Aishwarya 00:10
Welcome to another episode of The BookPeople, where I demystify India's media and publishing industries, and highlight the biggest opportunities and challenges for you in India today. In this episode, I'm going to cover something that has always, I guess, been the ugly side of publishing, but has become a little more prominent and prevalent in the last few years. So as publishing becomes more accessible, you know, we have more and more people publishing books, more authors coming up, more publishing houses, more literary agents coming up. The ugly side of this is also that there are more people susceptible to publishing scats. Also, there are these organizations, or people who come up with different kinds of scams to, you know, defraud authors in some way, or make money from people who are really passionate about getting their books published. So that's what I'm gonna cover today. And I'm gonna tackle this with all of you. So we're going to look at, you know, what are the different kinds of publishing scams that are existing right now in India, that authors are susceptible to, you know, what forms do these scams take? And how can you be aware of them and make sure that you are not falling for one of them? So let's do the first scam that I want to talk about is vanity publishing. Now, how vanity publishing differs from a self publisher is that in self publishing, you know, obviously, you're paying for certain services, right? So you're paying to get your book edited, you're paying to get your book design and maybe even published. And so as the owner of the book, right, you own the copyright, it's your book, and you are paying someone for certain services that they are doing for you in order to get your book published. And that's how self publishing houses kind of help authors get published by offering certain services. Now, in traditional publishing, what happens is, once you have signed a contract with the publisher, the publisher takes up the expenses of publishing a book, right? So the publisher is the one who is editing the book, getting the book design, getting the book printed and distributed, and bearing those costs, which is why there is a split in royalties, and which is why the sales revenue that you make from selling the book is divided between the author and the publisher, because the publisher is in current most of the costs of getting the book out in the first place. Now, in vanity publishing, what happens is that they seem like a self publishing house, right. So they seem like they're here to offer a service. But what can happen is essentially, that you pay for all the services the way you would with a self publisher. But you don't also get to keep all of the sales revenue that gets generated from selling the right. So this can be in different forms, especially in the kind of contract you signed with them, and what deal they make. So I have seen instances where you know, an author is paying a lot of money to get their book published, but then is also splitting the revenue from getting the book published with the publisher, date, which makes no sense because you are paying out of pocket and you're also not making any money back. So that is a scam that, you know, vanity publishers can run sometimes. And this can vary. So this depends a lot on the contract, the kind of deal that you have. Another kind of scam that they have is where you know, you get the book out, but what will end up happening is the copyright of the book is registered under their name instead of your name, which means that legally, you are not the owner of this book, and you do not own the copyright of this book that you have written and published. Now, let me make this very clear. No matter what kind of Publisher you go with, whether you go with a traditional publisher, whether you go with a self publisher, whether you literally just write something and put it up on Kindle, or as a PDF online, the copyright of that book belongs to you, the author. So immediately, the moment you come across an organization that wants to take the copyright away, that is a huge red flag that you should look out for. So essentially, vanity publishers can make you bear all the costs of getting the book published. Take revenue from the book, even though they have not put in any money themselves, or have not taken any risk of getting the book published and seeing whether it is successful or not. And they can also take the copyright, or take other liberties with your book that you wouldn't allow otherwise. So that's the first time to watch out for scam number two is fake literary agents. So again, usually the way alert Every agent works is that they take a commission based on the revenue you get. So once your book gets picked up by a publisher and you get a certain amount of money from them, the agent gets a percentage of your revenue, right, which will be 10%, which would be 15%. And they work on a commission basis. What fake literary agents do is that usually, they would ask for a sum upfront, right, in order to pitch your book to publishers, or to render certain services, they'll also push you to sign up for more services and kind of take that money upfront. And a lot of times what happens is, once you have paid this money before any kind of service has been incurred, the agent disappears. So that again, is something to watch out for. And the best way to know if this is happening is when you're talking to an agent, see the kind of books that they have worked with before, check their references, check their online, you know, footprint, if they have any reviews, and speak to other authors who have probably worked with them to make sure that they are a verified agent. Because a lot of times the promise of getting published can seem very exciting. And authors can kind of lose track of, you know, whether this agent is legit or not. Number three is plagiarism. And plagiarism is when someone takes your work and passes it off as their own, which is essentially stealing. So this is stealing this is wrong, this is looked down upon. And this can happen with books, it can also happen with audio or with the screen. The way it usually works is you know, you talk to a publishing service, or you know, a self publishing house that you have not heard of much. And then you see that they have taken your story or your manuscript, and that has already been published under a different name or under that company or that labels name. Right. So this is a case of plagiarism. And the reality is that something like this is really hard to prove, because often stories have similar elements. So we cannot say that something has been plagiarized simply because there are certain similarities between stories. But plagiarism is when entire chapters or entire, you know sentences or paragraphs have been picked up verbatim from a certain script or a manuscript into a complete piece of work. And this is something that you can prove. And plagiarism can also take place between different authors. So you would have seen a lot of cases of, you know, authors or smaller authors kind of accusing more popular big name authors have plagiarizing or taking inspiration from certain lines or certain verses without giving credit. The fourth thing is related is copyright infringement. So again, this means that someone takes a work that you have copyright for and passes it off as their own or sells it and makes money off of it. Again, this is something that is really hard to track, and to prove, but this is something that can happen. So when you're signing contracts with companies, or when you're showing your manuscripts, to agents to companies, just be aware that this is something that takes place can take place quite often within multiple industries in the media space. Number five is book review schemes. Now, obviously, there are a lot of Bookstagram as book tubers, you know, different kinds of reviewers who have come up who do review certain books, or talk about certain books for a price. Usually, when they do that, they make it very clear that this is something that is sponsored, you know, this is something that they kind of have a partnership or a collaboration going on with the author or with the company to do this. This has led to a lot of book review scams. So these are essentially people who promise a certain number of reviews or positive reviews, especially for a fee. And there are a few people who can do that. And who can actually deliver on that, you know, and whether you want to offer something like that is your goal. But there are also a lot of scams where you know, people will promise you this, they'll take your money and once again they will disappear. Right. So this is something to again, watch out for and if someone is offering you this CDR work in the past, see the reviews, testimonials that they have speak to other people who have worked with them and make sure that they are legit, before you give away any of your money. These were the different kinds of publishing scams that we've seen so far. There are many, many more that you should always watch out for. So how do you stop yourself from falling for the scams, right? Number one, do your research. So you check their website, check their online presence, see what kind of reviews they have and speak to authors or people who have worked with them before to get an idea of exactly how they work. The second thing is if you have any kind of contract or agreement, go through it with a fine tooth comb, make sure you understand everything that it says, Watch out for any kind of red flags. And I have an episode where I talk specifically about the kinds of red flags that you should look out for in contracts. So you can go look at that. But make sure that you are clear about what is going on in this contract, what are you signing up for. And if there are any decisions made, make sure you get them in writing on email to make sure that you have all of your bases covered, be very cynical. Number two, get a contract. This is especially if you are publishing a book, all traditional publishers will sign a contract with you that will list the terms and conditions of how the project will move forward. What are the cases in which the project can not move forward, and what the royalty and the compensation would be like. So make sure no matter who you're working with, you're signing a contract and make sure that you understand everything that the contract mentions and entails. And if you have a professional, even if they are a friend who can look at the contract for you, or just explain certain red flags, make sure you get that done as well. Number three is register your copyright. So again, this is very important. In India, under copyright law, the moment you create something right if it's a fully written manuscript, it is something that automatically gets copyrighted, especially if it's on your laptop, and you can prove the date on which this Word document was last edited or was written. But the best thing to do is to actually register your copyright with the copyright office in India, and especially for screenwriters, there is a screenwriters Association, which also allows you to register a copyright. So make sure that again, you have taken legally the ownership for anything that you write, or you create. Number four, keep yourself informed. So be a part of your communities, different forums and associations who will keep, you know, flagging any kind of scams that are coming up. And when you get an exciting opportunity on your doorstep, make sure that you are discussing it with friends, discuss it with people get opinions on, you know, whether they think this is legit, and especially talk to authors to see, you know, have they seen something like this, and if they have been a part of any, you know, sort of shady communication or scams themselves. So the point of all of this is not to dishearten you or make you a complete cynic, but is to make sure that you are protecting, you know, your talent, you are protecting things that you have written and you are being smart about taking ownership for everything that you have written and have created. Writing can obviously be a very emotional experience. And there is this idea that writers can't be savvy can't be business savvy, can't be legal savvy. But that's not always true, right? The amount of effort and time that you're putting into writing that book, into creating whatever it is you're creating, you have to make sure that that effort, you know, you're putting equal amount of effort and safeguarding your ideas and your creations, whether it is safeguarding it legally, whether it is making sure that you are getting the right kind of compensation that you deserve for the kind of work you're doing. And that's why it's important to know these things and be aware of these things. Remember, if something seems too good to be true, it usually is. So it's best to you know, create your best content, write your best stories, and then make sure that you're getting them published with good publishers who you trust, who will do justice to your work, and who will not try to just scam you out of money in some way or the other way. And if something doesn't seem right, the best thing to do is to trust your gut. Speak to friends, speak to advisors. And if it really, really doesn't seem like the right decision for you. It's okay to walk away. You can also take help from organizations like Writers Guild of India or the Society for rights of authors, composers and publishers in India. You can look at different kinds of resources that will always keep you informed about you know, the different scams or what are the best ways to move forward. And obviously, you can always continue listening to or watching the BookPeople. Right. The point of creating this is again to have a resource which is constantly telling you what's going on in the industry. What are the greatest opportunities for you and How you can always safeguard your interests. So I hope you found this episode super helpful. Keep watching to or listening to the book people, however you're consuming this. And let me know what you want me to cover next. I keep doing these episodes where I be caught certain things as a part of the industry. In addition to my other set of episodes where I interview different people from the industry about what's going on in their organizations, and what they are seeing as the future of publishing and media. We also have a newsletter, which goes out every week where we decode a particular topic, we also share job opportunities within the industry, and we share resources. And also I all one of the other editors from bound answer a couple of questions that people have about the publishing and media industries. So definitely subscribe to the newsletter as well and I hope to see you in the next episode of the book people. Until then, keep creating