It seems like you can’t turn a corner without running into a comment about mega-selling romance author Cassie Edwards. Right now it’s all over the blogosphere and nearly every major newspaper since the Associated Press got a hold of Nora Roberts for a comment.

I regularly read the blog Smart Bitches Trashy Books that broke the story of her peculiar similarities to other published works–i.e. plagiarism–because they give me a laugh, have a lot of snark and really tell things like it is rather than sugar-coat it in terms of book reviews.

I’ve said my bit over there on how I feel about the entire situation several days ago, but I guess I need to say it here too.

We shouldn’t put the blame on her publisher. Like Nora Roberts I agree that an author has the responsibility to turn in work that they have verified and presented as their own, and if they borrow from other sources, then they need to cite it in their author’s notes or at least acknowledge it in some fashion. Refusing to buy the other books produced by that publisher is only going to bring a direct hit to the books you love. They don’t sell romance, they’ll start cutting the number they produce. So boycotting Signet or NAL or Penguin Putnam (the parent company) isn’t going to do you much good.

But people are angry with the publisher for saying Edwards did nothing wrong. The confusion is this: Copyright infringement is not the same as plagiarism. One is actionable in a court of law, the other is ethically abhorrent, but not going to get you anything should you pursue it.

And really I think that’s the real reason why the publisher isn’t more concerned about it. What Edwards has “borrowed” and turned into speech for her characters is from books that are published from so long ago that likely the copyright has expired. That means no one is really going to bring it up in court, which is what really concerns any corporation.

Well, it may not qualify as copyright infringement, but that doesn’t mean it’s not plagiarism. You take another author’s words in the same form and use them as your own without acknowledgement, to me, that’s plagiarism. Funny enough it was for my journalism professor too. And for the multiple newspaper editors I worked for.

To say “I didn’t know” is a cop out. You’re the author. You should know. It’s your book isn’t it?

See what the hoo-ha is about and look for yourself at the pdf of side-by-side comparisons gratis of Smart Bitches.

Confused on the legal vs. ethical debate between copyright and plagiarism? Check this out this post…lawyers explain with regards to this situation.

This entry was posted on Friday, January 11th, 2008 at 11:57 am and is filed under Publishing, Writer's Life, Writing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.