Friday 16 August 2019

Please, do not copy my stories.


I would possibly be gulping down a bottle of Bigi Apple or chewing a piece of ram meat when I received a message on my page. I had opened the message to read what it contained. It was a message from a lady, seeking permission to share one of my stories, Flaming Home.

“Thanks for taking the time to reach out to me and seek my permission, sis. You can only share the blog link that directs readers to the story on the blog.” I had sent and she replied, informing me that she would abide by my rule.

Still making the eid holiday memorable, I was preparing jollof rice in the kitchen when my phone buzzed with a new notification. An honourable sister had mentioned me in a comment. I knew what it had to be…I knew it had to be linked to the message I had received a day before. And my guess was right. I had clicked on the notification to see published episodes of my story, Flaming Home.

Fine, the person had acknowledged me as the writer of the story, but that did not change the fact that it had been copied from the blog without authorization. I sent the lady a message, asking why she had decided to share my story despite what I had informed her about.

She explained that she had started sharing the episodes before someone- who is a friend of mine- had sent her a message, warning her to seek the permission of the original writer. She apologized and that was it!

Just so you know, stealing a writer’s work is like dipping hands into a pot of soup, without knowing what the cook had gone through to prepare such delicacy. Sharing the work of a creative person without knowing the efforts the person had pulled through to come up with that is like taking loads of pieces of jewelry from a bank, without knowing how the owners had gotten them. No one can truly appreciate the efforts of a creative person who sits and create imaginary characters, narrate stories, create the time to type and edit them, and upload these stories for people to read, for free!

Just so you know, you are NOT allowed to copy my stories from my blog and share to other platforms, without seeking my permission.

If you did not know and you have been sharing my stories, now you know.

JazakumuLlaahu khayran.

Share:

0 comments:

Post a Comment