The RSS of alerts on my online content from FairShare usually stays pretty quiet. Even when another site uses my content and a new alert is generated, 99% of the time a link back to my blog accompanies the post. Even then, the post isn’t a full copy but a summary and a link. I have no problem with this, as I license my content under a Creative Commons copyright.
For those of you who aren’t familiar, here’s a 3-step process on how a blogger can protect the words she writes from being plagiarized or stolen.
1st: a blogger visits the Creative Commons website and picks which type of copyright she wants. I’ve chosen the copyright that allows other people to re-post my content, as long as they link back to me or give me credit and they don’t use my work to make money. They can’t sell my work or use it to sell other things, even if they do link back to me.
2nd: the blogger downloads the graphic and puts it on every page of her blog. Mine looks like this:
3rd: the blogger uses various web applications to send alerts via RSS or email whenever her content shows up somewhere on the Internet. I use FairShare to look after all my content and Google alerts to look after various keywords, including my name and blog name. When someone uses my content, those alerts will fire me an RSS update or an email, respectively.
That’s the basic way to keep track of where your work ends up online.
When I get an alert, I immediately investigate. If everything looks OK and within the terms of the Creative Commons copyright, I leave it be. About 99% of the alerts fall within what’s called “Fair Use.” In other words, the other site that borrows my content links back to my blog, giving me credit, and the site isn’t covered in ads or selling any products.
Today I started my RSS reader and found an alert from FairShare that was in that 1%.
FairShare showed me the site New and Used Books, where my review of NurtureShock by Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman was listed under the ad for the book. I was not credited. The full review was posted, not a partial clip. There was no link back to the Amazon site where I had posted my review, there was no link back to my blog. No link at all. And they were using my review (albeit a non-favorable one) to sell the book.
This is when I send a “cease & desist” letter. Basically, a cease & desist is a letter that says, “Please link to me or remove this content immediately. You are violating my copyright.” In other words, somebody owes me money or credit, and if you don’t delete my content from your site, you must pay me.
NewandUsedbooks is still violating my copyright because they are using my words to sell a book, but even that I could let go if they just linked to me or to my Amazon review (which links to my blog).
Here is my email to Newandusedbooks.com. It is a typical cease & desist email that I write:
“You have used my content and are violating copyright. Please either remove my book review or give me the link credit to my blog. You have taken the online reviews from Amazon.com but have not linked to that either. I will be forwarding a copy of this message to Amazon.com.
Here is the link to your page where you violate my copyright:
http://newandusedbooks.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=zmore&manu=Twelve&prodGroup=Book&item_ASIN=0446504122&author=Po%20Bronson&SubscriptionId=0JN0QHH0QAG4YVY4FY02
Here are the first few phrases of my review:
‘Conservative agenda by non-scientists.: (2009-09-20)
New York Magazine journalists Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman team up to add commentary and more information to their articles in this new book published by Twelve, a division of the Hachette Book Group.
The last page of the book has this blurb about Twelve:’
I expect this situation to be resolved by Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2009 by 2:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (GMT – 5).
Thank you.
Christine Cavalier
christine@purplecar.net”
Today is Sunday. I didn’t expect a quick response, but a few minutes later I received this email from newandusedbooks.com:
“Dear Ms. Cavalier,
New and Previously Owned Books is an Amazon affiliate. We have not “copied” anything from Amazon rather as an Amazon affiliate and by contract with Amazon, we receive by automatic “download” the books, book covers, reviews, prices, availability, etc. directly from Amazon. We do not select what reviews to post on any given book – they are downloaded from Amazon. We cannot control what Amazon puts on their site and we cannot add to their descriptions and cannot add a link to your blog within their downloaded review.
I hope this explains where the information is coming from and alleviates your concerns.
Vickie Denney
www.ReaderToReader.com”
I wrote back immediately, but have yet to hear a response:
“Dear M. Denney,
Thank you for writing with a prompt reply.
Does your server refresh the pages often? If we remove our content from Amazon, can we conclude that it will then be removed from your site?
-Christine Cavalier
christine@purplecar.net”
Then I went and deleted all 4 of the reviews I posted to Amazon.com, despite the reviews’ good ratings and conversations they generated.
Newandusedbooks.com passed the buck to Amazon, saying that the catalog content they lease from Amazon isn’t controlled by them (or their seemingly parent company readertoreader.com). Does Amazon strip the links before they sell the content? Or does newandusedbooks.com strip the links when they post the Amazon catalog content to their site? The response I received didn’t answer these questions, and I don’t think my follow-up email will get much of a response, either.
I don’t need to pour over Amazon’s Terms of Service. I can already guess that Amazon has standard legalese that states they own the content of all reader reviews on their site. I proceeded to delete all my reviews and decided that the few links back to my profile or blog aren’t worth it. My stats never showed very many links back to my blog from Amazon, and I don’t need to spend time building up a “reputation” on Amazon as a good reviewer.
I know, I know. I’ve been blogging since 2004, I should’ve known better. I was thinking it was an even trade-off for the potential in new blog readership. I didn’t think Amazon would sell my content without at least a link back to the original content on its own site.
This is one of those situations that critics Andrew Keen, @AmandaChapel, et al., cite when they bemoan the current practice of online retailers using free content by amateurs. Readers write free reviews on Amazon and Amazon sells them along with their catalog content to book selling sites. The Publisher’s Weekly reviews are also on Amazon, but Amazon doesn’t lease out that content because Publisher’s Weekly tells Amazon they must pay for that work. The lone avid reader/blogger has no team of lawyers looking after them like that. Amazon and other sites take advantage of readers’ want for connection, or fame, or whatever misguided motivations and sell their very-marketable, worthy content for their own profit.
What do you think of this? Has this happened to you? Do you use copyright protection on your work? Let me know in the comments.
As for me, I say, “Bye-Bye, Amazon.” Now I’m going over to Goodreads.com to see if their revenue model is based on members’ free reviews.
I recently received a comment about the lack of commas in my writing. This is just a quick post to say that my comma decisions are deliberately made. I choose a flowing style when I can; this means I forgo putting commas in common places.
In the 1700’s, commas were much more common. Those writers dropped commas in places you didn’t realize existed. Eventually, the pauses were dropped in favor of a smoother style. We English writers will use fewer commas as time goes on. My general rule is to first think of eliminating ambiguity, then concentrate on the flow of the piece (flow is a very close second, though). Writing is meant to convey information and emotion. If you’re sure you are impressing people with the unambiguous meaning of your words, then make sure the tone of the work leaves the right impression as well. You want the reader to walk away with a feeling in their gut that comes from information in their head (and yes, I know I used “their” there, instead of “he” or “she.” That’s another post topic I’ll approach someday).
Here are some different areas around the web I visited today that talk about comma usage.
If you haven’t already, make sure to go over to Facebook and make an account. Once you have an account, go to facebook.com/username to pick out a “vanity URL” for your Facebook profile.
A Vanity URL is a website application’s unique web address for your profile. Until now, Facebook’s URLs were a combination of odd symbols, numbers and letters that had nothing to do with your name. Now you can have a URL that is similar to your name or preferred username (if you get there in time OR if you have a very unique name). My vanity Facebook URL is facebook.com/christine.cavalier .
Chris Brogan, a social media guy who is one of the area’s more prominent leaders, didn’t choose the URL facebook.com/chrisbrogan. In fact, he didn’t choose anything for several precious hours after the vanity url registration opened up, in which time someone else snapped up the name. He was at odds with the effects of URLs, naming and applications have on his identity. As he says on his blog:
“It’s never about the sites and services. Never forget that. YOU add value to them, not the other way around. “
This is true, but I tend to think a name is the quickest way to find a person anywhere; Having the vanity URL as your name would be most prudent, especially since Facebook’s search engine is notorious for bringing up all sorts of flotsam when you are looking for friends. I oftentimes type a vanity URL in my browser’s address field, e.g. twitter.com/johnsmith, in the off chance I may just find the John Smith I want on Twitter.com with little effort. I want Facebook to work for me this way, too. I toyed with registering facebook.com/purplecar, but instead stuck with my name. I run the risk of someone else registering that vanity URL, because Facebook allows you only one. This was something I could live with, because eventually I will probably phase out “purplecar” altogether. I own my domain name, so perhaps I’ll move to that URL and make “purplecar” a quaint username I offer in chatrooms.
I digress.
Will life end because Chris Brogan’s vanity URL is facebook.com/dotchrisbrogan? No. Will your life end if you don’t rush over to facebook right now and sign up? No. But you will be online somewhere soon, and you will have to choose your tattoo like the rest of us. What will yours be?
“As we continue with this series on blogging jobs, it’s time to look at the income a blogger can make by blogging for pay.
The skills and qualities a company or blog owner is looking for from a blogger are extensive, far beyond just writing abilities. As with any freelance job, determining how to put a value on the time it really takes, and the costs associated with the time and production, is really hard when the real cost is in time, not materials. Bloggers should be paid for the time as well as their expertise and abilities. Are they? This is a problem that has been around for a very long time. How much is your time worth?”
I am resolving, today, to put more time and effort into this blog by posting the links to gems I want to remember. I hope you will find them shiny too. I’ll call them Social Media Gems (SMG); I created a spanking new category just for these links.
Here I still sit, straddling the fence between two worlds.
Social media mavens are usually high achieving business people who love marketing, technology and the fast lane of constant connectivity. Writers are lone warriors, working alone for hours a day, with fierce determination at times and horrible block and depression at others. I’ve been drifting between the tech/business and the writer/academic worlds for my entire adult life. Just recently, I’ve noticed that they are slowly beginning to meet. Well, “meet” is putting it nicely.
Most writers don’t have any clue what social media and ‘web 2.0′ are. They have never heard of Chris Brogan (who seemed to call everyone I know last night) or CC Chapman or Jeff Pulver or Twitter or Qik or Seesmic. Writers, then, are like most people. Still in the dark as to what is coming.
Social media mavens don’t have a clue, in general, of what is going on in the publishing industry. They don’t read books much. They are on-line, but they haven’t moved over to reading entire novels on a screen. Younger generations are more accustomed to this, but social media people would rather listen to a podiobook than go to the library to pick up page book.
Here is one example of a fence skirmish between the mavens and the writers I witnessed recently. Back in November, I wrote a post for my NanoWriMo friends about Book Trailers, mini-movie previews for your written novel (not a movie trailer for a feature-length film based on your novel, but a trailer for just the actual novel). I see it as a great development and marketing tool. It’s combining two arts, film and novel-writing; it could be a new way to get people excited to read. What’s not to like?
But a writer’s group I joined last week in Yahoo has some genuine curmudgeons insulting the new art and practice of the Book Trailer. I didn’t jump into the discussion; I can sniff out unchangeable minds in a listserv like a police dog screening for coke. I’ll allow them their culture and stay perched on the fence (the view is usually pretty clear from up here anyway).
If I thought the writers would listen, I’d say that a more relevant and useful discussion would be to address concerns about the reading experience. For example, let’s chat about casting. Many writers purposely avoid describing their character’s physical characteristics so the reader (i.e. ‘user’) forms their own mental picture. A trailer may hinder the novelist’s intent to engage the user’s imagination. We can also chat about plot twists and spoilers. A trailer, in using film’s unique way of portraying human nuance and slight communication, may give away basic plot structure. We could talk about human psychology and storytelling in film and novels for hours on these questions alone. But to get to these discussions, more writers have to approach the fence. Right now, it’s mostly back-turned resentment. On both sides.
As you know, I’m a big fan of social media, blogging, vlogging, and technology in general. But the mavens need to take a step closer to the fence, too. Writers study human nature. They tell tales that give insight and into our past, present and future lives. They speak to our spirit, our very core of existence. Just because you have your own .tv channel doesn’t mean you have the skills to produce that magic that comes from consuming a great story or poem. Reach out to some writers in your village, whether it be a webtown or hometown. Appreciate their talents, and they’ll adopt your strategies and include you. Social media stories will show up in literature that will be more relevant to your lives (which is why the soul seeks out art). I am writing my novel with social media in mind. I’m not the only one.
Writers, get involved. Get into blogging and podcasting, even if you are just consuming it. You belong in this social media wave even if the mavens wonder why you don’t “produce content.” It is up to writers to come out of their shells and accept new media into their space. Listen to the new stories and see the new art around you. These people can inspire you, get you work, and market your book.
Neither side is evil and neither side is sinless. But together, I think we can raise the level of literacy across all platforms and cultures. And, as we all know, more literacy means more peace.
I’m out. Gotta keep riding this desperado fence until I find a place I can call home.
Tags: blog, blogging, book, book review, Books, Media, websites, write 
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