When Fortune published their article on Amazon Knock offs, these books were available. However, Amazon has since removed most if not all of them. I even tried to purchase the "Fifty Shades of Grey" knock-off "Thirty-five Shades of Grey" at Createspace, (I'd already purchased all three of the originals and was curious how close the knock-off was to the original) but it wasn't available for purchase there either.
The idea behind the knock-offs is to confuse the reader into purchasing the "wrong" book. It's not nice to fool your readers, so Amazon did the responsible thing and took these books down. Since most of these books were published by Amazon's Createspace self-publishing division, I doubt any sanctions were made against the authors, but hopefully Amazon will be more careful to make sure any books that could potentially confuse readers are properly identified in the future.
I wrote a previous article on knock-off covers, but these books are knock-offs on the material and the original books in question.
Below is a list of the books Fortune found.
"Fifty Shades of Grey" by E.L. James vs. "Thirty-five Shades of Grey" by J.D. Lyte
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| This cover is not at all similar to Stieg Larsson's Book |
"The Girl of the Dragoon Tattoo" by Stieg Larsson vs. "I am the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" by Karen Peebles (CD only)
"New Moon" by Stephanie Meyers vs. "Twilight New Moon" by Alexandre (no cover though the item is reportedly still available from Amazon through Coy24) Since Alexandre Desplat did the score for New Moon, I'm not sure if this is a knock off for the book, or the music. However, the listing for this item on Amazon has an "unknown binding" and sells for $7.57 with a $3.99 shipping charge.
"Thinking, Fast and Slow" by Daniel Kahneman vs. "Fast and Slow Thinking" by Karl Daniels
Moral of the story, caveat emptor. Make sure when you're shopping on the Internet that you are purchasing the item you intended to purchase.
For Fortune's article, please click below:
Was not aware of this, so thanks!
ReplyDeleteYazmin, I wasn't either, which is why I thought the topic was worth sharing.
DeleteThanks. the article is useful. The knock-offs are rather humorous - except to the buyers who get spoofed.
ReplyDeleteMary, I agree exactly. It's okay if you know what you're buying, but not okay if you're spending money thinking you're getting the original rather than the knock-off.
DeleteCaveat emptor. People will do just about anything to make a buck. Thanks for sharing this, Kathryn. It reminds us to pay attention.
ReplyDeleteCaveat emptor, exactly. Thanks for dropping by and leaving a comment.
DeleteMy first experience with this kind of knock-off was in the early 90s. My daughter was eagerly anticipating the release of Disney's Pocahantas on VHS. About 2 weeks before the release date, hubby came home from the PX with Pocahantas! Except it was a cheap, poorly animated knock-off from another company.
ReplyDeleteIt's one thing to do a knock-off of something aimed at adults, but IMO, it's pretty low to do it with kids' movies and books.
Kenra, Yikes! That's terrible. I'm sure "The Mouse" wasn't amused, either. I recall this one comedian talking about a time when he held up a figure of Mickey Mouse by the ears (or the feet) and a representative from Disney approached him, turned the figure right-side up and said, "Don't mess with The Mouse." They are ubiquitous, and I think of that story every time I hear about someone attempting to knock off or make fun of Disney. As a side note, I would never dream of "messing with The Mouse."
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