Patrick McCusker asked Eeva Lancaster:

This whole idea is of great importance to writers. Something that appeared in an Irish newspaper some weeks ago: an author had her book in large part pirated by another who changed the title and the names of the characters. So authors need to be alert to this practice. Have you heard of similar practice? Regards Patrick.

Eeva Lancaster Since books are now digital, Piracy is common practice. And as much as we hate it, it cannot be stopped. That's the whole nasty truth. I wrote an article about that, and I'm sure a lot of authors tooted their noses at my opinions. But, we gotta get real. Many Indies give away their books. Very easy for pirates to pick up and sell on their websites. Even if you put all the notices in the world on the manuscript, or apply protective measures such as DRM, it is still very easy to copy. How do you stop that? We can't waste our time reporting and trying to cut off a Hydra's head. Another one will just grow in its place. Welcome to the digital world. :)

Plagiarism though, is completely different from Piracy, in my opinion. When I see my book on sale, or free to download on a piracy site, I look at it as promotion.

But taking another person's work and claiming it as your own is just... rude. It shows a total disregard for another person's hard work. Irritating, but also common. Some even copy a book verbatim and slap their name as the author. Not even making the effort to rewrite or change the character's names. That practice should be stopped.

I regularly check snippets of my work on a plagiarism tool to make sure I'm not being plagiarized without my consent. http://smallseotools.com/plagiarism-c...

It will show you where your content appears on the Internet. Pretty handy.

I've been a freelance ghostwriter for years, and I can tell you that there are unscrupulous business people out there who hire ghostwriters to rewrite a whole book so they can publish it as their own. I don't accept such contracts, but again, the practice exists. Non-fiction books are preferred since they're easier to rewrite.

You're absolutely right that writers should be aware of these practices. So they can be aware of the business they're in, and what we're all up against.

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