I don't know if all y'all have heard about the kerfluffle involving a misguided chick who trademarked a word and then sent out a bunch of 'cease and desist' letters to romance authors who had that word in their titles. I don't know the legality of any of it, but it seems kind of silly. One of the silliest statements I've seen from her is that those authors who are using her word can just change their titles, it only takes 24 hours. Umm, it might only take 24 hours to do a title change on an Amazon ebook, but, having just changed the title of one of my books to better market it, the ramifications going along with a title change are numerous and far-reaching.
Cut it out, silly person. It's a freakin' word. And shame on the government agency who allowed an unheard of author to trademark a common word. (Albeit stylized in a font, it's still a common word and the font isn't that unusual.) Like anyone would mistake anybody's books for one of hers. Derp. I mean, I could see if she was famous and someone was using her stylized word to make money off her fame. (Like in the movie Coming to America when the guy had a restaurant called McDonnells with its golden arcs instead of golden arches, and the Big Mic instead of a Big Mac. ROFL)
Anyway, if you're reading this and have received a C&D letter from this silly person, contact a lawyer and I've heard the RWA is doing something, so contact them, too.
In other news, I submitted WIOH to Ereader News Today for an ad. We'll see what happens. If I get an ad, I'll create a sale on my Once Upon a Djinn books around the ad date they give me. Last time I did an ad with them, the sales were awesome, so fingers crossed. I should know in a week whether I've been accepted or rejected.
My free thing For Dying Embers has accomplished at least one thing - more people are finding and reading Fertile Ground. I mean, it's not a stampede or anything, but it's nice to see people reading that book. (ala Kindle Unlimited, of course. Without KU, I still wouldn't be seeing much in the way of readership.)
Okay, that's it for me today. What's up with you?
Makes me want to add the word to a title. I have free legal. She doesn't. What a douche. As Ilona Andrews pointed out when someone "stole" the name of the main character in their best selling series. Or the author who "stole" another romance author's name by using an alternative spelling of her nickname. People are stupid, including whatever overpaid bureaucrat rubberstamped the trademark and/or the stupid author who thinks she has control of a word that has been in common usage for centuries, much less, it's established law that you can't copyright a title. Yes, RWA has waded into the mess and this gal has garnered far more anomosity than she's garnering good advertising.
ReplyDeleteMy KU reads are up after being at an all-time low for several months. I was almost to the point of taking all mine out and going wide. We'll see how long it lasts. But yay for sales and DE and FG upticks!
She doesn't understand that trademarking a word doesn't mean she owns it. She can fuss at people who put that one word on a t-shirt or sign that they're selling, but certainly not in a title.
ReplyDeleteShe's wasted a lot of money.
Yay for more readers! I hope they chase down all your titles!!!