Hmm. I've started this thread a couple of times, and each post has been more me defending myself than actually having something intelligent to say. So, the title says it all. An author whose name was somewhere on this blog has threatened me with legal action if I don't remove his/her name. The name is gone now, but if you've read through my site, you'll notice it missing. š
Now, a couple of things here.
1. It seems to me that I have to go with "there's no such thing as bad publicity." If I'm trying to market a book I've written, personally, I'd be happy to see it on as many people's blogs as possible. Unless, of course, they all said, "Lara's book is the worst piece of shizznit I've ever read." Cuz I think that may fall under the bad publicity rule… *grin* (And I'd hope that I had a publisher that was smart enough not to publish the worst piece of shizznit ever, too. š )
2. I have a lot of authors mentioned in here… Books I've read, books I've worked on, books I'm going to be pimping (like a gushing viral blog about the totally awesome Angel with Attitude that I've yet to write.). It's never occurred to me to ask an author's permission to mention her name in my personal diary. (And, I would imagine many of my favourites would have better things to do than worry about me putting their name in a list on a blog that gets 40 visitors a day. *grin*) And I can't imagine that the blogs that review whatever the author is reading have done that either. But, please, correct me if I'm wrong.
3. I've had other bloggers mention my blog and point people here, and none of them have asked my permission. And frankly the only thing I have to say about that is… woohoo! people read me!
So let me ask this of the blogosphere… do you ask permission to mention a name? Do you care?
And, is your name on here and you wish it weren't? Cuz seriously, a simple, hey! Lara! Would ya mind takin' it off? would totally suffice. Although, come to think about it… whatever happened to freedom of speech? And what exactly would ya sue me for? She… she.. she said my name! I want a million dollars in damages! (um, yeah, good luck with that…. there's $82 in my account. :P)
Le Stylo en Rose 
Michelle Said:
on June 13, 2006 at 11:17 am
What? I totally missed this. Who would ask for something like that? You must email me personally and tell me.
Jenna Howard Said:
on June 13, 2006 at 12:50 pm
I’ve never asked for permission. A few have emailed me and I say “Sho, put me up.” Well…two. One I have to confess I ignored because I was “What would an interior design blog want with the blog of an erotic romance writer?”
Heck – it’s free publicity. It’s traffic. It’s a way to get people to my blog who wouldn’t normally read my blog and vice versa
But to sue? I’d just send an email asking to be removed. Easy peasy and then the threat doesn’t become blog fodder.
HelenKay Said:
on June 13, 2006 at 3:27 pm
I was going to say, WHAT?? but Michelle beat me to it.
I link to people all the time. Never had anyone threaten to sue me. A few people who have included their email addresses in the body of the comment have written and asked me to delete the email address part se it leads to more spam. That makes sense. No problem there. But, to threaten to sue? If she didn’t like what you said, why not just comment and say so? Or write you an email? Very odd…
Paige Said:
on June 14, 2006 at 2:50 am
So, it was someone in your link list or you’d made a comment about their book in a post? Either way, that’s just sad. And I don’t ask permission to post, but I don’t add links willy nilly either. I guess if I did I might get more traffic, but I don’t want to add links just for traffic. LOL, did that make sense?
Lara Said:
on June 14, 2006 at 9:48 am
Nope, not on my link list, or a post, for that matter. And the message on the page was to go and buy her book. So I’m really confused by the whole thing, and more than a little offended by the incredibly rude and insulting tone of the email… (not to mention the legal threat… tho I’m tempted to put it back just to see what happens. It’s fun being an evil bitch. š )
Thanks for your support everyone…
nienke Said:
on June 14, 2006 at 1:32 pm
Bizarre. Sounds to me like someone needs a life if they have time to track themselves online and threaten lawsuits!
Like you, I get a thrill when someone mentions me or my blog. I’ve been known to check Technorati for just that.
I think you need to post the name so that all your blogger friends can be sure she’s not on their sites! (CC me on Michelle’s email…LOL)
nienke Said:
on June 14, 2006 at 2:23 pm
Speaking of linking, check out this post over at No Rules Just Write:
http://brendacoulter.blogspot.com/2006/06/
great-read-family-forever.html
Bonnie Said:
on June 14, 2006 at 10:11 pm
That’s nuts! Look at it this way, now you have a wild story to tell at cocktail parties š Some people just don’t deserve our attention…even though I’m dying to know who it is too!
miladyinsanity Said:
on June 18, 2006 at 10:04 am
WTF????
Dang girl, I don’t check in for a few days, and this happens?
Very very weird. Like Jenna, I’ve had people email me to ask, and well the answer is obviously Sure!
Lara Said:
on June 19, 2006 at 3:57 pm
Wait a second.
Seriously… my name is Lara.
Hey Lara! Could you take my name off your site?
No?
Okay then – please send the $82 you have to my paypal – I’ll expect it within 24 hours. Thanks.
LMAO – you’re right – it’s silliness. Unless it’s harmful – and since I didn’t see what you’d had about whoever, then I can only assume it wasn’t harmful – why would they even care?
Oh wait a second.
I know what it is.
Believe it or not, I’ve seen it before.
It’s the fact that they’re afraid YOUR site will outrank THEIR site in the search engines for their name.
I’m completely serious here – I’ve seen people whine about this elsewhere. It’s stupid – because if they’d only hire a good SEO/marketing company (like me, for instance) it wouldn’t matter – but someone in some forum somewhere told them it would – so they freaked.
Bah. To them.
azteclady Said:
on June 21, 2006 at 9:09 am
[Fell here from Indida’s blog, which I found through Karen Scott’s]
Do I understand this right? You told people, “go buy so-and-so’s book” (got to assume because you liked that book, which is tantamount to a GOOD review), and so-and-so emailed you to demand you took her name/book title off your blog?
I am not a lawyer nor do I play one on blogland or anywhere else, but I don’t think there’s copyright infringement there–even in negative reviews there’s no copyright infringement.
This person is obviously an idiot of high caliber–free publicity in an oversaturated market is nothing to sneeze at. Now she’s got negative word of mouth.
Ah well.
Mike Said:
on June 30, 2006 at 3:05 pm
I never ask them, but I always email them telling them that I posted, and give them a link to it…if I know how to get ahold of them.