I feel like I’m writing a lot of posts about events in the book world as opposed to my typical book focused work lately. And I think it just goes to show how much is impacted by the book world and how much it influences. The most recent event that has come to my attention is that of a cover artist who has blatantly stolen someone else’s work and image in order to produce a book cover that they’d be able to sell. And wow, is it blatant.
It’s been almost a full day since Amanda posted to Twitter about her face being used and edited to represent the character for a book that came out recently and I have seen for quite some time now due to its popularity. I have to admit that I find this whole situation horrifying. Not only is it absolutely horrendous to have your work stolen and adapted by someone else (another artist) for a profit, but its also awful as the author because I cannot imagine writing a book, finding a cover artist, and then receiving plagiarized work only to find out what happened after it’s already been published and out for some time. I think, overall, the situation has been handled well. Those involved were made aware and it does appear as though steps have been taken to resolve the very problematic actions that the author took.
Of course, this whole situation is far from resolved at the current moment since EpicReads, who responded, can’t take much more action than to pass along the information further to those who actually make the decisions based on the information, but I think it’s good for everyone to keep an eye out. It’s absolutely awful that Amanda has to go through this and my biggest hope is that the matter is taken very seriously and she receives not only one giant apology, but that they take decisive action to address it.
Reader Fox 
I seen this on Twitter, and was legit shocked
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Same.
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Oh dear, it is blatant! Glad to hear that appropriate steps to rectify the situation are being taken. Thanks for sharing the story, Steff!
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Of course!
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I’d be willing to bet that part of the reason anyone thought they could get away with this and why most readers will never know cover art has been plagiarized is because of the massive number of cover artists (or even DIY authors) that are using stock images that anyone can purchase the rights to use. I cannot tell you how many times I’ve seen similar or even nearly identical covers on books, which makes it incredibly difficult to see differences between authors/books, at least on first glance. There is no way to know if those covers are legitimate or not. That sadly means it is up to the artist to constantly be alert, but it is nearly impossible to track down image thefts because there are way too many places they could be used.
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I mean, that definitely makes sense. But it’s so silly. Like, if you have to pay for a stock image…why not also recognize that you should pay to use someone else’s image?
But yeah, the sad fact is that artists are going to have to be super vigilant, which is easier said than done unfortunately. And if they’re stealing from anyone who isn’t an artist, I imagine it’ll be even harder. 😦
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I agree with you, it’s an awful thing to go through as an artist. I hope everything is solved appropriately.
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