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Thug Books
Apr. 16th, 2012 07:37 pmRemember in "Coming To America" the fast food restaurant that was a blatant ripoff of McDonald's?
On Twitter I found a link to a story about an unusual but similar phenomenon...people using Amazon's CreateSpace to make knockoffs of other books. For instance, there's a woman who "published" a book called "I Am The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo." "Fifty Shades Of Grey" might have begun life as a Twilight fan fic, but now somebody has created the alternate universe of "Thirty-Five Shades Of Grey," featuring 15 fewer shades:
http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2012/04/16/amazon-knock-off-bestsellers/?iid=Popular
Always in search of a quick buck, I've come up with some thug titles of my own:
"Fifty Shades of Gay"—An AU of an AU fan fic where I just change the girl to a dude.
"The Hungry Games"—The exciting tale of fast food employees battling to be the best!
"Killing Lincoln, Vampire Hunter"—A supernatural tale of history, all meticulously researched by someone else.
"Heat, Spray, Glove"—Oven cleaning and self-discovery.
"Steve Jogs"—The incredible biography of a jogger, Steve.
"Lord of the Blingz"—A hip hop fantasy epic.
"Game Of Scones"—A gritty fantasy tale about baked goods and tea time treats.
If I were a pro author getting ripped off by these scamps, I'd be really upset. But as for the reader dumb enough to believe "Thirty Five Shades of Grey" is that book they've heard about, caveat emptor!
Update: I looked up "I Am The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" on Amazon and holy cow, what a scam. Idjits mixing this up with Stieg Larsson's book get the privilege of paying $75 (!!!) for crap like this:
"I will write upon your heart," God whispered to me "and place a tattoo therein, which will cause you to remember, although not openly. It will exist within the confines of your subconscious, detectable only to your soul."
"A tattoo?" I inquired.
"Written upon your heart." God confirmed.
A dragon tattoo.
Bwahahahahahaha! Good thing it wasn't something from WTF Tattoos.com!
On Twitter I found a link to a story about an unusual but similar phenomenon...people using Amazon's CreateSpace to make knockoffs of other books. For instance, there's a woman who "published" a book called "I Am The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo." "Fifty Shades Of Grey" might have begun life as a Twilight fan fic, but now somebody has created the alternate universe of "Thirty-Five Shades Of Grey," featuring 15 fewer shades:
http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2012/04/16/amazon-knock-off-bestsellers/?iid=Popular
Always in search of a quick buck, I've come up with some thug titles of my own:
"Fifty Shades of Gay"—An AU of an AU fan fic where I just change the girl to a dude.
"The Hungry Games"—The exciting tale of fast food employees battling to be the best!
"Killing Lincoln, Vampire Hunter"—A supernatural tale of history, all meticulously researched by someone else.
"Heat, Spray, Glove"—Oven cleaning and self-discovery.
"Steve Jogs"—The incredible biography of a jogger, Steve.
"Lord of the Blingz"—A hip hop fantasy epic.
"Game Of Scones"—A gritty fantasy tale about baked goods and tea time treats.
If I were a pro author getting ripped off by these scamps, I'd be really upset. But as for the reader dumb enough to believe "Thirty Five Shades of Grey" is that book they've heard about, caveat emptor!
Update: I looked up "I Am The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" on Amazon and holy cow, what a scam. Idjits mixing this up with Stieg Larsson's book get the privilege of paying $75 (!!!) for crap like this:
"I will write upon your heart," God whispered to me "and place a tattoo therein, which will cause you to remember, although not openly. It will exist within the confines of your subconscious, detectable only to your soul."
"A tattoo?" I inquired.
"Written upon your heart." God confirmed.
A dragon tattoo.
Bwahahahahahaha! Good thing it wasn't something from WTF Tattoos.com!
