Hello everyone,
It me shames a bit to post a chapter, as I intended to only post one to announce the release of the Webtoon; but I have an identity usurpation/piracy problem, and I need your help.
I have been informed that someone is using a variant of my penname on webnovel.com to not only steal my content, but that of other authors (including Blood Shaper on Royal Road):
https://www.webnovel.com/profile/4318538071
https://www.webnovel.com/book/vainqueur-.-the-dragon-king_21143310405326205
I actually created a webnovel account to report this and to forestall attempts at usurpation in the future (my real Void Herald placeholder profile here: https://www.webnovel.com/profile/4306026523).
Piracy has also been a problem for me lately, which is why I changed my pen name to include my real one. ID theft is something else and crossing a line, as the person is also pretending to be me in the reviews/comments while copying the work of other authors. People PM me asking me if I'm cross posting/stealing somebody else's work, which infuriates me more than you can possibly imagine.
It's undragonly.
[https://c10.patreonusercontent.com/3/eyJ3Ijo4MjB9/patreon-media/p/post/53712903/12f13bf9391a41dfba85d88beb7d2094/1.png?token-time=1634256000&token-hash=GyxEgmSseDP0XDatwPcNQwGG1GftldsdgWKJ7vDnAsk%3D]
So I would be thankful if you could review bomb and report the shit out of this impostor until he goes away.
[https://c10.patreonusercontent.com/3/eyJ3Ijo4MjB9/patreon-media/p/post/53712903/2aca498d88b94d548264fe91c2af0f77/1.jpeg?token-time=1634256000&token-hash=uLsrW119kPgPlahCR_Pcl5HV44z20geHYF0LIwWG3l0%3D]
I am also making a pledge here. If you're reading Vainqueur the Dragon, The Perfect Run, Magik Online, The Legend of Kairos, and Never Die Twice anywhere else than Amazon, Royal Road, Patreon, or Tapas, this is not me. This is someone else either pretending to be me, or a pirate website publishing my content without my authorization.
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
So, if you're seeing this on Ranobes, Novelhall, or other pirate websites.
Maybe you don't know it, but the stories you're reading are available for free on Royal Road already; Tapas, Amazon Kindle and Patreon are methods to support me if you love my work or help fund adaptations (Vainqueur the Dragon's webtoon adaptation was only possible because of your support on Tapas, for example). Though I do intend to get The Legend of Kairos to KDP one day, I have been honest about it early, you'll get warned ahead of time, and this is part of a publishing deal.
The reason I do not post my stories everywhere is for a simple reason: things like Amazon use bots to verify contents of volumes and check if you're not plagiarizing someone else.
[https://c10.patreonusercontent.com/3/eyJ3ZWJwIjowfQ%3D%3D/patreon-media/p/post/53712903/38603bff61084e82a7d3887352887587/1.jpeg?token-time=1634256000&token-hash=UcNxHutjM4CkgLaPOtKzpPM63eVZly4cLolGm6Yc_1s%3D]
This is good, in theory, but the presence of pirate websites makes it extraordinarily harder to get the book out there.
The Perfect Run's second kindle volume is in limbo because Amazon continue to flag websites like Ranobes as legitimate websites, and will not let me publish the book until I get them to admit that yes, Maxime J. Durand is Void Herald. Unfortunately, the Amazon human service for the matter is inexistent. I have sent ID proofs, copyright notices, adaptation contracts, everything. Impossible to get the book published. Which, since the story is near its end on Royal Road, is hurting my income and making it difficult for me to write stories for free.
I mean, the stories are already available for free on Royal Road, which is how these pirate websites copy them!
You're only paying a cent if you actively want to support me! Or if I threaten you at knife point!
[https://c10.patreonusercontent.com/3/eyJ3Ijo4MjB9/patreon-media/p/post/53712903/74a3006e8f974e818ddedcb67af09f07/1.jpg?token-time=1634256000&token-hash=rBwGxIY_npz9SV8M6fURqH3_nHjGzWj-ogc53RHgb30%3D]
But the thing is, by promoting pirate websites, making it harder for me to get these books out on Amazon, and not sending links ot my Patron or Tapas, you're actively preventing the readers who want to support me from doing so. I am also forced to pay people for legal advice/documents to unlock these situations, so you're actually threatening my livelihood.
[https://c10.patreonusercontent.com/3/eyJ3Ijo4MjB9/patreon-media/p/post/53712903/f21a0553adc24713b2cae0baacaf0572/1.jpeg?token-time=1634256000&token-hash=OqClQ7EzfLVzCmGa6FQD1FIDVjoeagseNTaoPYYl5oo%3D]
So please, if you actually like what you read, take action. Reports, make noise, or at least get these pirate websites to publish links to my Patreon, Amazon etc...
That's only fair.
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[https://c10.patreonusercontent.com/3/eyJ3Ijo4MjB9/patreon-media/p/post/53712903/6782e33650a24abcaf28ff0340878075/1.jpg?token-time=1634256000&token-hash=a8PTemcskMpBbfrG_D_LHF9iCAze8yXHl9p-Xhr82yw%3D]
The real V&V will be back soon in 2022...
On Tapas.