Welcome to this week’s WTFckery where unfortunately I have another alleged plagiarism scandal to talk about, yet again in the self-publishing community…

Last April I first heard about Missy Blue, a debut self-published author and her (or his) book, The Tornado. This self-published book is about a former ballerina heroine who has a romance with a MMA boxing fighting hero, and for fans of New Adult. The buzz for this book was big, so much so that The Tornado hit the top 100 in Romance, and I think overall fiction at Amazon. If that’s the case, The Tornado probably gave Missy thousands of dollars in sales. I reviewed the book, enjoyed it and even told others to read it. Now I’m kicking myself because it has come out that The Tornado is stolen. This Missy Blue, who has now vanished, stole a fan fiction of Warrior, a 2011 movie, titled, In The Land of Gods and Monsters by Wynter S. Komen. Also it looks like Missy Blue is D.C. Ruins, which this alleged plagiarist first published, with what would be The Tornado in 2014 under the title of Dances with Monsters.

Jane from Dear Author was the first to report this travesty on Twitter:

Comment on a review of The Tornado before Amazon took action and took off The Tornado off sale:

I’m pissed off again because this is yet another black stain on self-publishing. This thief, aka Missy Blue is a perfect example of everything wrong with self-publishing, because these debut self-published authors, who just appear one day with little or no social presence or website continue to prove it’s easy to steal fan fictions or other authors’ work and claim it as their own. Because this Missy Blue can just erase herself or himself and take his/her ill gotten gains (and laughing all the way to the bank), and not give restitution to the author or writer they stole from, it will  continue to happen again and again. That author or writer victim, who decides to take action, by spending their own money to find out who someone like Missy Blue is must appeal to Amazon and any other third party vendor to reveal the identity of the plagiarist. Only Amazon and other third party vendors have the information (plagiarist’s real identity, address and banking information) the victim needs for their case, in the hopes to receive the royalties these plagiarists stole.

The sad thing is I have to be very cautious when trying a new self-published author who doesn’t have any presence to speak of. Do I really have to investigate the authors I want to read or ask other authors who know these new debut self-published authors and ask for referrals because I don’t want to end up reading possible plagiarized content? Because of Missy Blue and Laura Harner, I’m very close to the point I won’t mention, review or praise any debut self-published authors and their books until I know they’re 100% authentic.

It’s already extremely hard for self-published authors to get reviewed or create word of mouth for their books. Whenever a self-published author plagiarizes another author or writer, they’re stealing from the entire self-publishing community who needs word of mouth and reviews to sell their books. Self publishing has made it so easy for unethical people to steal fan fiction and other works published or posted on-line, and sell it for a big profit. A sad WTFckery that continues to put self-publishing in a bad light.

Welcome to this week’s WTFckery where unfortunately I have another alleged plagiarism scandal to talk about, yet again in the self-publishing community…

Last April I first heard about Missy Blue, a debut self-published author and her (or his) book, The Tornado. This self-published book is about a former ballerina heroine who has a romance with a MMA boxing fighting hero, and for fans of New Adult. The buzz for this book was big, so much so that The Tornado hit the top 100 in Romance, and I think overall fiction at Amazon. If that’s the case, The Tornado probably gave Missy thousands of dollars in sales. I reviewed the book, enjoyed it and even told others to read it. Now I’m kicking myself because it has come out that The Tornado is stolen. This Missy Blue, who has now vanished, stole a fan fiction of Warrior, a 2011 movie, titled, In The Land of Gods and Monsters by Wynter S. Komen. Also it looks like Missy Blue is D.C. Ruins, which this alleged plagiarist first published, with what would be The Tornado in 2014 under the title of Dances with Monsters.

Jane from Dear Author was the first to report this travesty on Twitter:

Comment on a review of The Tornado before Amazon took action and took off The Tornado off sale:

I’m pissed off again because this is yet another black stain on self-publishing. This thief, aka Missy Blue is a perfect example of everything wrong with self-publishing, because these debut self-published authors, who just appear one day with little or no social presence or website continue to prove it’s easy to steal fan fictions or other authors’ work and claim it as their own. Because this Missy Blue can just erase herself or himself and take his/her ill gotten gains (and laughing all the way to the bank), and not give restitution to the author or writer they stole from, it will  continue to happen again and again. That author or writer victim, who decides to take action, by spending their own money to find out who someone like Missy Blue is must appeal to Amazon and any other third party vendor to reveal the identity of the plagiarist. Only Amazon and other third party vendors have the information (plagiarist’s real identity, address and banking information) the victim needs for their case, in the hopes to receive the royalties these plagiarists stole.

The sad thing is I have to be very cautious when trying a new self-published author who doesn’t have any presence to speak of. Do I really have to investigate the authors I want to read or ask other authors who know these new debut self-published authors and ask for referrals because I don’t want to end up reading possible plagiarized content? Because of Missy Blue and Laura Harner, I’m very close to the point I won’t mention, review or praise any debut self-published authors and their books until I know they’re 100% authentic.

It’s already extremely hard for self-published authors to get reviewed or create word of mouth for their books. Whenever a self-published author plagiarizes another author or writer, they’re stealing from the entire self-publishing community who needs word of mouth and reviews to sell their books. Self publishing has made it so easy for unethical people to steal fan fiction and other works published or posted on-line, and sell it for a big profit. A sad WTFckery that continues to put self-publishing in a bad light.

The authors you stole from also have personal and professional issues.  

Are you seriously asking for sympathy, understanding or that we shouldn't judge you too harshly because you have issues we don't know about yet?   How do you justify asking that when you clearly were not sympathetic to the personal, professional and financial issues of the harder working professionals you stole from?  

As to mentioning military service ... WTF?  Are you seriously bringing that into plagiarism excuses?  Are we supposed to even believe you in your own words write books about military service or anything else after being caught plagiarizing from other authors?

Do you think you are the only author with military service ... well, whatever made you bring military service into it?  Boo hoo hoo -- my sympathies are more with military families and personnel dealing with issues without resorting to criminal activities and claiming someone else's hard work.

Did you give a shit about their families, their financial needs, everything that went into their publishing their own words, ...?   

What makes your needs, issues and situation more important than theirs?  How are you entitled to anything of theirs?

Oh please, using the excuse you had "personal and professional issues" for your thieving plagiarism is the weakest excuse. Every time an author plagiarizes another author like Janet Dailey did to Nora Roberts, it puts a stain on publishing as a whole.

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/oct/28/prolific-romantic-fiction-writer-exposed-as-a-plagiarist?CMP=share_btn_tw