Warning From a Best-Selling Author

Thanks, tonten. After being slammed by this site, I'm so done with this. (Some of you have to admit -- you were pretty hard on me.) Last week, I submitted the query letter for this manuscript to an agent. We'll see how it goes. Like I said, it feels so good to just focus on my writing again. Much healthier.

I wish you luck with your writing, tonten. You're okay.

word whisperer

 

In their defense, the people who usually make accusations of plagiarism are simply looking for publicity and/or money with no evidence to prove they were victims.

Good luck with the querying.

 

Could not disagree more. The only way you're going to lose a plagiarism case is if you actually did plagiarize the other work. If they wanted to sue, and WW really is innocent, let them. But the chances of them doing so is pretty slim to none. The author of 50 Shades of Grey admits she wrote a fan fiction and based her characters off twilight. She used find-and-replace and changed a few details, and whamo, she's a best seller. The number of vampire-human-werewolf love stories that came out after twilight is insane, and I bet very few of them were inspired by Twilight. It was much more likely a case of competing publishers saying, "Dang, look how good that book Little Brown put out is selling! Quick, check our submissions pile and fast track anything similar."

 

it won't matter whether one wins or loses... being sued will still cost lots of time and money... and repayment of attorney fees and court costs are not always awarded to the winner...

 

being terrible with inventing names i do the reverse and go online looking at various word lists like astronomical terms then Google the ones i like to see what comes up.

I have found some very nice names that way as I'm wring a scifi set in 3300 the science flavor of some of the names i chose will end up being a payoff for the more geeky reader 'oh look, Orion that's a constellation' etc

bad example to use but you get the idea


back to the OP (ish)

it was mentioned about fan fiction and how anyone can write about sparkling vampires but I think you will find what they cannot do is write about a shirt tugging federation captain on a star fleet vessel battling the Borg at wolf 359 and expect to get it published by anyone other than official channels (and by this point unless you already have a body of published work and an agent they wont even look at the title of your manuscript let alone the first page)

sometimes us fans get the chance to write an official piece of fiction for an established universe such as the one I'm penning for but a word of caution, if you want to get published and not get sued don't call your Vampire Eddie and don't have your shirt tugging star ship captain battle the Borg to defend the federation as agents and publishers a like will take one look at it, see nothing but a massive headache to get it rewritten from start to finish and throw it in the bin

Back to the actual OP

word whisperer, having met someone previously who made very similar accusations as you do (In his case someone had stolen his screen plays and made a dozen top of the box office movies out of them) I have to take what you say with a massive dose of salt as it all sounds a little delusional

as stated if the lawyers were that convinced you were on to a winner a contract for them to represent you would of been thrust under your nose before you left the office. a case like that successfully brought against a top selling author would earn a firm so much more than the money that in this climate it would be a no brainer.

if your case was really that solid money would of been no object as there are vulture capitalists who specialise in underwriting slam dunk legal cases and hundreds of no win no fee operations all clambering for that sure fire win.

I didn't know the scriptwriter guy for long, he stopped coming round when I got a radio. He wouldn't be in the same room as one that was on; what with them making libelous comments about him without using his name on every station at every hour, I wouldn't of wanted to listen to the radio either if 'They' were doing that to me.


So forgive me if i give little credence to your story, as I've been down that road before

 

Publishing is a business like any other. There exists a number of means to flush out the good from the bad, namely E & P and inside experience in the biz. Aside from that, anyone wanting to publish needs to play the game. You need to work with people you trust. And you need to build that trust by performing and providing a quality product. It doesn't work any other way. This isn't a criticism of the OP, just a statement that many sins of the past have been rectified through legislation that aims to protect the intellectual property of artists from outright plagiarism. Nobody can neglect the relationship side of the business. If you have a product worth selling, then you have a responsibility to cultivate relationships that will honor your best interests. Sharks do exist. People do get screwed. However any writer who wants to get in the game has to play it. You have to take risks. Submitting work to credible agents and publishers is playing by the rules. It is not in the best interest of any publisher worth their salt to condone or foster plagiarism at all. The stakes are too high. I understand your desire to "warn" people, but it really doesn't mean much to others who are working to get in the publishing game. Your story is so non-specific and generic that it doesn't help anybody in my opinion. In fact, it seems like some sort of scare tactic to make people leery of submitting work to publishers. Otherwise, it's probably best to resolve your case on your own without alerting the web to your dilemmas in the hope others don't get screwed as you allege to have.

 

Thanks, Third Wind. I wish you luck with your writing as well.

I don't know what motivates other writers to cry foul. But I haven't received publicity or money from this case. Like I said, I just wanted to warn other writers to be careful about who they hand their stories to. This doesn't only include publishing companies. I think we need to be the most careful with other writers. Obviously, some people have no problem with stealing another writer's hard work.

 

Thanks for the warning, Selbbin.
Wouldn't the dated letters on the publisher's letterhead be proof enough that I sent out my manuscript five years before the other writer published her first book?

 

I agree with you, Cicertamar. If they want to sue me, fine. I have those dated letters from the publisher. What other proof do I need that I sent my manuscript out first?

 

AndyB, my humble question to you is, why did they tell me I have a strong case if I really didn't? Why didn't they just say, "You don't have a strong case, and that's why I'm passing on it. Good luck." I'm not being defensive here. I really want to know why half a dozen attorneys told me this if it isn't true. What do you think?

 

their reason most likely lies in the difference between 'strong case' and 'strong enough case'...

had any of them thought the latter, i've no doubt at least one would have leapt at the chance to make a name for him/herself, as well as a nice chunk of the awarded judgement...

 

in a word Ego

i.e. yours, they probably thought as we all did that you were delusional and felt that if they rubbished your assertions you would become defensive and defensive is one step from aggressive and two from violent.

by saying great case but we couldn't afford to take it on they are giving you a reason for refusal you wont take personally as you haven't got the cash either. on the off chance that you do have the cash or can get it they would happily accept it even if they though it was a looser as long as they felt they could put up a good enough fight to satisfy you.

the reaction you got has more to do with ingrained prejudice of the mentally ill than the validity of your claim, you were being 'handled'


interestingly enough the guy i spoke of was a former trainee barrister (claimed to have written several hit films) I suggested if films had been made from his scripts and he couldn't afford to sue he set up a website to distribute 'his' films and get them to sue him - forcing them try to prove he did not write the screen plays or have a case in the process.

'Man of straw defense' was his reply, he had nothing for them to take so nothing to loose by positioning himself to be sued.

not saying you should give away pdf's of the book you say ripped you off but if you are so sure you can prove your case and are unable to publish any other way you may consider putting a web site up exclaiming your book to be the original version of it that was stolen from you and using it to freely distribute copies of your own manuscript

you paid xxx for yyy now read the original free and make up your own mind if it was a stolen story!

force them to sue YOU to try and prove you copied and in the process they may prove your case for you.

 

that's nonsensical... he has a salary or whatever earnings he will realize for the rest of his life, a car, a home, etc.... plus the fact that he has to pay an attorney to fight the suit brought agains him...

sorry, but that's really bad advice, andy... if he doesn't have enough money to hire an attorney to sue them, how on earth is going to be able to hire one to defend him against their lawsuit!?

even if he wins the case in the end, he's still going to be out many thousands of dollars/pounds, much of which has to be paid up front... and if he loses, will be in hock for the rest of his life, as all he owns or will ever own/earn will be going to pay off his attorney's fees and if he loses, the award to the winner and most likely their legal expenses, too...

 

The main thing that stops publishers from doing this kind of thing, is how difficult it is to predict what will be a great success. Plus, if you do steal something, you either have to make it a one-shot, or change it to suit your writing style--which is still quite a bit of work.

 

i don't know why this thread is still open... mods?

 

I'm closing this thread.