1) She subconsciuosly admits to copying Megan M. 2) It is unusual to get 1/2 million advance for a new comer for a mere chick-liter….Perhaps Little Brown had shades of Zadie Smith in mind but did not do their due diligence. Of course Zadie Smith is not a chick-lit baby. Thoughts of Oxbridge competing with Ivy League and all that. 3) Wonder who wrote her essays for Harward applications……

The thing is she had put a blight on future young female brown writers…

Of course there are others to be blamed…Ivywise, DReamweaver, Little brown, her agent, her reviewers, maybe even her parents.

The thing is if she was not at Harvward it would have been a breeze!

So what? Of course they’re ultimately responsible. But “responsible” doesn’t mean “fault”. Those are two different and often seperate concepts.

I’m glad you raised this. Responsible and fault are often separate concepts but can look to each other in order to interpret the facts of a case. I hadn’t referred to fault previously because I was using ‘responsible’ in the context of the if …[then]…etc., etc. hypothetical. However, there could be a responsible-fault link if the publishers were accused of negligence in a law court. One would have to show that the publishers were at fault–because they had done something that didn’t conform with the court’s standard of conduct, or because they had not done something that they should have. Any determination of the evidence requires looking at the actual reality of the facts. Here this would mean evaluating how the publisher’s various responsibilities and duties played out in practice. Did these standards hit the yardstick or not?

You bracketed “then” which should have been there in the first place, with a comma preceding it. I’m not trying to be the grammar police, but these little things can render entire sentences ambiguous.

Hookay. Yes, the reason why you bracketed “then” was clear enough. That certainly didn’t need any explanation.

You made a conscious choice to not follow “then” with “if” even though that’s terrible grammar?

Whatever. Done!

Chill. I’ve stated my opinion in posts 152 and 163 and tried to explain why I think as I do. I’ve made it clear that I don’t think that only Little Brown is to blame. Should I repeat that again?

Nope. Because I never accused you of anything otherwise.

It is true that LB has tried to accomodate Kaavya since the whole fiasco was first uncovered. Maybe they were only doing it to be nice to her? Still that doesn’t change the fact that they approved a book for publication that has been plagiarized and then put it into circulation. The publishers are responsible on that end.

So what? Of course they’re ultimately responsible. But “responsible” doesn’t mean “fault”. Those are two different and often seperate concepts.

I personally don’t believe that LB was motivated by looking out for Kaavya alone. I’ve said above that it was a damage limitation exercise.

To which I say: naturally.

The latest comparison Kaavya’s writing has been made with is work by Salman Rushdie.

If you gotta steal, you may as well steal from the top drawer.

I assume you had your ‘implicit’ reasons not to say “The latest comparison TO Kaaya’s writing…

I’ve made an effort to respond to your post 184 with logic. I disagree that your “opinion on [my] assumption IS based on fact” since I haven’t volunteered any information about myself. Your assumption about my opinion is to an extent going to stem from your assumption about me. I’ve also made an effort to refrain from unduly rude digs in my two replies to you. This is in the interests of good manners and civil discussion. I can make snide comments and swear. That’s my freedom of expression. However, I choose not to as that’s not my style. It’s your style, and that’s your freedom of expression. I would though prefer if you didn’t term my opinion as shit and tell me to SHUT UP. It’s darn impolite, and it detracts from your line of thought.

Cheers publishing lackey (your self-proclaimed title)

This is so not fun anymore. Tedious, in fact.

My opinion on your assumption IS based on fact. I’m one of the few publishing lackeys who’ve ventured a comment on these boards. You have no idea what you’re talking about. I’ll leave to the others to explain, if they want to, but you’ve ignored the other comments about how system works so I don’t see any reason to bother here. Shit like “100% effort to verify, validate, and substantiate”…desi, please. We are talking about books on boys, lipgloss, and My Little Pony sweatshirts. “Substantiate”?!? What the hell are you talking about?

Yes, publishing is a lilly white industry. That’s part of why they fell for Kaavya. The whole ‘exoticism’ thing Manish rails against endlessly. They wouldn’t know a Guju from a Mallu from a hole in the wall. But then again, do YOU know the tribal differences between laplanders and the orginal Norwegian settlers? The Bantus from the Congolese from the Eritreans? (and those are diff countries, btw). It’s a job for generalists who sweat through yards of manuscript submissions from agents, if not the slush pile itself, looking for something worth publishing. And you expect them to have read all, I dunno, 100+ chick lit titles published last year? Let alone the 100+ the year before that, and the year before that? Oh, and young adult books and South Asian books too…just to make sure little Kaavya didn’t copy??! SHUT UP.

Chill. I’ve stated my opinion in posts 152 and 163 and tried to explain why I think as I do. I’ve made it clear that I don’t think that only Little Brown is to blame. Should I repeat that again? It is true that LB has tried to accomodate Kaavya since the whole fiasco was first uncovered. Maybe they were only doing it to be nice to her? Still that doesn’t change the fact that they approved a book for publication that has been plagiarized and then put it into circulation. The publishers are responsible on that end. I personally don’t believe that LB was motivated by looking out for Kaavya alone. I’ve said above that it was a damage limitation exercise. The publishers need to deal with the problem of avoid being sued or paying settlements to the plural authors and their publishing firms claiming that Opal Mehta is very similar to their works. LB was smart to do this from the beginning before the net got deeper. The latest comparison Kaavya’s writing has been made with is work by Salman Rushdie.

cc,

You bracketed “then” which should have been there in the first place, with a comma preceding it. I’m not trying to be the grammar police, but these little things can render entire sentences ambiguous.

Yeah, I bracketed “then” because I didn’t put it there in the first place. I didn’t put it there in the first place because I thought that it would be understood implicitly after the conditional use of the word “if.” You pointed out that you didn’t understand my statment. That’s why I tried to clarify with [then].

What do YOU do?

damn Topaz, you got any reason to sound so confident of your assessment? Or are you just making fatuous opinions in a little vacuum? You’re not one of those business/how-to writers, are you? Like “The Seven Commandments to Rising to the Top”? Or, “10 Simple Ways Not to Get Screwed by an Author”?? Your thunderous opinion is clearly so well-informed, and based on decades of experience, you should call Little, Brown right now!!! You’ll be next publishing messiah!!

If you think I sound so confident, make fautuous opinions in a little vacuum, and am so clearly well-informed based on decades of experience so be it. That’s your opinion. You could be right, you could be wrong. Your opinion is not based on fact. In making it, you’re doing what Little Brown did. You’re making judgments without making a 100% effort to verify, validate, and substantiate. That’s the point of my post you quoted from above.

It’s not 100% necessary for me to state what I do and what my publishing experience is (if any) in order for me to discuss this issue. I’m not bothered what you do for a living. That’s why I think your profession is irrelevant to your query which doesn’t make sense to me:

You’re not one of those business/how-to writers, are you? Like “The Seven Commandments to Rising to the Top”? Or, “10 Simple Ways Not to Get Screwed by an Author”??

Is there something wrong with that type of content, or those type of writers? I’d expect a manuscript with its examples, general observations, and case studies to be checked out by the potential publishers before a decision was made on it.

Your thunderous opinion is clearly so well-informed, and based on decades of experience, you should call Little, Brown right now!!! You’ll be next publishing messiah

Again, you sound so sure of yourself. Lol, that’s confidence for you.

ANNA, I’d def want a bit of empathy vs crabby-crabness a la the famous story…

also has anyone noticed the irony of her publishing company’s name -’little, brown’.

if only we all remembered that all of us were once li’l and brown too and man did we do some stupid things. maybe not as bad as this, i agree…

but those who never made a big life-mistake in their li’l brownness that they still regret to this day are the only ones who need to display the level of smug, self-righteous venom and hatred directed at one silly girl who is undeserving of further attention in a world of much better writers…

…and who probably wishes more than anything she could take back her colossal little brown mistake.

damn Topaz, you got any reason to sound so confident of your assessment? Or are you just making fatuous opinions in a little vacuum? You’re not one of those business/how-to writers, are you? Like “The Seven Commandments to Rising to the Top”? Or, “10 Simple Ways Not to Get Screwed by an Author”??

Your thunderous opinion is clearly so well-informed, and based on decades of experience, you should call Little, Brown right now!!! You’ll be next publishing messiah!!

Michael Chabon? Jonathan Lethem?