Warning: Writer Scam Alert

I just received this mail from author David Farland, and had to share it as I know many writers who are beginning to publish their works electronically. I'm subscribed to his fantastic newsletter, David Farland's Daily Kick in the Pants. Sign up for it at DavidFarland.net so that you can receive news and tips like this.


David Farland’s Daily Kick in the Pants—Beware of Possible Scams

Today I got an interesting email from a writer who put his book up on a site frequented by other new authors. He’d posted a prologue, and got a critique from a reader who said, “There’s a story in here struggling to get out. Send me the entire manuscript and I’ll edit it for you.”
Well, last year I would have thought that that was a kind offer. A complete free edit? That’s very generous!
But the critique was so vague, it could have been aimed at anyone’s prologue. No characters were named. No plot was addressed. One had to wonder if the “critic” had read the piece at all. Then it was followed by a request for an entire manuscript.
Now, that is either a very generous offer, or it could be a scam. It’s a technique used by movie producers and writers in order to drum up work. They’ll tell you that your IP needs work and then offer to “help take it to the next level” in order to get a free option on your work. Sometimes the offer is even coupled with insults. “Right now, this has some great ideas, but the writing is crap. I can fix it for you!” I learned while working with cons as a prison guard that this technique—insulting the mark and then offering to help—works remarkably well. As an artist, you are at first shocked, confused, and hurt. But as the offer of help comes, suddenly you feel grateful to the con for his benevolence.
In the past, we authors haven’t had to worry too much about the theft of intellectual properties. But I mentioned a few weeks ago about the new bout of theft that is going on, where “authors” copy others’ works, slap a new name on them, and sell them.
The latest craze of course has been “Frankenstein” novels, where a crook takes published works, cobbles pieces together, and sends it out as his own. By reading the sample chapters, the reader will think that the book looks great. It’s not until you’ve read well into the novel that you find out that you have a problem. Obviously, Amazon and the other big publishers will need to address these thieves and figure out how to shut them down.
But if you were to send a completed novel out to one of these con-men, they could steal your unpublished work, re-title it, and sell it as their own. Obviously, that’s the coming craze.
So beginning today, I feel need to warn you: don’t send electronic copies of your manuscripts to people that you don’t know.
Even if you do know the people, be careful. It’s easy to lose control of a manuscript. Many of you know about how Stephenie Meyer had a copy of a work in progress stolen a couple of years ago. If I understood the story correctly, she sent it to a friend for a critique, and it got forwarded elsewhere.
Other forms of theft are a bit rarer. I did once have a manuscript stolen—a copy of STAR WARS: THE COURTSHIP OF PRINCESS LEIA, that I was making final edits on. It was obviously taken by a fan who broke into our house (who also stole some notes that had been signed by George Lucas).
I’ve heard of a couple of cases where hardcopy manuscripts were published by “authors,” including one writing professor from Montana who would steal the work of his students. A couple of authors have tried to publish chapters swiped from other people’s books, and this practice was spotted in the work of two bestsellers in the past four years or so.
So theft has always been with us, but in the past it hasn’t been a big business.
I’m concerned that pirates could hijack your work. It’s coming, and we may not be able to shut them down. Some countries are not signatories to international copyright treaties. This creates an opportunity for thieves to steal your works without fear of being jailed or sued. What if someone in China or Nigeria or Guatemala starts marketing your book electronically? You might not have a legal recourse, and you might not be able to shut them down.
So take care with those electronic files. Send them to people that you trust, that you’re close to.





David Farland