Warning to New Zealand Writers

I'm writing to warn fellow writers in New Zealand that you are in danger of having your writing stolen from one among you. I am an American writer living in the Philippines and a New Zealander named Mary Speller stole my writing and put her name on it.

I didn't know her name when I first responded to an ad in Craigslist earlier this year. She advertised she had work, but that in order to make sure you were a good writer, you had to take a little test. She advised writing a 500-word article on one of several topics. The topic I chose was insomnia problems for truck drivers and the title I gave to my article was "How to Deal With Insomnia When You Are a Truck Driver." 

I never heard back from Mary, but I always follow up on articles I write. She also did not know I was an American and she probably thought I was a Filipino who wouldn't follow up. But I ALWAYS follow up. I used the Google search engine and typed in my article's title. Sure enough, I had top posting. But I thought, "Well, okay. Somebody else used the same title as me"--and that's entirely possible. 

But when I clicked on that site, I found Mary Speller as the author. The problem was that the article with her byline was mine WORD-FOR-WORD. She didn't change a single word. That's really being lazy and it's just like when somebody bootlegs or makes copies of someone's video or book. It's called stealing.

I'm not sure how many other writers have had their work stolen by Mary Speller, but I know she stole mine. Many Filipinos here in the Philippines struggle and work hard to provide for their family. But the one thing you don't see very often here is someone stealing. I'm sure it happens like everywhere else, but the people here are ashamed when they find someone stealing. It's disgraceful and it's a sin. Do people in New Zealand feel the same when one of their own steal someone's work and take credit for themselves?

Mary Speller's anonymous CL post is gone of course, but I pulled up my article and found she only put her name on the article and put a single sentence at the end directing readers to her and her website: MarySpeller.com. I found 3 more sites where she posted my article as her own. If she had been smart, she should have changed at least a few words or wrote it again in her own words, but she's evidently too lazy to do that. 

I'm wondering how many others she has done this to. I hope you will not be the victim of her unscrupulous methods. I'm sure that most of the people who respond to her "job" actually believe it is a person or company who will hire them or pay them for their work. She has written a lot of articles on various topics, but the one she likes to write about is insomnia. I hope she gets no rest until she gets her due.

If she stole your writing, I'd like to hear back from you. I have already complained to ezinearticles, goarticles, writeyourarticle, and some other sites she uses including Facebook and Linked In. My advice to writers in New Zealand is beware any person or company that requires you to "take a test" by writing a sample article on some topic. Some may be legitimate, but some are simply thieves. Even though she doesn't use her real name in her CL postings, beware of any "employer" posting that gives you the choice of several topics to prove you are a writer. 

AVOID MARY SPELLER OF PALMERSTON NORTH AT ALL COSTS. SHE WILL STEAL YOUR WORK AND PUT HER BYLINE ON YOUR WORK.

Copyright 2012 By S. R. Morris

Reviews

[S. R. Morris]

Mary, Mary, you are quite contrary.

Your explanation doesn't make much sense. I find it hard to believe that this is the first time you have asked someone else to write an article for you and that you put your name on it and placed in on several places with your name as the author. It seems that you have a disregard for the rules of sites such as Ezines, etc. Those rules specifically say that the articles must be YOURS.

Furthermore, I find it unbelievable that you did not change a single word of my article (even after you supposedly copied it from another author you were paying him to write for you. And let's really set the record straight. I Googled you and found your website and wrote directly to you. I had to join your newsletter (or whatever you call it) before I could find a way to write to you. Then I wrote and waited for a response from you. When I got none, I discovered that my article (with byline) in four places. I wrote to each one (Ezines and three others) and still gt no response from you.

This has (and will continue to be) an expensive lesson for you. I NEVER have someone else write for me and I take pride in my work. I insist on payment for everything I write (and in almost every case, a byline as well). In the case of my article about insomnia, I have received neither. Until that happens, you have a black (writer's) eye and it will not go away until restitution is made to me--the true author.

[maryspeller]

Dear S R Morris, my name is Mary Speller and I would like to clear up your accusations in a more mature manner than has been done up until now.

If you had emailled me you may have been able to check what really went on, and we could have dealt with the facts.

I did not advertise on Craig's List, but I did employ someone to write some articles for me. At this point I will not give his name, though I am very tempted. He has also not provided me with more work that he was paid for.

I would like you to know that it is a great article.

I normally check the articles through copyscape where I am able to identify if the article is unique. It looks like I missed checking that article and I apologize for that, though if you have only just loaded that particular article, it would not have shown up as I published that article at the end of July.

I pride myself on keeping my articles unique, and mine, and the articles on insomnia are the first time I have paid for articles to be written for me.

To have gone to the extent that you have publically done, without even contacting me shows a person with a major anger problem.