GalleyCat - The First Word On the Book Publishing Industry

CopyKaavya: others pick up on the packaging connection

Not surprisingly, other likeminded souls are putting their heads together on how 17th Street Productions packaged Kaavya Viswanathan's book to the point of alleged plagiarism. Says one commenter on the blog Emily Magazine, "One person suggested to me that maybe 17th Street made up some kind of proposal or guideline sheet that included these quotes from McCafferty's book as a style-to-shoot-for kind of thing, and someone (Kaavya or one of her collaborators) thought he/she could lift it, without realizing the original source. That seems like something that might easily happen in the too-many-cooks world of book packaging."

Ross Dousat at the American Scene is more blunt: "Who exactly are these people? How many "young-adult and middle-grade" novels pass through their hands? Is it a coincidence that a book so deliberately "packaged" ended up containing lines cribbed from a novel in the same genre?" To answer question two, quite a lot, actually -- off the top of my head, there's SISTERS OF THE TRAVELLING PANTS, GOSSIP GIRL (and its offshoot THE IT GIRL), THE A LIST, the CLIQUE BOOKS, and the grandmommy of 'em all, SWEET VALLEY HIGH.

As for who these people are, as an AP article put it last year, Alloy (the parent company of 17th Street Productions) is run by "a couple of thirtysomething men who work in an average office building full of white, Ikea-esque furniture."

And as for coincidence...you all be the judge, but the Harvard Independent's Shane Wilson sums it up fairly succinctly: "[E]ither way, Viswanathan lacks an obvious graceful exit. [By confessing] to plagiarism, she risks jeopardizing her professional and academic future. If she palms it off on her book packager, she risks discrediting her debut novel — to say nothing of its planned sequel and cinematic adaptation — as a fraudulent patchwork composed by committee."


Ron adds: One person who doesn't seem to fully grasp the implications of the book packaging angle, though, is New Delhi literary critic Nilanjana S Roy, who suggests Opal Mehta is proof "any reasonably bright person can hammer out a book in six months and have a decent shot at being published." Well, sure, thanks to the magical world of POD, but that's what Roy literally means is that the sales-driven marketplace would sooner take books written by ordinary folks than literary craftsmen. But a prodigy from a wealthy family whose debut novel came out of extensive consulting with a book packager hardly seems like the test case for that assertion...

Sarah on redirect: Interestingly enough, as soon as I read Roy's piece I got in touch to get her take on the plagiarism, which she wasn't able to comment on in print because the paper had gone to press when the news broke. Even though she hadn't gotten the sense that Visnawathan had actually plagiarized, it didn't matter: "I thought the novel was funny, and warm, but also very derivative," Roy said in by email. "My sense was that Kaavya had done a good job of mixing pulp romantic fiction with magazine articles. And I'm a cynic. Her publishers packaged a brand new hamburger; part of the package turns out to have been someone else's patented hamburger helper."

new on mediabistro.com

The Future of Social Media with Chris Anderson

The editor of Wired explains how to create a social network that works.
Watch the video

Email This Post

Fill out the following information and click on the Send button in order to send this post, CopyKaavya: others pick up on the packaging connection, to a friend.
Friend's name
Friend's email address
Your name
Your email address
Note to your friend (optional, max 200 Characters)

Read more on GalleyCat >

The First Word On the Book Publishing Industry
GalleyCat in Your Inbox
Mobile Version
RSS Feed
Our Blog Network

BayNewser

WebNewser

TVNewser

PRNewser

MediaJobsDaily

FishbowlNY

FishbowlDC

FishbowlLA

MobileContentToday

AgencySpy

UnBeige

GalleyCat

GalleyCat Staff

Editor:

Jason Boog

Senior Editor:

Ron Hogan

Correspondent:

Jeff Rivera

Follow GalleyCat

Email GalleyCat

Anonymous Tips
Favorite Posts

heather-thomas-sidebar.jpg Our Chat With Heather Thomas
jack-oconnell-sidebar.jpg The (Long-Awaited) Return of Jack O'Connell
marya-hornbacher-sidebar.jpg Marya Hornbacher: "No Tortured Artists Here"
stean-sagmeister-sidebar.jpg Stefan Sagmeister: "Design for Non-Designers"
 Why Does Maureen Dowd Hate Popular Women?
Topics

About the 'Cat

About Us - Modules

Adaptation

Agents

Authors

Awards

Behind the Deal

Book Fairs

Book Jackets

Book Trailer

Bookselling

Buzz/PR

Celebrities

Comicbookland

Contests

Deals

eBooks

Editors

Feuds

Food & Drink

GC's Hitlist

Lecture Circuit

Libraries

Lit Crit

Litterbox

LOLgalleycats

Mailbag

Monday Morning

New & Upcoming

Paper Cuts

Party Hopping

People of Color

Polls

Publishing

Q&A

Readers

Sex, Drugs & Rock n Roll

The Revolving Door

Trends

Undiscovered Writers

Web & Tech


Links

Book Beast@The Daily Beast

Bookseller.com

Books@Wowowow

Buzz, Balls & Hype

Danuta Kean

E-Reads

Eco-Libris

MarianLibrarian

Publishers Marketplace

Publishers Weekly

Publishing Contrarian

Publishing For Profit

Publishing Insider

Publishing News

Publishing Perspectives

The Publishing Spot

Publishing Trends

PubRants

Rick Frishman

Shelf Awareness

TeleRead

Weekly Publishing Moves

The Write Report

...more...

Archives

November 2009

October 2009

September 2009

August 2009

more...


Job Listings

Featured Listings

Marketing Director
HarperCollins Publishers
New York, NY

Editor/Reporting and Assessment
Scholastic
Watertown, MA

Administrative Assistant to Photo Director
Book/Calendar Publisher
New York, NY

Chief Financial Officer
Cambridge University Press
New York, NY

ADVERTISEMENT


mediabistro.com l Member Benefits l Jobs l Freelance Marketplace l Courses l Events l Forums l Content
mediabistro Blogs: Media News l TVNewser l GalleyCat l UnBeige l FishbowlNY l FishbowlLA l FishbowlDC l PRNewser l AgencySpy
MobileContentToday l WebNewser l BayNewser l MediaJobsDaily l mbToolbox
Site Map l Advertising/Sponsorships l Partners l About Us l Contact Us/Help

internet.commediabistro.comJusttechjobs.comGraphics.com

Search:

WebMediaBrands Corporate Info

Legal Notices, Licensing, Reprints, Permissions, Privacy Policy.
Advertise | Newsletters | Shopping | E-mail Offers