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What can I do?
The following is written without malice: Dear friends ,can you help me? I saw recently, on Amazon.com, a book by Kayla Speciale with the exact same title as mine,(The Lupine Effect). {My book pre-dates the release of her book.} Looking further into it I found that the story was seemingly different ,but there was a striking similarity to my blurb and premise. I was wondering if others including my Facebook friends could tell the difference? To me, it seems miss Speciale practically extrapolated my premise ,if not word for word, but so near ...that there may be grounds for a suit. But I would first like those of you who have read my book to see what if any similarities exist even vaguely to mine. Not only my blurb but a piece of my intro . True the rest of the book is a different story ,but it seemed to lean on mine if one looked for the premise as I have written it. I don't like stifling a talent, especially a writer,but in all fairness I ask ,does this go beyond "reasonable use" ? I await your honest opinions my friends.Thanks
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If you believe you have been plagiarized, I would first contact the author involved, in writing, to try to determine how that author came up with the title, and ideas in the work. If Speciale gave credit to you for her idea in her book, then it may not be plagiarism. However, if she lifted any significant part of your book, including the title, from your work and didn't give you any credit, she should be sued and I would consult with an attorney as soon as possible. On the other hand, if the title is merely a coincidence, no plagiarism is involved. You do not need the opinion of "friends" to determine plagiarism. I will not be reading your book to determine it for you.
When I first finished my autobiography back in 1998, I checked the Internet and found that my title, Hanging by a Thread, was not used. I didn't publish the autobiography until this year because I was working on other work and never quite got it finished. Anyway, when I did a recent search, several books with the same title popped up. I think that in the current surge of self published books, there will be many repeated titles of totally unrelated books.
Ron