Kindle Unlimited, Free Audible, & Copyright Infringement

Hello, dear Readers, I don’t have KU so I’m not familiar with all the ins and outs of how it works. Today on Twitter I caught a tweet by David Gaughran  about this so I toddled off to read what I could find (because this is ever so much more interesting than packing for my imminent move).

Simply put, Amazon’s KU has been offering free Audible on some books in KU without the permission of the owners. And without compensating them.

Read this link and Nate Hoffelder posted this

Nate posted this yesterday so maybe Amazon is taking care off the problem but only time will tell. Outrageous that it took months before Amazon responded with more than a “we’re looking into it” and left some of the books still listed with free Audible.

Amazon appreciates their authors like Paul appreciates a statue.

 

 

Dorian

7/15/2018

“If love could have saved you, you would have lived forever.”

Tyler

6/15/2018

“When angels visit us, we do not hear the rustle of wings, nor feel the feathery touch of the breast of a dove; but we know their presence by the love they create in our hearts.”-M B Eddy

The best “perennial” I ever found.

AUTHOR RACHEL ANN NUNES WINS HER COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT LAWSUIT AGAINST AN AMAZON SCAMMER

Writer Beware posted this on the long battle by Rachel Ann Nunes against one of the nastiest plagiarists ever.

Posted by Victoria Strauss for Writer Beware

In 2014, author Rachel Ann Nunes learned that her 1998 novel, A Bid For Love, had been plagiarized in its entirety by someone calling themselves Sam Taylor Mullens. Re-titled The Auction Bid, the book was being sold on Amazon, and the “author” was not only promoting it, but sending copies to reviewers.

Unfortunately for the plagiarist, some of the reviewers had read Nunes’s book. Although the plagiarist had switched the narrative from third to first person, the similarities were unmistakable.

Read the whole post here.

Congratulations to Rachel Ann Nunes for a well-deserved and hard fought for win.

The Authors Guild and the Trademark Fracas

Author Kevin Kneupper brought this to my attention on Twitter yesterday. This post is an absolute must read for everyone because, sooner or later, we’ll encounter some misguided author who firmly believes s/he can to pull a Faleena over a word or title and we all end up watching another boozy video by someone who thinks eliminating all competition is the pathway to fame and the #1 spot on the NYT best seller list.

And since I invoked her name, Faleena has reluctantly settled and is withdrawing her trademark applications. She made a (mercifully short) video where she plays the martyr (does she ever not ) and wistfully murmurs about trying to protect her family, the Cockers, who are fictional) and how she was brutally attacked for doing so.

Refresh my memory, wasn’t she the one sending out fake cease and desist letters to indie authors using the word “cocky” in their titles? Wasn’t she the one who managed to get Amazon to remove books using “cocky”? Wasn’t she the one that applied for a TM for the word cocky in a specified font that wasn’t hers to TM? But she’s the victim, riiiight.

Anyway, go read it and save the link somewhere for when you encounter the next Faleena or Michael Scott Earle.