Milly Johnson condemns fraudulent sales on Amazon

Multi-million-pound selling writer Milly Johnson has hit out after finding fraudulent books that she did not write being sold on Amazon under her name.

Commercial women’s fiction writer Johnson, published by Simon & Schuster, said she felt "defiled" upon discovering the six titles on Amazon listed under her name while she was checking her rankings on the e-commerce site.

The titles, which have a similar style of book jacket to Johnson's work and feature some of the same character names, are YA short stories and are “dire, unedited, ungrammatical tripe” according to Johnson.

The multi-million pound selling author had been looking at her Amazon rankings to see the effect of a recent 99p Kindle promotion when she made the discovery.

 “I noticed a title that was not mine but had my name on it called Resisting Him," Johnson said. "I found six e-book titles on Amazon – three of which looked stupidly similar to mine. I was so shocked.”

The titles were all retailing at £3.08 with a publication date of 5th September. Johnson said that “judging from the rankings, it was quite obvious they were selling”. 

Resisting Him (pictured below with other fraudulent titles) is described as a “Top Five Bestseller” with a tagline which reads: “So Heath decides to try and use all his charm.” 'Heath' is also one of the lead characters in Johnson’s 2016 novel, Sunshine Over Wildflower Cottage (Simon & Schuster UK), which features a similar shade to the cover of Resisting Him, and is described on Amazon as by “the Sunday Times Top Five bestselling author”.

The novelist revealed that when she notified Amazon, the internet retailer agreed to take the titles down “within 24 to 48 hours” but that it also sent her a list of instructions with which she "had to prove" why the titles were fraudulent. Johnson was also forced to follow up with another phone call to Amazon a few days later when the titles were still listed online.

An Amazon spokesperson said: "Nothing is more important to us than the trust of our authors and readers, and there is no place for plagiarised titles on our website.

“We employ a variety of methods to ensure that customers are only presented with authentic titles and on the rare occasion when we are alerted to a title that isn't genuine, we will remove that book and take appropriate action against the author or publisher."

However, Johnson said she felt "defiled” by the situation. She believes it is a concern for many authors and could affect their earnings as well as their reputations.

“The (scammers) are taking money out of the hands of authors," she said. "It can be hard enough to make a living as an author as it is. Any royalties collected (from the sale of these books) should not go to Amazon, they should go to charity.”

She added: “I’m presuming they’ve taken my name because I sell well, but it’s not flattering and I would like my fellow authors to be well on their guard because I will not be the last. I don’t want my readers to be ripped off.”

Lawyers have told The Bookseller this type of scam is on the rise, partly due to increased use of the internet and more sophisticated technology.

Bernie Nyman, owner of BM Nyman & Co, which specialises in publishing law, said: "There have been proceedings in the past for ‘passing off’ where distinctive cover styles have been copied in order to take advantage of the established goodwill of another author but actually taking another author's name is going further."

Nyman said that possible legal consequences could be injunctions or paying any profits made as a result of the infringement.

Fraudulent books featured on Goodreads

He said: "The remedies for passing off (and trademark infringement, where relevant) include an interim injunction to prevent any further infringement until the merits of the case have been decided by the court, a permanent injunction if the claim is established, damages for loss caused by the passing off or infringement – or (at the choice of the successful claimant) the defendant might be required to pay over to the claimant any profits made as a result of the passing off or infringement and costs.”

The books have now been removed from Amazon’s website and The Bookseller has not been able to trace the original publisher. However it appears that other writers, such as Sophie Kinsella, have been similarly affected by scam e-books. For example an erotic thriller, Romance Taboo: Married to My Sister, is listed on reviews website goodreads as being by top-selling author Sophie Kinsella.

A spokesperson for S&S told The Bookseller the company was working with Johnson to resolve the issue. Kinsella and her publisher Penguin Random House and goodreads all declined to comment. The Society of Authors has yet to comment on the issue.

Johnson has sold 763,436 books amassing £3.3m according to Nielsen BookScan, with her biggest seller being the 2015 title, Afternoon Tea at the Sunflower Café, of which 90,281 copies have been sold.