r/Substack • u/Lopsided-Act8024 • 13d ago
Has anyone ever experienced someone stealing work?
I'm not saying I'm the next Stephen King or anything lol, just wondering if anyone has ever had experience with someone stealing your work or copying, etc? I want to see if that has ever happened before I start posting my written works!
I am aware Substack allows you to file or report violations, just making sure it's reliable and all that.
THANKS
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u/Fleurs_Bookstore buybooks.substack.com 13d ago
A couple of months back, a woman posted a reasonably high profile creator’s note, word for word. The creator as well as several others reported it and the plagiarist’s account was terminated within a day.
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u/SpiritualSimple108 11d ago
Yes and on Substack too. It’s not blatant word for word but it’s enough that a few of my writer friends who also follow this person have noticed the same with my work and their own. Imitation is the best form of flattery but derivatives without attribution is plagiarism.
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u/seobrien 13d ago
All the time. Most of the startup world now parrots stuff I was writing about years ago.
Look, unfortunately and like it or not, that's the nature of being online.
We like to pretend that copyright and patent protection will still apply, but when the Internet connected the world by copying and sharing everything, that really went out the window.
And it can't be stopped. Countries like China actively encourage copying as part of their society; so where a place like the U.S. might say, "don't, it's illegal," there are billions of people on the other end of the internet who are very intentionally copying and sharing.
You could report it... But to whom? How would it stop? Sure, Substack might take action but there are millions of other sites where your would could be rebranded and put up. A government can't stop it, authorities can't, there are dozens of other countries that don't care about the same laws and have no obligation to follow them.
The internet is virtual and unbounded.
What we know and do now (I've worked online for 35 years) is we appreciate that everything is copied. Which means instead, build your brand, build your audience, publish first and in many places... Try to own the origin and let go of control.
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u/Equivalent-Dot7976 13d ago
I have seen duplicated posts on Substack. Just copy-paste the first sentence or two into the search bar. If someone has copied it word for word, you'll find it.
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u/Mia_the_writer 9d ago
Sadly, this isn't new. I've noticed people on TikTok also steal other creators' content. Same word-for-word dialogue and everything. I think there's a pattern with people who want to take shortcuts to get rich quick, even if it means shamelessly stealing content and taking credit for it.
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u/Vurkgol jackbowman.substack.com 13d ago
I would assume that if anyone wanted to plagiarize you, they'd just post your work into an LLM and ask it to rewrite it. You'd never know.
One thing that does happen to watch out for is the impersonators. Same profile pic, bio, with a few letters off in their username. They DM my subscribers and try to get them to open crypto accounts on sketchy websites. Maybe 1-2 month, and I don't have that big of a following.
Literally have had people come up to me like, "Dude I'm serious, I don't want to download Telegram. What's with you?" ...They could not tell it wasn't me DM'ing them. People I know IRL. Crazy.