The following is a – growing – list of activities on my part to raise the awareness of the scribd.com copyright infringement issue.

• Contacted author Steve Berry through his web site, asking him, if he was aware that his novel “A Templar Legacy” was posted in full on scribd.com (View & Print only, no View).
• Contact Ballantine Books through their web site to inform them about scribd.com. There is a great list of their books on scribd.com, but I have the suspicion that this may be part of their marketing policy, even though that would be a strange and very risky policy.
• Contacted Michiko Kakutani, who writes book reviews for the New York Times. I briefly explained the scribd.com situation and asked to have a look at the issue.
• Sent an e-mail to John Mutter, editor-in-chief at ShelfAwareness.com.
• Sent an e-mail to Diane Broncaccio, a reporter for the local Greenfield newspaper “The Recorder.”
• Sent an e-mail to the Writer’s Digest editorial offices.
• Sent an e-mail to the editors at Poets & Writers.

Response from Writers Digest:

On November 13, 2009 I received an answer from my favorite most useless magazine, Writers Digest:

“Hi Wilfried,
Thanks for letting us know! You’ll want to take those concerns directly to
those sites to resolve the problem. Refer directly to each site’s terms of
use policy to help make your case.

Best wishes,
Melissa
WD”

The links at the bottom of the e-mail pointed to their Online community and a sign-up for their VIP program ($47 a year).  Sorry, been to their Online forum and found it to be one of the most uncivilized in the business.

The answer also reflects the magazine’s attitude: You, the writer, are only important when you pay them.

More From frogenyozurt

• If I Only had time | Wilfried F. Voss' Blog
• WashingtonPost.Com – Unwillingly Supporting A Scam?
• SCRIBD.COM – Law Firm Files Copyright-Infringement Class Action Against Scribd