opal mehta and a new revolution ~

[lookingland]

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

Comments

[littlewings04.livejournal.com]

I think part of the plagarism problem stems from the ease of copy-and-paste and the fact that students aren't punished when they're caught. Universities pay lip-service to "honor codes" and that reference without citation is plagarism, but with the vast number of sources out there, catching all but the most basic of plagarists is an uphill battle at best--and by that time, students have learned that if they don't get caught, plagarism from online sources especially is the easiest way to an A paper, a good story, whatever. And really, plagarism is seen, I think, as a victimless crime. If your honor student turns in a paper with some scant sources that seems a little too good, just wave it on, they'll do better next time. It's done by the best and the brightest and because of that, people are unlikely to punish it. Is it any wonder its becoming more and more common?

[ladyazure.livejournal.com]

I agree. I partly feel sorry that this girl has gotten trapped between two huge publishing houses, but yet, I do find myself questioning if she thought she had an original story, or, if she was just "paying homage" to two of her favorite authors. She did appologize at the start and did say that she had thought she was writing an original story. Now, she doesn't respond to any questions, which, frankly, I can't blame her...

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.

[la-vita-nuova.livejournal.com]

She's a HARVARD student? She should know better, even if she wasn't enrolled there when she wrote this...she would have been applying there if she was 17 when she wrote it and 19 and a sophomore there now. I'm shocked.

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.

[geckobird.livejournal.com]

That really irritates me. The fact that she received $500,000 for plagiarism just boggles my mind. I am glad, very glad she was caught, and I darn well hope she returns that money for she doesn't deserve it.

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.

[sparowe]

So how on earth did I miss all this book hoopla? Thanks for the link, at least. Had to read up.

How Opal Mehta ...

[pithhelmet.livejournal.com]

surprised no one on my flist has made any commentary

Ahem (http://oldcontemptible.livejournal.com/111759.html)