First Battle Won, Plagerizer Ana Phylaxis Is One Work Down

This morning I received an e-mail response from Amazon.com reguarding the plagerism of My short story Fungi by "Misstress" Ana Phylaxis, that she used as part of one of many short story collections she was selling through Amazon.com's Kindle device:

Dear Mr. Laney:

Thank you for your message.  Please be advised that we are in the process of removing the following Kindle titles from Amazon.com:

"D... E... F... (The A,B,C's of Discipline and Horror) [Kindle Edition]" ASIN: B004G5Z3C0

It typically takes 2-3 days for a listing to disappear once it has been removed from our catalog. We trust this will bring this matter to a close.

Garth Skovgard

Copyright/Trademark Agent
Amazon.com

Well that's nice and short and to the point.  I won My first battle against "Misstesss" Ana Phylaxis.  I should be all warm and fuzzy and happy happy right?

Nope.

That last little line I found a little burny: We trust this will bring this matter to a close.

Oh, so what am I dismissed?  Hey Amazon, I'm an old fashioned kind of guy.  Why don't you kiss Me before you fuck Me?  It goes a lot better that way.

I sent a response to their response:

Dear Amazon.com Copyright Agent Garth Skovgard,

Thank you for your response.  It is good to see that you are removing this work form your site, but what about the other works in this "author's" catalogue.  I am not sure what your policy is on dealing with plagerism, but on the story sites that I submit to if someone is caught plagerizing another work, whether in part or in its entirety, that member has all their works removed from the site and is banned, not just their username but their IP address as well. (No questions asked, no if ands or butts, whether that person has 1000 original stories and 1 instance of plagerism or not).  I and the other authors who this person has plagerized stories from to create "her" works want some kind of assurance that Amazon.com would never willingly do business with this person again.  So if you would be so kind, just what are the consequnces for plagerism on Amazon?  I am sure there must be consequences as both the "author" and Amazon profit from the sales of these works while the real author only gets an e-mail that says, "Oh, sorry about that", and actually it more like, "Oopsie, our bad," because this notice does not even say that.

Sincerely,
Michael C. Laney

Okay, I know what you think.  The story collection using your story is being taken down, you should be happy.  Yes I am happy.  It's a battle won, but to admit you've just won a battle only means that you're fighting a bigger war.  I mean is this how you deal with someone who has told you that someone else is making a profit off their work, especially when it is a profit that you're sharing in?  Let's face it, Amazon is not publishing books to Kindle out of the goodness of their hearts.  They get their precentage from books sold through their Kindle devices, of course, and it makes sense because that's good business.

What isn't good business is brushing off the messenger without anything like an apology.  Hello, guess what Amazon, writers like to read.  And, despite the fact that bookstores are closing left and right there are still plenty of sources to acquire reading material other than Amazon.com.

I'm proud of the fact that I am a writer.  Despite the fact that I am a true starving artist who has never made a single dime off anything I've written.  I've put hours upon hours writing stories, spent months and years working on stories to get them just right.  I love and cherish each and every one that I have written, and in My book there's no fucking such thing as a throwaway story that its okay from some unimaginative thief to come along and sell for profit.  I would rather be obscure and totally unknown, posting stories on free sites, than to steal someone else's lifeblood to be just as equally unknown and make a few quick bucks.

And yet, here I am, one of few voices yelling at this literary giant, and I'm being told it's going to be taken care of without any sort of apology and pretty much dismissed like I'm their bitch.  Most people expect that from the people they work for, but it just so happens that I am not on Amazon.com's payroll.  It doesn't seem to Me that they care all that much for, or take seriously, the implications of plagerism.

So I suppose for the next few days we can just watch and wait to see whether the "works" of the Great "Misstress" Ana Phylaxis a.k.a Rebecca Geissler a.k.a Rebecca Bick a.k.a. BizzareBettyXXX a.k.a. Thieving Cum Belching Crack Whore Douchenog Condom Recycler, are removed from Amazon.com and their Kindle Store.  I am sure in that time anyone who has ever written anything they do not want stolen and sold to line someone else's pockets will have time to think and wonder what Amazon cares about more: Writers or Profits?