Anybody ever have this problem?

What I am about to report doesn't really belong here, but since we seem to be back to people not reading any other forum, and I need to figure out what to do next, here it is.

A few days ago, I decided to offer each of the Redstone short stories, separately for free, through Smashwords, to see what might happen, and possibly, have them placed on Kindle.

Only a couple of days ago, while it was still "pending review" at Smashwords, the Smashwords version turned up on my Barnes and Noble author's page, apparently published by "zefeng guo." I know that it came from the Smashwords version, because I downloaded the free sample. There were also several formatting errors in the sample.

I have contacted Smashwords through their "Contact Us" form, following their instructions for dealing with listing errors, but the page tells me that they have too few employees to handle their load, and it will take several weeks for them to get back to me.

I have "opted out" of distribution to B&N, but I don't think that is going to help, since that page indicates that they have not sent the book to B&N yet.

This concerns me on several levels, and I am not sure what my next step should be.

Thanks for any advice.

Ann

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Dear Ann,

Can you contact this person through Linkedin? What a situation! Maybe Shelagh knows what you should do. I am baffled.

Love,

Betty

I did a search and found this book by J. L. Campbell. The publisher is zefeng guo:

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/a-bakers-dozen-jl-campbell/1112541270

It says that the book is the prequel to this book. The publisher is Little Prince Publishing:

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/distraction-j-l-campbell/1111581279?ean=9780983522058

The book, A Baker's Dozen, was published on Smashwords 14th August 2012:

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/214981

I suggest that you contact the authors on Smashwords who uploaded books recently that are now listed on B &N as published by zefeng guo. Together, you might be able to get this sorted out.

So am I. I just finished chatting with a B&N rep. He gave me an 800#, which I know from previous experience is a number for customer complaints. They will give me a phone # for authors to call, but it is not an 800 type line. No one will answer. (They had listed a negative review for Redstone Stories that did not apply to that book - had no comments, only the stars, and was dated over two months before Smashwords publication date. I resolved that one by removing the book through Smashwords, but it took B&N several weeks to comply.)

They don't seem to see this sort of thing as a problem.

I think I am done with B&N. Part of the problem is that I have several friends who have Nooks.

Ann

Thanks, Shelagh. That might help us to get Smashwords to give it a priority.

Ann

The Readstone stories are listed on B&N at $0.99 (published by Middle of the Forest Press):

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/u/Membership-Join/379002828

I contacted Smashwords about a free download of Mr. Planemaker's Flying Machine that was available on another website. At the time, the book had reverted to a paid for price. Smashwords agreed that the site was not one of their distributors, but they said that I should contact them because, as author, my authority was greater than theirs. The fact that someone had copied a Smashwords file (I downloaded it from the site offering it for free to check that it was formatted for Smashwords), and uploaded it to another site didn't seem to concern them. I decided to make Mr. Planemaker's Flying Machine permanently free so it didn't matter how or where the file was downloaded.

Yes, that's the PubIt version. My plan has been to get free versions of each separate short story listed at B&N through Smashwords. Then I will take the anthology off sale for a while, see if I can get Kindle versions of each story up and offered free, then take the anthology off sale on Kindle as well, now that the first novel is up and running.

Now, I have requested that Smashwords not list any of the shorts until this is cleared up. It is a bit of a headache, especially right now.

Ann

Ann,

Look on the bright side. Someone is stealing your writing.

I knew it was good stuff:)

Annie

It would be a huge undertaking, but if you feel up to it, you could gather names of other authors (as Shelagh suggested) and continue to do so over time until you have enough for a class action suit. That would get their attention. It might also get the attention of the FBI. They might just investigate this kind of fraud if enough people are affected.

Thanks for the advice, Lori. I'm taking what steps I can on my own, and keeping that option open. One problem is that I know the author's names, but nothing else. I haven't had time today for looking more deeply into that, but I want to give it another day or so, and see what Smashwords and/or B&N do, if anything.

Ann

I love the class action suit idea--think of the publicity--free too:)

Remember that with every adversity there is a benefit.

Abe F. March wrote:

Remember that with every adversity there is a benefit.

...and another step along the path...

Annie

alj wrote:

I have contacted Smashwords through their "Contact Us" form, following their instructions for dealing with listing errors, but the page tells me that they have too few employees to handle their load, and it will take several weeks for them to get back to me.

That's reason enough for me to not do business with Smashwords.

I agree, but neither Kindle Direct nor Nook's PubIt allow for free books. As far as I know, the Smashwords route has to be taken first if you want the others to drop the price.

Ann

Smashwords isn't your only option to distribute a free book. You can truly self publish it from your own website. That's what I did with the free book called out in my signature.

You can upload your free book to gutenberg.org.

http://self.gutenberg.org/

Ann, if you are using the giveaway of your book as a promotional tool, and want to sell the book afterwards, you can enroll it in Kindle Select and choose a period for your promotion (up to five days.) That gets your book listed on Amazon's free e-books for the genre and gets you a lot of exposure.

Afterwards, the book is free to borrow for Amazon Prime members. You get paid whenever one of them borrows your book.

Been there, done that with the anthology. It didn't result in increased sales. I don't want to sell the stories individually. They are intended, as you said, as promotion.

I have the separate stories available as PDF files on my website right now.

Thanks, though, for the interest, Al. I appreciate your comments, and will consider them.

Ann

I can't believe that B&N would allow criminal copyright infringement to continue without pulling the hijacked book immediately upon being notified that they are selling an infringing book. Book sellers have a safe harbor against innocent infringement, but they can't knowingly sell books that they know fraudulently and willfully misrepresenting the copyright owner. This is more than a customer service issue. If the criminal is, in fact, a student at a reputable institution in Australia, informing the university of the activity will result in immediate action as well. For a foreign student, this should result in expulsion and consequently revocation of their student visa.

The problem at this point is getting them to admit that it is happening. It's a bit of a that's not my department kind of thing.

Ann

I think you need to edit your post, Ann. The name you posted also belongs to a PH.D. graduate in LA. Blaming the Chinese/Australians when there's a US resident with the same name, could be construed as prejudice.

If there is anything that I am not, it is prejudiced - against anyone. I reported the name that came up on my searches.

Ann

Ann,

I would not try to take care of this via phone or email. Print a copy of the offending book listing that includes the full URL and the fraudulent author attribution and send it to B&N or any legitimate site that lists the book with a certified letter, return receipt requested, that demands they remove the book immediately and shows proof of your copyright. This they will not ignore. Find the appropriate corporate office and, if all else fails, send it directly to their CEO whose office will forward it to the appropriate department. Their web page may offer additional information on contacting them for removing infringing material, though it is not always easy to find from a main page link. Here is the link to their current management: http://www.barnesandnobleinc.com/our_company/management_team/management_team.html