again.
But I would rather the library purchase my book and it be on a shelf that has only 100 other books around it in the same genre as mine, than lost amid the tens of thousands of books that are filled with abysmal writing and repetitive stories that are more visible because of scam artists that know how to boost themselves and have the funds to do so.
I will be withdrawing my books from Kindle Unlimited as soon as it is possible for me to do so. For the Love of Chocolate will be pulled after tomorrow. Claimed in Chains just renewed, so it will be available until the end of April. Until and unless Amazon finds a way to fix the problems and eliminate the scammers, I will not be putting any additional books on there. I will, on occasion, still run sales. But I will be re-evaluating my pricing models in order to do my small part to lessen the problem of underpriced books to satisfy greedy readers.
I am a voracious reader. I love my ebooks for traveling. And I have bought those cheap books too. But unless I'm assured of the author being legitimate, I will no longer be doing so. I buy the real, hold them in your hand, books when I can. Not just because I love the smell of the pages and the feel of a physical book, but because I believe an author should be paid for the work and time they put in to create and bring me a great book. I reread just as much as I read. Those books, whether $3.99 at Walmart or $25.99 at B&N are worth every cent I have spent on them.
I refuse to devalue my work and myself any longer. I will not play into the problem if I can help it.
And I am appealing to my fellow authors - the legitimate, self-published, indie authors who work hard to bring their words to readers - to do the same. Don't be part of the problem anymore. Don't undervalue yourself or your work. Regardless of what you did in the past, we can all learn from our mistakes, let's be part of the solution. Whatever that may be.
For those interested, here are the links to some of the blogs that have been posted from various authors following this catastrophe.
I also recommend following Suzan and Courtney on their social media pages. Both have a strong presence on Twitter and Suzan is very outspoken (literally, she does live feeds) on Facebook.