By Francis Wait
This applies to all authors who publish on the internet. I have received many offers to share my books with these so-called Book Clubs. At first I thought they looked intriguing. They all say how good my book is and how they are impressed with the way I have written it. Praising me for the style of writing I use and so on and so on. They say it will only cost a tiny little bit of money to grease the wheels and they will circulate my book to all their so-called members of their writing group. At first I was impressed with the way they came across. I have since spoken to several other authors and they all say the same thing.
But just lately I have taken a closer look at the blurb they have written, and I have noticed they all have one thing in common. That is the theme running through their script they send. Every time they give the impression of having read my books, and they praise me to high heaven. They are sure that with a little bit of encouragement all their members will only be too happy to shell out good money to purchase my book. But here comes the rub. How have they managed to read my book when they haven’t purchased a copy. That’s right, I have had no book sales and yet they have read them.
There is only one conclusion; they are using a pirated copy. So now I am in the invidious position of being asked to pay some scammer to publicise my book on the empty promise to circulate it to their so-called group. Do you think they will do that or simply pocket the money and go on their merry way? And I have had no return from all my hard work in writing it.
Up until now I have had approximately 30 to 40 offers from these people and if I took them all at face value it would have cost me several hundred pounds to circulate my book and no return on my investment.
It makes me wonder what the publishers are doing to help us authors. My books are all on Amazon so I must assume they are hoping to make money by selling my books. One wonders if Amazon is allowing AI to roam through their catalogue and letting them copy anything they like. How else are these scammers getting hold of our books?
The musical industry had set up a system to charge anybody who uses a song to pay for the privilege. Isn’t it time to start thinking about protection for authors, I don’t know whether it is too late to ask Amazon or any other publisher to make sure that all the books they have in stock, either print or digital are subject to copyright laws. These laws were set up to protect authors from just this sort of thing occurring but the fact remains that it is happening. As such any person using our books should pay us for the privilege. And stop all these scammers using us to make money.If you have any comments about this, please contact me via Email.
Author Bio:
Francis Wait, age Eighty Seven and still going strong. Author of three published books on Amazon. Retired and lives in Eastbourne. Membership Sec. and Competition Sec. of the Anderida Writers Group. I was born in Seaford in 1939 and as it was wartime I was evacuated to Manchester to live with my mother’s sister. I came back to live in Seaford in 1950 and lived there for the next 40 tears. I trained as a plasterer and ran my own company for many years. I worked in various countries during my working life and have used some of those experiences in my writing. I built my own house in Belgium but sadly lost it due to the tax situation which I didn’t understand. I married my wife Angela in 1966 and have two children and three grandchildren. Now retired I write for pleasure and have published three books with more to come.
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