INDIE AUTHORS BEWARE~Independent Publishing and DMCA Abuse, or “How a Scammer Got My Book Blocked with Very Little Effort” #mfrwauthor

Mar 16

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I’m not an indie author (yet) but I have a lot of friends who are. This post is for you.

The Active Voice

Okay, I’ve got a story. It’s a sort of scary one. I think independent/self-publishing authors need to know about it, and telling it carefully and correctly is also important for my own situation, so I’m going to take my time and lay it all out in order.

Pressed for time? You can skip to the bottom for the TL;DR summation.

Becca Mills - Nolander - 333x500On Friday, February 27, 2015, I noticed that my bookmarked Amazon.com link to my first novel, Nolander, was yielding, “We’re sorry. The Web address you entered is not a functioning page on our site.” I went to my Amazon dashboard and discovered the book had been blocked.

In my spam folder, I discovered an email from Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), Amazon’s self-publishing arm, informing me that someone had sent in a DMCA notice. In response, Amazon had summarily blocked Nolander from sale.

“DMCA” stands for “Digital Millennium Copyright Act.”…

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About Calisa Rhose

I'm a mother of three daughters and wife to a wonderful man of 35+ years. I'm also an avid seamstress, polymer clay artisan and die-hard crafter, always coming up with things to make with, and for, my six granddaughters and two grandsons. Check out my craft site https://lisasfancifulallure.wordpress.com/ when you have a moment. I'm also a small online business owner of Okie fLips on Etsy and Poshmark (eBay/Merkari coming soon), https://www.etsy.com/people/cmselfridge and https://poshmark.com/closet/okieflips I'm a published author of sensual romance. I write about stubborn men and women who don't take no for an answer, and there's always that golden HEA. Cowboys and first responders are my favorite contemporary heroes to write about. My light paranormal heroes are strong men ready to protect their women--not that they need protecting, since they are capable of caring for themselves.

Posted on 03/16/2015, in Pen of the Dreamer. Bookmark the permalink. 4 Comments.

  1. Mae Clair | 03/18/2015 at 8:13 AM

    Just read the whole thing on Becca’s blog. Utterly stunned this kind of stuff can happen. Thanks for sharing!

    Liked by 1 person

    • Calisa Rhose | 03/18/2015 at 8:59 PM

      Yeah, it scares me to even try self publishing now. I can’t imagine how scary and frustrating Becca must have been. I was so glad she finally got her book back up and this issue resolved. But that guy, and probably others like him, is still out there, free to do it again to her or someone else.

      On the bright side– When I told my husband about it he said I needed to find a new career. Woot! He called my writing a career! 🙂

      Like

  2. Stacy McKitrick | 03/17/2015 at 7:40 AM

    That IS scary! Thanks for sharing.

    Liked by 1 person