Literary Plagiarism Revisited

[alfreda89]

http://my.ev1.net/english/news/newsarticle.asp?articleID=50258751&subject=entertainment

One of the things that irritates me the most about this is, why in heavens' name didn't this young woman write her own book, using the tropes of a transition family from India? I can see the owner of my favorite Indian restaurant coming up with a plan to Get His Granddaughter A Life -- it's pure culture.

Instead, she not only mimicked books from her teen years, she apparently borrowed entire passages wholesale.

And some editor paid her six figures to do this? Do you realize how many books a novel in this price range has to sell for the publisher to make any money at all?

I certainly hope that that editor is around when *I* release my next manuscript to the NYC Wars.

Comments

[dancinghorse.livejournal.com]

Seems to me that editor will probably be finding another line of work soon.

I do not understand how that much money got attached to a project this questionable. What was it, Eragon effect?

[tia-tarina.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, we're neither teenagers nor minorities.

We're just women writers and publishers seem to think we're a dime a dozen. :(

Seems like ya gotta know somebody important or have some sort of hook to get the big publishing deals nowadays. :(

Nobody actually reads the manuscrips anymore, silly. It's all about the hype. (ala 'Blair Witch Project' and the upcoming 'Snakes On A Plane').

[ulitave.livejournal.com]

that kid landed a half-million dollar contract. I DON"T HAVE A F'N CONTRACT. They deserve all the bad things in life. [whine, whine, pout]

[janni.livejournal.com]

Although it's worth keeping in mind that that six-figure advance was both for two books, not one; and was presumably split with the book packager that handled the book as well. By the time you figure all that in, plus her agent's fee, we're talking very low six figures.

Everyone's quick to attack the writer in this case, but I've yet to hear anyone talking about the book packager, or her agent, or her editor at all--and all of them are being interestingly quiet. Easier to let her take the fall alone, even though it's not like she took the money alone.