Plagerism

I thought that might get your attention! In the writing world, using that word is like dropping the F-bomb in church. Accusitions of plagerism are serious things. I know it's something I'm always worried about as an author who reads so much in the same genre I write in.

What if I'm stealing someone's idea unconsciously?

What if I had the SAME idea as someone else, only I didn't know it and their book came out first?

What if someone THINKS I stole their idea when I've never even read their books?

Some of those things keep me up at night, seriously.
BUT that's not the kind of plagerism I'm talking about. I recently received a review--from a site that shall remain nameless so I don't get sued--for LEGENDARY TAILS III. My short story, TIGHT PLACES was in that anthology. When I scrolled down to look at the review, I couldn't believe what I read. Actually I could because it was MY BOOK BLURB FROM THE EC WEBSITE!!!

I mean, word for word, totally cut and pasted from the site. They didn't even bother to paraphrase! I immediately looked for a contact button on the website, but didn't find one. EC has a review coordinator who handles the sending out of reviews, so I shot her an email telling her about it.

I'm still mad. Not only did someone take my words and claim them as her own, they weren't even my best work! I write terrible blurbs! What yanks my chain is that someone got a rather expensive book for free, with the expectation that they'd read it and write a review. I have no idea if this person:

A.) Read the book and hated it so instead of panning the book they just copied the blurb.

B.) Didn't have a chance to read the book so they just copied the blurb.

or

C.) Read it but was just too damn lazy to write the review.

In any case, it's a betrayal of the trust given to a review site. It's also the first time that has happened to me and I find myself seriously annoyed by it. Even more annoying, I can't tell the site about it because they don't have a contact button!!!

I'm definitely going to be watching that site very carefully in the future. . .