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Plagiarism
Scandal Exposes World of Book Packaging |
Posted:
05.03.06
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A college-aged author, whose debut novel has been permanently
pulled from book stores after accusations of plagiarism, has exposed
the complicated world of "book packaging" in the publishing industry.
Printer-friendly versions: PDF
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 Kaavya
Viswanathan's novel, "How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild
and Got a Life," is the story of an Indian-American girl's
quest to get into Harvard University. It fictionally parallels
the real-life pursuit of the author, who is a sophomore at Harvard.
It also contains over 40 similarities to another author's work,
according to the publisher of the copied works.
The Harvard Crimson, the student newspaper at Harvard, first
reported on the plagiarism scandal. Viswanathan is accused of
lifting passages from two works by Megan McCafferty, "Sloppy
Firsts" and "Second Helpings."
Among the passages that caused concern was Viswanathan's passage,
"I had even begun to recognize his cologne (sweet and woodsy
and spicy...)," which mirrored McCafferty's, "He smelled
sweet and woodsy, like cedar shavings."
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Reaction
to the accusations |
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During an interview on NBC's "Today" show, Viswanathan
apologized for the similarities but said it was not her intention
to steal from the author.
"I completely see the similarities. I'm not denying that
those are there, but I can honestly say that any of those similarities
were completely unconscious and unintentional, that while I was
reading Megan McCafferty's books, I must have just internalized
her words. I never, ever intended to deliberately take any of
her words," she said.
 Viswanathan
has since been accused of copying ideas from an additional two
authors and her publishing company, Little, Brown and Co., has
permanently pulled her novel from bookstores and canceled her
two-book and movie deal, reportedly worth close to $500,000.
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What are
book packagers? |
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Like many authors, Viswanathan worked with a book packager, Alloy
Entertainment. Book packagers craft ideas and proposals for books
that are then sold to publishing houses.
Although technically not secret, they are not a publicly well-known
or discussed part of the book industry.
 "They're
used quite often. What they do is they come up with book ideas.
They work very closely with authors to shape manuscripts; they
edit manuscripts; they come up with concepts; and they find authors
to write the books," Karen Holt, deputy editor of Publishers
Weekly, a magazine that covers books and the book publishing industry,
told the NewsHour.
Book packaging companies share the copyright with authors as
well as any advances or royalties the author might receive.
"In a way it's kind of like working on a television show,"
Cindy Eagan, editorial director at Little, Brown Books for Young
Readers, told The New York Times. "We all work together in
shaping each novel."
Even classics such as Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys mystery series
used book packagers.
 "This
is not a new practice. I think it's more prominent now, and in
some ways it reflects the greater commercialization and the emphasis
on the bottom line, but this is something that's been done for
decades," Holt said.
According to Holt, publishing companies use packaging companies
because they help with copy-editing and creating book covers.
"In a sense, in a lot of cases it's kind of a form of outsourcing
for the publisher, where a lot of the editorial functions that
you would assume that a publisher is doing actually the book packager
is doing," she said.
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Who is responsible? |
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Although many people might work on a novel, the ultimate responsibility
for the integrity of the work rests with the author.
 "There
really is no process for checking, for vetting any book to see
if there is plagiarism. I mean, clearly, they rely on the honesty
of their author; you know, clearly they have the expectation that
this is original work," Holt said.
Viswanathan's publishers said she was responsible for her novel.
"Our understanding is that Kaavya wrote the book herself,
so any problems are entirely the result of her writing and not
the result of the packager's involvement in the book," Michael
Pietsch, who published Viswanathan's book, told The New York Times.
--
Compiled by Annie Schleicher for NewsHour Extra
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