Copy Cut Paste
By Cathy Perkins
Have you heard about the latest scandal rocking RomanceLandia?
A woman has been caught lifting sentences, paragraphs, pages from multiple (up
to 20 and counting) authors and stringing them together into a new book.
Copy. Cut. Paste.
Plagiarism.
I thought about this while I walked the dogs and see the following spectrum from the benign to the terrible.
The Same, But Different
How many times have we seen that phrase as to what an
agent/publisher wants? It’s why tropes are so popular in RomanceLandia: friends
to lovers; secret baby. The mystery world has its own familiar plots. The
protagonist who races to save the world before the villain takes over/destroys it.
The serial killer; can the hero stop him before he kills again? The small-town
heroine who a body and must investigate to remove herself from the prime
suspect position.
Shoot, I’m part of a Common Elements Project where we’re all
given the same five required elements, and then told Go!
What makes all of these “work” is each author will tell the
story in a different way, with their unique voice.
So, the same…but different.
The Inadvertent
This may be every author’s secret fear. Or maybe it’s just
mine.
I read. A lot.
There’s always the concern a story’s clever phrase has
tucked away in a memory cell and will reappear in a similar fashion on my page.
I can’t point to a particular phrase—if I recognized it, I’d change it—but I fear
it could happen. I remember reading—somewhere—that this is more common than
expected. Or maybe the point of the article was it happens a lot more than we
realize.
But, again, I stress it’s inadvertent.
And the Ugly
Stealing. Deliberately.
Plagiarism hurts authors at a deeper level than the whack-a-mole,
steal-a-book in a “free” download sites. Those sites and the people who use
them are stealing from authors financially.
Plagiarism takes an author’s soul.
Words we’ve sweated over, melded into scenes to convey action, character and
theme are casually stolen with no thought to the crafting that underlies them.
And worse, it’s done with full knowledge of the theft.
One of the authors impacted by Serruya is a friend—Courtney
Milan. She’s written a post about her experience and her reaction. Because the
hurt is so personal, I won’t presume to tell you about it. Instead, I urge you
to read her words.
Authors – Have you worried about the inadvertent? Found your
work ripped off?
Readers – Have you read something you felt was a little too close
to something else you’ve read?
On a completely different note, I put DOUBLE DOWN on sale this
week because it’s my birthday and I like to share (legally).
DOUBLE DOWN is the
second book in the Holly Price series, written because readers wanted to see
events from Detective JC Dimitrak’s perspective.Murder
isn’t supposed to be in the cards for blackjack dealer Maddie Larsson. Busted takes on a new meaning when her favorite customer, a
former Poker World Tour champion, is murdered. His family claims—loudly and
often—Maddie is the gold-digging murderer. She better prove she’s on the level
before the real killer cashes in her chips.
If the victim’s body had been dumped five hundred yards up
the road, Franklin County Sheriff’s Detective JC Dimitrak wouldn’t have been
assigned to the Tom Tom Casino murder case. Instead, he’s hunting for suspects
and evidence while dealing with a nemesis from the past and trying to preserve
his own future. He better play his hand correctly and find the killer before an
innocent woman takes the ultimate hit.
Find it here from your favorite store. books2read.com/DoubleDown
And because I forgot to put it on my calendar, HONOR CODE is
also on sale this weekend, with a group promo.
In a small southern town
where everyone normally knows each other’s business, veteran detective Larry
Robbins must solve the disappearance of eighty-year-old widower,
African-American George Beason.
When evidence arises that Beason may have left town on his
own, it would be easy for Robbins to close the case, but his gut instinct tells
him more’s at stake. As he uncovers clues about Beason’s deceased wife and his
estranged daughter, Robbins must untangle conflicting motives and hidden
agendas to bring Beason home alive.
HONOR CODE hit #1 in its category at release and the most
recent fraud alert says another 5000 people downloaded it off a steal-a-book site
this month. You can pick up a copy here or here.
Happy Reading!
