Scammers have found yet another way to make the lives of working authors that much more difficult. Jane Friedman, an author whose books, articles, and courses help aspiring writers navigate the trenches of the publishing industry, recently unveiled a new scam on Amazon that has, in all likelihood, been facilitated by generative AI.
On August 7, 2023, Friedman shared a blog post in which she explained that she’d discovered new books were being uploaded and sold on Amazon crediting her as the author. Only those books had nothing to do with Friedman. She hadn’t written these books, hadn’t contributed to them, and hadn’t edited or published them. And yet, her name was being used to sell what was essentially, as Friedman herself aptly puts it, “garbage.”
Friedman, who has a substantial 200k Twitter/”X” following, and who has spent her career advocating for writers and helping them build their careers, is as good a target as any. She’s trustworthy, her name recognizable enough but not as big as say, Stephen King, and some anxious advice-seeking writers might well fall into the scammer’s trap.
When Friedman discovered the problem, she reached out to Amazon to get the listings taken down. But it wasn’t an easy fix. At first, Amazon declined to remove them. In the afternoon of August 7, Friedman wrote in an update:
I did file a report with Amazon, complaining that these books were using my name and reputation without my consent. Amazon’s response: “Please provide us with any trademark registration numbers that relate to your claim.” When I replied that I did not have a trademark for my name, they closed the case and said the books would not be removed from sale.
Since then, as of August 8, Amazon has finally taken down the fraudulent books. But in her blog post on the subject, Friedman rightfully wonders whether Amazon would have eventually taken action if it was a less well-known writer who was facing this stressful issue, and if The Authors Guild hadn’t chimed in as well. Probably not.
Generative AI has only made it easier to produce derivative, full-length written works. Scammers no longer need to invest any actual time, and this problem will only grow until proper measures are put into place by Amazon.
But, as we’ve covered here at The Mary Sue before, protecting authors has never been Amazon’s number one priority. While Amazon’s self-publishing program has allowed plenty of genuine writers to release their stories into the wild, the stress of publishing on Amazon is no joke. Amazon has previously punished authors whose books are featured on Kindle Unlimited if their work is illegally available elsewhere because KU demands exclusivity. But KU authors, just like Jane Friedman, have very little control over what happens to their work if anyone with malicious intent decides to use their name or creative output for personal gain. It’s a vicious cycle and one that will only get worse over time if genuine restrictions and authenticity checks aren’t put into place soon.
(via Jane Friedman, featured image: Kaitlyn Baker on Unsplash)
