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Fanfiction Authors: HEADS UP

(Non-authors, please RB to signal boost to your author friends!)

An astute reader informed me this morning that one of my fics (Children of the Future Age) had been pirated and was being sold as a novel on Amazon:

(And they weren't even creative with their cover design. If you're going to pirate something that I spent a full year of my life writing, at least give me a pretty screenshot to brag about later. Seriously.)

I promptly filed a DMCA complaint to have it removed, but I checked out the company that put it up -- Plush Books -- and it looks like A LOT of their books are pirated fic. They are by no means the only ones doing this, either -- the fact that """publishers""" can download stories from AO3 in ebook format and then reupload them to Amazon in just a few clicks makes fic piracy a common problem. There are a whole host of reasons why letting this continue is bad -- including actual legal risk to fanfiction archives -- but basically:

IF YOU ARE A FANFIC AUTHOR WITH LONG AND/OR POPULAR WORKS, PLEASE CHECK AMAZON TO SEE IF YOUR STORIES HAVE BEEN PIRATED.

You can search for your fics by title, or by text from the description (which is often just copied wholesale from AO3 as well). If you find that someone has stolen your work and is selling it as their own, you can lodge a DMCA complaint (Amazon.com/USA site; other countries have different systems). If you haven't done this before, it's easy! Here's a tutorial:

HOW TO FILE A COPYRIGHT COMPLAINT FOR STOLEN WORK ON AMAZON.COM:

First, go to this form. You'll need to be signed into your Amazon account.

Select the radio buttons/dropdown options (shown below) to indicate that you are the legal Rights Owner, you have a copyright concern, and it is about a pirated product.

Enter the name of your story in the Name of Brand field.

In the Link to the Copyrighted Work box, enter a link to the story on AO3 or whatever site your work is posted on.

In the Additional Information box, explain that you are the author of the work and it is being sold without your permission. That's all you really need. If you want, you can include additional information that might be helpful in establishing the validity of your claim, but you don't have to go into great detail. You can simply write something like this:

I am the author of this work, which is being sold by [publisher] without my permission. I originally published this story in [date/year] on [name of site], and have provided a link to the original above. On request, I can provide documentation proving that I am the owner of the account that originally posted this story.

In the ASIN/ISBN-10 field, copy and paste the ID number from the pirated copy's URL. You'll find this ten-digit number in the Amazon URL after the word "product," as in the screenshot below. (If the URL extends beyond this number, you can ignore everything from the question mark on.) Once this number has been added, Amazon will pull the product information automatically and add it to the complaint form, so you can check the listing title and make sure it's correct.

Finally, add your contact information to the relevant fields, check the "I have read and accept the statements" box, and then click Submit. You should receive an email confirmation that Amazon has received the form.

Please share this information with your writer friends, keep an eye out for/report pirated works, and help us keep fanfiction free and legally protected!

NOTE: All of the above also applies to Amazon products featuring stolen artwork, etc., so fan artists should check too!

Sirius: Why? Why, Reg?

Regulus, sighs: Why am I sleeping with James?

Sirius: Is it a pity thing? Do you pity my best friend?

Regulus: …

Sirius: Is he sick? Is Prongs dying?

Regulus: …

Sirius: Are you working for the dark side?

Regulus: …

Sirius: Damn it, he's holding you against your will, isn't he?

Regulus: Sirius-

Sirius: If he is holding you against your will, blink twice

Regulus: …

Sirius, blows at Regulus’s eyes: Blink twice, Reggie

Regulus: Really, Sirius?

Sirius: Is this revenge? When I pushed you into the lake when we were kids?

Sirius: You have a thing for glasses?

Regulus: I’m leaving the room, Sirius

Sirius: Is it huge?

Regulus: Sirius! Really?

Sirius: I'm sorry. Let me rephrase that

Sirius: Is it huge?

fascinated by people claiming that deadpool is straight meanwhile here's how they marketed Deadpool 3:

sending your friends terrible tumblr posts is a love language

Then when I go to make one it doesn't sound right

me: *looks for fic with extremely specific scenario that I made up*

fic: *doesn’t exist*

me:

six year old steve being wary of george barnes at first, because he’s a big, tall man just like his own dad and his own dad gets real mean if steve is too loud or if he’s been drinking. but after a while, steve realizes that george is gentle and soft-spoken and always so kind, and after that, steve clings to george for a few weeks

“got a little shadow there, dear?” winnie asks, peeling another potato and handing it to a seven year old bucky to cut as george passes through the kitchen with steve right behind him.

“he’s a bit more like a duckling, i’d say,” george says, eyes twinkling. he winks at bucky, who grins at him, all teeth and steve just ducks his head with a blush. but he’s got a pleased, little smile on his face, so george and winnie decide it’s worth it.

I love that Ryan Coogler cast a big, thick and glorious dark skinned black woman as the main love interest and I love that the sex scene was unapologetically sexy and passionate. I loved seeing this big strong and muscular black man bend this big, thick ebony goddess over and gave her some hot and heavy soulful kind of love. It wasn’t wrong or gratuitous.