BellaOnline Forums Books and Music Romance Novels Plagiarism and Readers

I've been doing quite a bit of reading on this one in the last couple days. A popular blog claims to have discovered a number of instances where historical romance author Cassie Edwards has plagiarized various reference sources in her books (and some major news outlets have also picked up on this particular story). Not quite the same as Janet Dailey plagiarizing from Nora Roberts (and can I just say, DUH! to that one?!), in that it's not another romance novelist's words that were taken, but still plagiarism, it appears.

What I've been wondering is whether this matters to readers or not? I know it matters very much to writers, myself included. But do readers care when an author they like(d) takes someone else's work and calls it her own?

But do readers care when an author they like(d) takes someone else's work and calls it her own?

Absolutely it does!! Though, readers are rarely injured by plagiarism�and might, in fact, get some benefit from it if a mediocre author improves his/her own writing by pilfering from superior works.

On the other side of the coin, writers whose work has been plagiarized might be harmed through lower book sales and dead authors can slip from memory.

The technological revolution that has already shaken up the world of intellectual property and may well ultimately reshape our appreciation for honesty in authorship, our reverence for the integrity of creative works, and our denunciation of plagiarism as the enemy of originality.

BrendaK

I wanted to bang my head against the counter at work the other day when I mentioned this to a customer who happened to be buying one of Ms. Edwards's books, and the only thing the customer was worried about was whether the books were going to be pulled. Argh!

"whether the books were going to be pulled"

That sounds like a typical response since the reader rarely is hurt by Plagiarism.

Deb.

I suppose in a way if a person bought a really pretty painting for their wall - and they adored the painting - they wouldn't care where the painting came from. If it is a painted version of a photograph, they don't care. All they care about is they really like looking at the painting ...

It doesn't appear at this point that the publisher has pulled any of Ms. Edwards's books--we've actually gotten reprints of older books in at the store in the last month or so. But I have noticed that the sales seem to have dropped off. Perhaps it does matter to some readers?

A little bit of an update on this one: one of Ms. Edwards's publishers appears to have dumped her. As a writer, can I say YAY!!!