Oh Crap! I just found large sections of my Grand-Aunt's NON-fiction Manuscript on Google Books!

[Up2Late]

Her True, First-Person, UN-Published Manuscript, about how she survived the 16 months she spent, from October 1943 to January 1945, in a little known Nazi Labor Camp and eventual transfer to Auschwitz-Berkinow, in an excerpt from my Dad's 2nd Cousin's, really stupid, FICTION book on Google Books!

Her book, Btw, that I just started thinking about editing and publishing in some form, and that I am currently researching, and several people in the DU I/P forum have encouraged me to try to get published, if for no other reason than for it's historic value and what it adds to the historical record of the time, but now what!? :banghead:

I mean, my Dad sent his Second Cousin a copy of the manuscript to read (we did not grant him any Copyrights), not to plagiarize large sections of it for his stupid novel about, and I kid you NOT on this one, about a guy who FARTS a lot! It's called "P.I.G. {Petrified Intestinal Gas} an inflated life story." (Please do NOT buy this book, it's really stupid!)

The author (my Dad's 2nd Cousin) BTW, committed suicide in 2005 or 2006 (I can't remember which), and my Grand-Aunt, the author of the historical, first person account of her time as Nazi Political Prisoner, died in 1973. And to add to that, I just met his Sister (the author of the stupid Fictional book's Sister, who's also my Dad's 2nd Cousin) and her husband on my trip, last month, to Germany, and they are both very nice people, but this is just wrong.

I really want that excerpt off of Google Books, especially because it's published within a FICTION book, which implies that it also is FICTION, which it is not! It's a True, First-Person, yet to be published, Holocaust survivor story which, I think, would add greatly to the Historical Record, but NOW... :argh:

I'm not sure what to do. My Mom thinks I should just drop this for a while, but I don't agree. Any advice would be helpful. :shrug:

BTW, I'm probably going to cross-post this to the Book:Non-Fiction Group and the Jewish Group, and as an update to my previous post about this project from a few weeks ago in the I/P Forum too.

You can read my previous post about this project at this links below, in my DU Journal:

<http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=124&topic_id=164806&mesg_id=164806>

<http://journals.democraticunderground.com/Up2Late>

[pitohui]

1. you need an attorney or else you must drop it

the chances are that the work is no longer publishable since it has been previously published

i don't know what google books is but if your cousin stole the work, you can prove it, and it sounds clear that he has made the work now effectively worthless, then you (or whoever the copyright owner is) may be entitled to damages

you need an attorney who specializes in entertainment/copyright issues and i don't know how easy it is to find such a one in your area

my heart goes out to you but in your shoes i would not devote any more time to the project until i had sought legal advice

otherwise you could be pouring even more time into something you no longer have the right to publish

NEVER share your work with anyone, other than a legitimate agent or publisher, prior to publication, is the moral to be taken away from this sad story

it may well be that the cousin now owns the copyright and you no longer have any say about how the work can be used -- you need to get real legal advice to straighten it out

i'm not sure from the story if you ever owned the copyright frankly, get a lawyer

[Up2Late]

4. I'm not sure why Google Books has it either.

It's like what you find on Amazon.com (several pages, but not all of a book) like they are starting to sell books now. Is Google beginning to sell books now? :shrug:

Btw, my Dad holds the Copyright and I don't think we want to sue his Cousin's widow and it's Amazon.com Sales Rank is #4,372,085 in Books, so I doubt it's sold too many copies. Also, making money on this book is the least of my concerns, I think it's just an important book that needs to be published for the common good.

Do you know if any publishing company's have ever agreed to publish a book, at no cost to the damaged party, as reparations?

[eppur_se_muova]

2. within a Fiction book, which implies that it also is Fiction,

I think you meant to say.

I would pursue the publication anyway. Add a postscript at the end of the book telling the strange saga of what happened to the MS. Don't get distracted by Google Books, just get the truth out there. Readers will help draw more attention to the misuse of the original MS.

Just my 2¢, not that I've ever been through anything like that.

[Up2Late]

3. Yes, Thank You! That is what I meant to say.

I fixed it.