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How Opal Mehta Got Caught, Got Cut, and Got Sent Packing ~ i s'pose by now most of you have read this news (surprised no one on my flist has made any commentary, so i guess i will). i'm glad the publisher took harsh action, pulled the book, and cancelled the deal. while a small part of me sympathizes with the writer (who very clearly was manipulated), she's old enough to know better and deserves the scorn she's receiving. i've been reading reviews of the book from readers who by and large say: despite the hoopla, it's just a lame, amateur book to begin with ~ hardly the work of a teen prodigy.
it's embarrassing especially for the publishers, i think. and exposes much of what's wrong with the industry. if the writer had been a white chick from idaho, the book would have never gotten picked up to begin with. the fact that the text went to a "packager" who was paid to make it sellable/marketable is skeery beyond all comprehension.
a rant about the genre-ization of fiction ~ i've got nothing against "genre" fiction, but it's starting to run the show. i don't personally read genre fiction and i don't write it. i also think a market run by it is narrow and the writers who try to fit the requirements are shoving 6'4", 175 lb imaginations into a size 2 petit package. how many times to i hear writers asking with concern about what genre they fit in or how to make sure they fit into any genre at all? how many agents narrow their field of clients to genre-specific conventional fare?
if all you care about is selling and you don't care how you do it, that's just fine. i make no judgment on that ~ it's a legitimate way to go about the business. but for the rest of you, fight the good fight! write the story you want to tell ~ not the story the market dictates. stop kidding yourself that you have a better chance by conforming to a genre set of standards. stop letting other people tell you want to write.
who knows, if the author of Opal Mehta had written her own book instead of letting other people dictate the parameters for her, maybe she wouldn't have plagiarized. maybe she wouldn't have got a $500,000 contract either, but at the end of the day isn't your integrity more important than being a drone of popular culture? if you're an artist, it's because you have a vision to share that is unique. it can't rise above if it's forever wallowing in the common pool with all the other books just like it.
okay, rant over (mostly).
here's what i think: the small digital press (and self-serve like lulu.com) is going to continue to have a profound impact on the future of the publishing industry. some years ago i poo-pooed the whole vanity press, but it's clear we're entering a new era of self-publishing that doesn't need to be costly, low-quality, or narrow in its distribution. with publishing giants taking fewer risks on newcomers without multi-book deals and horse-blindered agency recommendations, i wonder if it isn't a good time to strike out independently the way that film production is going.
digital cameras and computer film editing software have revolutionized the film industry. so why shouldn't digital press do the same for the publishing? take the power out of the big industries, retain creative and copyright control, and run the marketing campaign of your choice. the big houses are more and more relying on authors to do their own marketing anyway (signings, write the sell copy, etc.)
eh ~ food for thought on a wednesday morn.
: o p
it's embarrassing especially for the publishers, i think. and exposes much of what's wrong with the industry. if the writer had been a white chick from idaho, the book would have never gotten picked up to begin with. the fact that the text went to a "packager" who was paid to make it sellable/marketable is skeery beyond all comprehension.
a rant about the genre-ization of fiction ~ i've got nothing against "genre" fiction, but it's starting to run the show. i don't personally read genre fiction and i don't write it. i also think a market run by it is narrow and the writers who try to fit the requirements are shoving 6'4", 175 lb imaginations into a size 2 petit package. how many times to i hear writers asking with concern about what genre they fit in or how to make sure they fit into any genre at all? how many agents narrow their field of clients to genre-specific conventional fare?
if all you care about is selling and you don't care how you do it, that's just fine. i make no judgment on that ~ it's a legitimate way to go about the business. but for the rest of you, fight the good fight! write the story you want to tell ~ not the story the market dictates. stop kidding yourself that you have a better chance by conforming to a genre set of standards. stop letting other people tell you want to write.
who knows, if the author of Opal Mehta had written her own book instead of letting other people dictate the parameters for her, maybe she wouldn't have plagiarized. maybe she wouldn't have got a $500,000 contract either, but at the end of the day isn't your integrity more important than being a drone of popular culture? if you're an artist, it's because you have a vision to share that is unique. it can't rise above if it's forever wallowing in the common pool with all the other books just like it.
okay, rant over (mostly).
here's what i think: the small digital press (and self-serve like lulu.com) is going to continue to have a profound impact on the future of the publishing industry. some years ago i poo-pooed the whole vanity press, but it's clear we're entering a new era of self-publishing that doesn't need to be costly, low-quality, or narrow in its distribution. with publishing giants taking fewer risks on newcomers without multi-book deals and horse-blindered agency recommendations, i wonder if it isn't a good time to strike out independently the way that film production is going.
digital cameras and computer film editing software have revolutionized the film industry. so why shouldn't digital press do the same for the publishing? take the power out of the big industries, retain creative and copyright control, and run the marketing campaign of your choice. the big houses are more and more relying on authors to do their own marketing anyway (signings, write the sell copy, etc.)
eh ~ food for thought on a wednesday morn.
: o p
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feh and piffle ~ !
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I haven't posted anything about it because I often look at literature somewhat like music. Eventually, you're going to play the same notes as someone else in an "original song". It's more the art of concealing your sources...I think authors have always "borrowed" from each other, and there's nothing really wrong with that. It's more reliant on your actual skills of not getting caught. ;) The lines picked out of her book, while she did think to change them, are obviously stolen. The piece on the animal activist arguement was really blatant...
I wish I could find non-fiction that didn't read like a text book, and was accurate. I keep looking, but I can never find anything I won't have to read with a glass of water close at hand...
And I wish more people would simply write for the sake of writing. So many people seem bent on the angle of "if you write, it must be published." While I like to write, I hardly feel anything of mine is worth publishing. The one thing I did feel that way, I went through a vanity press, simply because some of it had been distributed on-line previously. Otherwise, I might have taken it to an actual publisher. Writing is a form of expression and unfortunately, like anything semi-ephemeral, it gets abused and used, which results in alot of badly written stories.
I often wonder if vanity presses are going to make it harder to discern the good literature from the bad. With no agents or editors (and some people *seriously* need editors, myself included!) I wonder if the quality is going to suffer, or if it is going to make those who are exceptional but can't afford agents even more so, or if they are simply going to get lost in the crowd because they lack the skills for proper self-promotion. There's no question that vanity presses are on the rise and I do think they will have an impact. I just wonder what kind and if it's going to be one that will help or hinder.
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i think it's why, as writers, we're asked more and more to play the margeting agent as well (a role i am personally no good at whatsoever). does this mean my chances of making it in the publishing world (conventional or self) are nil? dunno. i can learn some basic marketing tricks, i suppose, but i'll never have the stomach for it.
the ones who succeed are going to be the ones who can write competently and also aren't afraid of selling their wares.
it's definitely a challenge to start thinking about.
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Self-promotion isn't hard, it's simply time consumming. And you *really* have to believe in what you have. If you don't, it's going to show, or, you're basically going to be selling snake oil to the masses. Most people don't have that kind of patience. It can take up to 5 years for a writer to see some sort of visible resutls with a vanity press book, and I know most authors would rather be working on the next "Great (insert personal country here) Novel" than to spend the better half of 5 years promoting the one you currently have out. I feel there's no sense in writing a sequel if there's been no obvious interest in the first one written. Work on getting people to like the first one first, then look at a second. Noodle around and write notes, but wait and see what the real response will be...Unless you're willing to pay someone to go out and promotoe your book for you.
I think you're right, however. I've read alot of well acclaimed drivel that I found barely mediocre, but has been ranted about endlessly by tons of reviewers. I often wonder if it's just me. But I think you are correct in saying it's all in how you get it into people's hands that makes all the difference. A person can write a Dick & Jane book and have the public go nuts over it if you promote it right, while those who actually have an authetic classic up and coming but can't really promote well, might be killed in the onslaught.
Marketing is boring work, to say the least. It's alot of time spent with little return in the way of gratification. Especially in a market, such as fiction, which is already oversaturated to begin with.
Makes me consider writing a bunch of bodice busters and then write the "real" stuff. LOL!
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: D
and oy vey!!! after looking at all the typos in my response, i'm not so sure about certain other skills! hahahahahahahaha!
i will chime in (inarticulately, no doubt) that i disagree about the sequel business. as a consumer i'm much more interested in the writer with a body of work than a one-hit wonder or new author with only one tome on the shelf. if a writer has lots of books (and especially if they are all in an area of personal interest), i'm encouraged to try one knowing that, if i love it, there's plenty more where that came from. and if i don't love, no skin off my teeth, i just move on ~ but that's just to explain the psychology behind why publishers often do multi-book deals (rather than one-shots) as well.
i think the trick is not to stop promoting while you continue writing. but if you wait for that first book to hit it big, you could be waiting forever.
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With the sequels, I was actually talking more in the way of vanity presses more than submitted works. I always felt that if I were ever to actual run the gambit and hire and agent and submit, I'd want to make sure I had at least 5 completed works under my belt before I even considered making that kind of move. Because with the time it takes me to punch out one ligitimate novella-lengthed story, I'd need some time to pad myself.
I personally will wait for an author to make the next book in a series, though I tend to be more delighted when there is one readily available right after I finish one. :) I just think in the way of vanity and self-publishing, it is better to test the waters before you invest alot of time and effort into a series. You might end up being the only one who thinks it's worth anything. (Case in point, I have a very long story that I like and invested a great deal of time in, however, when it was posted (on a different board..Not LL), it received no comments, suggestions or even an inkling that it was well liked, so I changed the situations, character parts and...pretty much the entire story and got a better response.) Just my thought...
Promotion, unfortunately is a never-ending process...:P
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i've written all sorts of things that have gotten great responses. and i've hated every one of them. i'm sure it's just a personal problem (of mine), but i've never quite found a balance between writing what i want to write and what gets other people excited.
all that said, i agree that having a portfolio before pursuing an agent is an important thing.
guess we should get back to writing!
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I have to honestly say that I was. I liked the original story, but I was also happy to put the characters into new situations and ideas, making them seem fresh and alive again. I admit, the comments were nice and I did enjoy getting them and they did add to my over-all happiness with the changes. But I think I was more glad that I decided to make the changes and breathe some new life into characters I had loved, but had grown rather tired and bored with.
I can't say that I've evern really been unhappy with anything I've written or hateful of what I've created. I've sometimes been shocked at some of the things that I've written (particularly in the erotica realm, however, I admit to writting to a specific audience there and not my actual likes and/or dislikes...), but I've never really written something and said to myself that it sucked so horriblly that it was beyond redemption. At least not in the last 20 years...I give everything a chance, even if that means revisioning the heck out if it. :) Most times, with fiction, I write what I want and if people don't like it, well...What can I say? I tried.
And yes. I need to get back to writing myself. :P I promised a group I'd have a collected works out on the self-publish market (again, because it's already been distributed on-line previously) before summer and I've got to work on a piece that someone is going to illustrate for me. I've got alot of writing projects on the blocks...I just need to get to them. :P
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At my college, plagiarism would get you kicked out so fast you'd have burn marks on the back of your pants. Freshmen in the required literature courses had to sign a coversheet for every paper that stated you had cited all your sources, and you had to list the names of anyone who proofread your paper and there was a statement that all they could do was proofread, not tell you what to write.
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meh!
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Sure she can say she thought it was original, but that example used in the article is just too darn close to the original. Sure she changed a few words, but the layout of the sentences match exactly. That's downright disturbing.
I write because I love to write. Yes, I would love to be published someday, and have people read my books and enjoy them. Find something in my books that they can connect with, that maybe even helps them in life, or just provides some good, ole entertainment that we all need once in a while. It's upsetting to me that this girl who writes a copy book gets paid half a million, and I'm still on the rejected list for my original work... :P I'm so glad she was caught. That makes me feel somewhat better...
And it also makes me wonder how many others like her slip between the cracks and don't get caught?
I suppose I should cut her some slack for the grand idea I come up with and write about could just as easily entered someone elses mind across the globe... and although we may never meet or may not even read each other's books... depending on who published first, people might point fingers. I don't know... I just think one should write the story the way it's begging to be written. Don't cater to the public or the publishing companies. Write for the sake of writing.
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publishers almost never recall books. the fact that they did says it's serious business.
ah well, we can just keep plugging away at our own work then, right?
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How Opal Mehta ...
Ahem (http://oldcontemptible.livejournal.com/111759.html)
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Re: How Opal Mehta ...
and i thought i had caught up with all the posts on my flist (i've been out of town since the 24th and got back yesterday).
sorry 'bout that!
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