WTF

[mistressace]

This travesty has just been brought to my attention and as an author, I am furious. Someone has apparently created a fanzine from my story Without A Trace and someone else is selling it on e-bay.

This has been done without my knowledge. The fanzine has been created without my permission. Someone has stolen from me and is profitting from my work.

If any of you find this zine, let me know who is selling it and who printed it. I know I haven't written anything since my beta passed away - and things like this will damn well guarantee I won't write anything again. This journal will be locked to friends only as soon as I get back from Comi-con.

No love

Ace

Comments

[pepperjackcandy.livejournal.com]

Wow. That truly sucks.

On the plus side, I think it's someone who printed it out for hir own use and is selling just the one copy. The description says, "with only wear from reading."

I'd recommend you contact the buyer and ask hir to take it down and then take it from there if ze gives you problems.

I've submitted a question to the seller.

[mistressace.livejournal.com]

It struck me that it might have been printed for just that purpose except the cover threw me a bit. I've asked the seller how they obtained the item so I can determine if this is a one-off.

Thanks!

Ace

[suzycat.livejournal.com]

Gasp! Bad stuff! Is this the reason for going flocked?

What is wrong with people?!

Yep

[mistressace.livejournal.com]

This is the reason my journal will be flocked from now on. I never thought I'd be at this point but everyone has a line and mine has just been crossed.

And I'd just reached the point where I wanted to start writing again...

Hugs,

Ace

[mahaliem.livejournal.com]

God, I'm so sorry this happened to you.

I just skimmed down the sellers list of items and there are Smallville stories (that I recognized) by joyfulgirl and dayspring and dolimir, plus 'collections' of stories, so who knows how many other authors.

I wouldn't be surprised if every single 'fanzine' that seller has are stories she/he printed off the internet and then had bound.

Is there any recourse we have against them?

[mistressace.livejournal.com]

Because it's fanfiction do we, the authors, have any rights?

This hurts because Diluvian and I were going to put The Prometheus Project out as a zine once we finished the final book, but then Diluvian passed away and I just... I lost the drive to finish it and now this happens.

God... I'm so hurt and so angry.

Re: Is there any recourse we have against them?

[mahaliem.livejournal.com]

I don't know what to tell you. I wish I did.

I can definitely understand the hurt and anger and you have my complete sympathy. *hugs again*

Re: Is there any recourse we have against them?

[songs-of-winter.livejournal.com]

You can complain to Ebay and see if you can't get them to block the seller. Looks like yours has been pulled (or sold), so I can't see who it was. If you still have the name, though, you should let people know so they don't buy from that seller.

[angstie.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry that such a horrible thing has happened to you. I hope this won't stop you from writing, even if it is to a "closed group".

Don't let the bastards win!

Ang

[danceswithgary]

I can totally understand your upset and anger. I recently declined inclusion in a fanzine that charges for 'downloads' not just the cost of printing and shipping, because my work has always been posted for free and I don't want anyone else making a profit from it.

I have Google Alerts set up for my alias, but in this case it wouldn't have worked for you because the seller kept the author's name out of the description. I hope you get a response from them that will help shut that down.

[suzvoy.livejournal.com]

UNbelievable.

[ladyivy.livejournal.com]

That's horrible. I don't print out and bind stories, but I have a friend that does and when she wanted to get rid of some to gain space she simply gave them away to other fans (I know that's what she did; I have several of them as a result). No one should make a profit off of someone else's intellectual property, fan fic or not.

I hope you got an answer, and they took it down.

[teenygozer.livejournal.com]

I used to print out and bind stories for a couple of friends of mine who couldn't afford to buy a computer -- but I warned both of them that death would be immediately forthcoming if I ever caught them selling their "personal" zines! They completely agreed, as you said above, that no one should make a profit from fanfic. One of these days I'll buy myself an e-reader and I'll never have to print out a long story to spare my eyes again, I'll just pop it into Word and drop it into the reader!

[lapetite-kiki.livejournal.com]

I’m sorry it happens to you. *big hugs*
When it happened to one of my art, I freaked out and removed/friends-locked many artwork.

[matryoshkarose.livejournal.com]

That sucks, I'm so sorry!

*waves to you across the CC crowds*

[scribblinlenore.livejournal.com]

That's terrible! I hope you can get it taken down.

[cjandre.livejournal.com]

I can't imagine how shocked you must have been to see that. I know how you and Diluvian talked about completing the project as a zine, and I'm so sorry that you had to get slapped in the face with this.

I'm just getting back into writing now, too, after a long break due to Real Life just making things too hard, and I hope you will be able to get past this and write again. YOu do amazing work, and Diluvian wouldn't have wanted you to come to a full stop.

Good luck on getting this settled, and let me know if there is anything I can do. Although I will never be up to Diluvian's standard for beta, I will always be open to giving you a hand should you need one.
*hugs*

[ninasis.livejournal.com]

Wow, that sucks hard! I wonder if someone at the OTW could give any advice over what rights you (and the other ripped-off) authors have?

I'd definitely contact eBay directly and report the seller for listing items that are plagiarized and used without permission, if he/she doesn't respond to your email. I don't understand how anyone thinks they can get away with shenanigans like this these days - everyone who tries is always busted.

I hope everything works out! *hugs*

[metal-dog5.livejournal.com]

That sucks. I'm so sorry it's happened.

[la-sigh.livejournal.com]

People are unfreakin believable , what a crapper!!

[writerlibrarian]

This is horrible and understandably so.

I hope you can clear things out when you get back.

[timehasa-way.livejournal.com]

Holy shit, who the hell does things like that?? God, people suck. :(

[ctbn60.livejournal.com]

Oh my god. That is just awful. And it seems they have other stories posted there as well. I wonder if the other authors know about them. I hope there is something you can do so they don't get away with this.

[lexalicious70.livejournal.com]

This totally sucks. It's horrible, and I can't believe anyone would do it. I'm so sorry this happened to you!

[gradeafan.livejournal.com]

Well you have responded exactly as I would have lock everything down and don't let them have access to it any more. I'm really sorry tho...sux mightily.

f

[teenygozer.livejournal.com]

Jesus, that is just so awful, I'm so sorry this happened to you, but it is somewhat fixable! Tell TPTB on eBay, they'll ban this seller if you complain. eBay doesn't like this sort of thing and lands quite heavily on any seller who gets a complaint of this sort lodged against them.

[teenygozer.livejournal.com]

Ah-HA! Looks like "your" zine has been pulled. But there are plenty more up... my, the seller's prices are quite high, no? $24 for an old, used B7 zine seems pricey to me, even price-gouging, esp. when you can't give 'em away at a con.

[dossier.livejournal.com]

Yep, that'd do it for me as well. Looks like you're not the only one, either, from her store.

[songs-of-winter.livejournal.com]

Do you want me to pull our stuff off the web? Without A Trace isn't there, but Card One is, as well as all the rest of our BTVS stuff...

No, hun...

[mistressace.livejournal.com]

Don't pull it from the website. I got a quick response and an apology from the seller. She did not realize it was an unauthorized copy and has shut the auction down.

I don't mind if people read the stories, or even if they print them to read later - some of my dear friends have problems reading from a computer screen so I'm perfectly happy for them to print it out. The problem arose because someone printed the story, found/created a cover for it, bound it up and then sold it at MediaWest to another person who then put it up on E-bay.

What we should do is put something on the website advising that our work is not to be printed and sold. Would that work for you?

Hugs,

Ace

[acampbell.livejournal.com]

Oh, DAMN, that super-sucks. That fic is a favorite of mine.

I'm so sorry!

[ranlynn.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately there's always gonna be someone willing to profit off other peoples work.

But I really hope this doesn't chase you away from writing completly. You are to good at if for that to happen.

Don't Stop Writing!!

[rileysgirl.livejournal.com]

Please please don't stop writing for good. You will always be my favorite writer! Don't let the bastards win!

PS: I think I could still find a couple of commados willing to go after whoever did this for ole times sake. ;)

[fancyspinner.livejournal.com]

The hell? hugs you hard. so sorry you had to be exposed to that -- but glad it was taken down -- and hope you can trace things back to where they started.;