From the Mailbox

 I really get some interesting e-mails in my contact box. Most are from anonymous because they get it from one of the feeds that subscribe to my blog. They get mailed to me with address line reading "Anonymous" so I can't e-mail them back with answers unfortunately. If you are making comments via a feed service please put an e-mail address somewhere on it. Otherwise, I may or may not answer you.


Anonymous writes:

With havin so muсh writtеn contеnt ԁo you ever run іnto any prοblems of plagorism оr coрyright infrіngement? My site hаs a lοt οf unіque cοntеnt I've either written myself or outsourced but it appears a lot of it is popping it up all over the web without my agreement. Do you know any ways to help stop content from being ripped off? I'd trulу appreciate іt.

Sorry about the typos and misspellings, I copied it to Wordpad from my e-mail. This is the way I received it. Why didn't I post it here directly from my e-mail? Have you noticed on some blogs it reads black and white on a colored background, and has the words underlined? That's because it was copied from the original post or Word to here. I discovered this early several years ago when I first started blogging.

Okay, on to answering of the question and suggest a fix. I never post anything on my blog that I don't expect to be "stolen," or misrepresented, or used. The fact is that I created this blog for friends, family, other writers, fans, and readers. If you notice under "Pages" there is a page called "Legal Stuff?" This is my disclaimer. If you scroll to the very bottom of the blog, you will see an additional copyright statement provided by Blogspot. I basically expect people to be honest. Most have asked.

The thing about copyrights is that you have to prove the text or drawing is yours. For me it's rough drafts, editing versions, and ultimately a finished book so there is plenty of proof it's mine. The internet makes it your job to protect it while providing intellectual content is not infringed upon. If I use your material a simple " that's mine you haven't asked my permission to use it" will suffice. I'll pull the contents. In others, it's just straight outright theft if it continues, and revenues are lost because of it, I can be taken to court. The internet makes it so easy to do this unawares. Vigilance is the key.

To plagiarize someone you steal their exact words. Not an idea, but word for word. Since even the text I put on here may have been someone else's original idea and I expanded upon it isn't plagiarizing. The format may be the same, but some people do think alike...writers especially. It really doesn't pay to do it either you could face jail time and multimillion dollar lawsuits. My opinions are my own and gathered from a varied of sources. Just like everyone else's in the world, I have opinions. It is, after all, my opinion or my way of doing it.

I frequently do searches on my books to see if they've been stolen or pirated. So far, I've been lucky to my knowledge. That includes character names in case someone has changed the title and put their name on it.  I'm diligent. They would be foolish to do it with my works, but that is not the case with every author. The internet is world wide and very easy to find anything you want just be careful about using it without permission. I backtrack pictures and graphics back to the source on here.

Other contents like organizing your files, outlines, etc are gotten widely accepted practices, or other author's suggestion (I hob nob with quite a few), and has my own personal spin on it. If I get something from a specific source, I'll e-mail the author for permission to use it and cite back to the author.  It is my opinion on what works and what doesn't. Excerpts are usually in rough draft form and if it is taken and another writer runs with it, that's their problem. My finished text will be different than posted here after expansion,editing, and more editing to polish.

How you can fix your problem, have you contacted the offending person? In spite of contact are they still persisting to use the material? How far are you willing to go to get them to stop using the material? Just a warning, how are you going to back up your beliefs that the person has stolen something from you? For me, I have a lawyer who will draft a letter of infringement, and cease and desist with a public apology. It that fails, there is always a lawsuit.

Keep writing and loving the Lord.