Many have talked about writing letters and boycotting Signet and/or the entire Penguin Group, not just CE. How many people are going to write their local bookstores, or the buyers for BN, Borders, BAM, etc?

Funny you should say this–I did EXACTLY that when the whole Janet Daily plagiarism broke out–I emailed B&N (we listen at bn.com) and told them what was going on and why were they still carrying Daily’s books?

The response I got was, as long as the “actual books” that outed her for plagiarizing wasn’t on the shelf, they weren’t doing anything wrong or something along those lines.

Me being a die-hard Nora Roberts fan, did my part. I was working at B&N part time, and pulled ALL the Daily books I could find and put them in the receiving areas. Whenever a customer would purchase a Daily, I’d say to them: “You do know that she’s a plagiarist, don’t you?

A bit extreme? I didn’t think so, considering I was doing what I could at the time. *shrugs*

As for CE, don’t read her, never wanted to, she didn’t pique my interest, but I did let the B&N I used to work at, know what was going on.

All those historicals getting you down?
Not sure if you’re reading “weasel” words?
Afraid you’re a victim of CutnPaste?

Come over to the Other Side. You can still get adventures and romance in another time, but without the nasty side-effects.

Pick up a Science-Fiction Romance today!

What do you think? ;)

Another reason why I disagree with any kind of boycott (my own status as a Signet author notwithstanding) is that there is truly only one person responsible for plagiarism…the author.

While I do not agree with Signet’s original statement in any shape or form, it is NOT up to Signet to police their authors for plagiarism. It is entirely up to the author to be ethical and honest in their work. So to punish other authors for the behavior of one is incredibly unfair.

I think there is a potential blowback for both Edwards and Signet, and it’s exactly the same response that Nora Roberts took.

Unless the works that contained the original source material are already in the public domain, the authors of those works have legal recourse against both Edwards and Signet.

In fact, were I Edwards, I’d be trying to track those folk down to offer my sincere apologies and offer a settlement before they did come after me.

Cassie Edwards is well beyond retirement age, has probably made enough money that she doesn’t necessarily need a whole lot more, and is not going to be appreciably affected in a material way from this issue. Her reputation is already in tatters, so it can’t get much worse on that front. Similarly, Signet/Penguin won’t see a marked decrease in their bottom line from random readers saying they won’t buy from that publisher out of protest. The only people who would suffer from a full-on Signet boycott are the authors who need support more than ever. It’s hard enough to get published and build a readership without having to shoulder the burden of someone else’s poor choices, namely an alleged plagiarist whom none of them have probably even met.

The vigorous defense of ethical publishing practices is grand. In this case a targeted boycott of one plagiarist, or *ANY* plagiarist, would best be accomplished by going through the supply chain from the bottom up. Signet says, “Cassie did nothing wrong, and we love her to itty-bitty Savage pieces.” Okay, so we’ll just move along to the retailers and let them know exactly how we feel about seeing stolen goods for sale in their stores. They put books on shelves, so they can put someone else’s books on those shelves. If enough people insist that booksellers stop selling work of a plagiarist thief, then maybe we can send the same message to Signet, but through other channels.

I think it’s a more powerful message to send to Signet that if they don’t clean house, then we’ll just throw out their garbage ourselves. They can put their own garbage on the curb, or we readers will work a little harder and do it for them. They want to keep selling a plagiarist? Fine. What shelves are they expecting to peddle their stolen and misbegotten prose?

It makes no sense to punish those who are not responsible, for example Carla Cassidy and other authors who have spoken out so eloquently. I am not a believer in collateral damage. Where’s the love in that? Romance is about happy endings, which can be accomplished without harming the Signet authors who also support the high ethical standards we are seeking as readers.

Maybe we can cc: the fine folks at Signet and Penguin every time we write to our retailer friends? Grandma Sheridan always said it was a shame no one writes letters anymore. :-)

Kim B.

As a reader, bookseller and writer…I feel very strongly about plagiarism. It is wrong to take someone else’s hard work and call it your own. However, to boycott an entire stable of writers for the mistakes/bad judgement of another is extreme.

I will no longer buy a Cassie Edwards novel for my bookstore or for my own romance collection. I’ll stick to Nora Roberts, Laurell K. Hamilton and other authors.

I ask that all of you take a step back and think about what you want to accomplish, but please don’t throw the rest of the Signet authors under the bus!

Thanks.

I’m all for punishing those that do wrong, but punishing the innocent has no value.

That was my main argument, but I also agree with the fact that the boycott wouldn’t effect Penguin at all.

Janet, you’re right. Too many authors lose their publishing careers as it is now, due to sales that aren’t meeting expectations. We shouldn’t jeopardize anyone else’s career because one person did something bad.

But again, how do we push for what you said so well:
we want more partnership with authors who are themselves dedicated to a strong ethical advocacy in their writing and publishing communities. We want to offer those authors a show of support, not a disincentive for speaking out against plagiarism. We want them to feel empowered within their own writing communities to advocate for and write books that adhere to high ethical standards and to spread knowledge and awareness among themselves and to readers. We want them to be able, at some point, hopefully, to put pressure on publishers to do the same, and even, perhaps, to decide against remaining with a publisher that does not take a strong stance on behalf of intellectual honesty. For that, in my opinion, we need to be supporting them, not jeopardizing their livelihood as authors.

Many have talked about writing letters and boycotting Signet and/or the entire Penguin Group, not just CE. How many people are going to write their local bookstores, or the buyers for BN, Borders, BAM, etc? Spamming CE listings on Amazon is wrong (though deliciously satisfying in a junior high sort of way), but a true boycott of her work can be achieved in a rational, organized, mature, and suchlike fashion.

Many of us reading and posting comments have mentioned, “But I *already* don't buy her garbage!”

Helping educate those responsible for CE books reaching the store shelves, thus ringing up sales for her and Signet, would be a public service. A strongly worded letter to Signet/Penguin, book buyers, libraries, Independent Booksellers, companies that stock the big chain stores (Target, Wal-Mart, etc), Cassie Edwards herself, would be healthy avenues to pursue in a true boycott of a proven and unrepentant plagiarist. And thusly her publisher.

Oftentimes the romance genre is maligned. If we defend it loudly and demand all authors be held to the same ethical standards, it can only chip away at that negative public image. No business should knowingly sell plagiarized work, legal or no, when so many other deserving authors deserve that shelf space. Have earned that shelf space. Letters far and wide will go a long way to 1) educate those who may not know the issue; 2) support the removal of Cassie Edwards' books from store shelves; 3) prove that the romance genre is full of smart people who demand the highest ethical standards-’no different from any other genre; and 4) send a loud and clear message that stealing is just plain wrong, in all forms. I trust business people will appreciate that stealing is wrong.

I imagine the letter could be accompanied by links to all the appropriate places. Those who choose to continue with business as usual are free to do so-’but it will not be for lack of knowledge on their parts, or trying on ours.

Kim B.

I know that this will affect authors more than the publishing house, but I am extremely nervous about the quality of work that they allow to be put out. I am confident about my best loved authors, but beyond that I don’t want to take a chance because I know I will spend all my time double checking facts instead of just enjoying the book.

I know not everyone will agree with this stance, but I believe that everyone has to do what they are comfortable with. It’s the same as people who refuse to buy from Wal-Mart because of the sweatshop stigma or people who won’t by diamonds because they feel that they are funded by blood.

Hopefully, with the media attention, the Penguin Group will take care of this matter. Hopefully, the authors within the group will insist on higher standards for all of the publishing houses under the Penguin umbrella.

I agree with Robin. Responsibility is the key!

I’m cynical enough to think that there isn’t going to be much in the way of consequences for CE, or for Signet. I certainly don’t expect for her books to be pulled, but I would be thrilled to be proven wrong. What will be interesting to me is to see if any future books she publishes will contain the same blatant plagiarism, or if someone will at least teach her how to reword information correctly. I’m not holding my breath.

Totally forgot to say what I’d originally intended to say~

Jane, thank you.