In case you don’t see this in the lists of last year’s news, here’s a reminder of the good ol’ days.
Some writers spend decades trying to break into the biz, and even then, they often can’t make ends meet. For legitimate writers, an unproven teenager landing a $500,000 deal to write two books adds insult to the obvious injury of plagiarism.
This comes from industry news that young writer Kaavya Viswanathan received a $500,000 two-book deal from Little, Brown. Still just as heart-warming now as it was then. The writer asks, “Given how the Internet and digital content have highlighted the limitations of old-school media, stories like this one suggest that the publishing industry should take a long, hard look at where it’s directing its financial resources, and why.”
Maybe we should let illegal immigrants do the work in publishing houses that otherwise decent citizens don’t want to do–fact-checking, editing, maybe marketing.
Having followed the whole Opal Mehta debacle, I think it came down to Little, Brown salivating at the multicultural wonder of it all. Teenage Harvardite Indian woman author writes a multicultural Bridget Jones’s Diary, and the rush of karma envisioned from being so culturally sensitive caused a year-long lapse of publishing reason.
Sometimes I wish I were a Aboriginal woman with a pegleg and ADD. Then someone would care. Otherwise…