Plagiarism is defined as presenting someone else’s work as your own. It is also called ‘Intellectual Theft’. Intellectual theft has several consequences, one of which is loss of credibility. Let’s take a deeper look at the effects of plagiarism.
Loss of Credibility
As we briefly mentioned in the introduction, one of the effects of plagiarism is a loss of credibility. Your readers will lose trust in you when they discover that the content of your book is not an original creation, but an imitation of someone else’s work.
Trust is a very valuable asset. It takes a lot of time, energy and consistency to build, but is easy to destroy. It is difficult or almost impossible to regain trust. Even if you are able to create original content later in the future, it would be difficult to get your readers to trust you again.
Loss of Revenue
Loss of revenue is one of the effects of plagiarism that can affect your income. It is closely related to loss of credibility. People buy from those that they know, like and trust. A writer’s credibility can affect book sales either positively or negatively.
If people discover that your content is unoriginal and have read it elsewhere, they are likely to toss your book aside. They could also give you a negative review, saying that your book is a replication of someone else’s work.
Don’t think that people don’t read reviews. The more negative reviews you have, the fewer sales you may make. If you get a reputation for being a plagiarist, people are likely to avoid your books like the plague. Don’t forget that the writing field is competitive.
When you shortchange your readers, they are unlikely to buy anything else that you try to sell to them. That means few sales now and much fewer or even zero sales in the future.
Inability to Build your Skills
The more you write, the better you become at writing. Building your skills comes from actually doing the work. Consistently honing your writing skills makes you a better writer. As the years go by, you will discover that you have picked up new tips and styles of writing, and you have become better at your craft.
On the other hand, you do not learn anything useful if you spend your time copying other people’s texts and attaching your name to them. You do not become a better writer. Instead, your content becomes a reflection of everyone whose work you have plagiarized. That is one of the self-sabotaging effects of plagiarism.
Lack of Growth
As a writer, you want to be your most authentic self. Writing is an expression of your personality, beliefs, experiences and ideas. Your writing reflects your growth as an individual, especially if you have written continuously for a long time.
When you look at your content in retrospect, you will see that your mindset and choice of words have evolved over the years. You might also remember where you were at the time you wrote a particular book. A collection of your books will also remind you of bits and pieces of your life over a period of time.
You do not get this benefit when you have not produced any original work of your own. Being a plagiarist means you are not a true writer. It also means that you have not grown or improved over the years, in relation to writing.
In other words, copying others’ works impedes your growth as a writer. Impediment to growth is another of the self-sabotaging effects of plagiarism.
Lack of Value
The value of any text is its originality. The difference between one book and the next is the uniqueness of the contents. If your book is a rip-off or a knockoff of another book or a combination of several books, it brings nothing new to its readers. This means that your book has no real value.
If the content of your book is stale information, you could be said to have ripped off your readers by selling them old information under a new title and a new author.
This is one of the effects of plagiarism that will not only cost you your readers but possibly put you in trouble with the legal authorities.
Legal Tussles
Speaking of getting into trouble with the legal authorities, one of the many effects of plagiarism is that you could find yourself in avoidable problems with the law.
If you do not have the copyright or permission to reproduce a text, you could get into a lot of legal trouble for copying someone’s book. You could be sued by the real owners of the content you have plagiarized.
Besides the huge legal fees, such lawsuits could also cause you a lot of embarrassment. It is much better to create your own original content, than to suffer the many effects of plagiarism. Furthermore, give due credit when you use excerpts or quotes from other writers.
There are many negative effects of plagiarism, from loss of credibility to lawsuits. Hopefully, this article has shown you the downside of plagiarism. To avoid these pitfalls, create original content that you can be proud of. You might also learn a thing or two from this next article on how to avoid plagiarism.
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