Dear Author: Romance Novel Reviews, Industry News, and Commentary

In France, a business has taken a great dislike to the way it was portrayed in a recent crime novelist’s book and has sued the author for defamation. I know that the laws for defamation tend to favor the alleged defamed (business) than the alleged defamer (novelist) but this case does surprise me.
For Walker, the [...]

Kate Duffy was the backbone of romance at Kensington. As editorial director, she created the Brava line and discovered a multitude of authors. A no nonsense, tell it like it is, sort of person, Kate was so devoted to her job that illness took no place. Unfortunately, Kate succumbed to a difficult battle she [...]

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With all the discussion lately about the rights and wrongs of online speech and conduct, I recently discovered a 2003 piece by Clay Shirky, appropriately titled “A Group Is Its Own Worst Enemy” (someone posted it in reference to the ginormous Brockmann brouhaha).  Shirky’s insightful analysis of online communities tracks [...]

Victor Cretella, a Maryland lawyer, sued David Kuzminski, editor of “Preditors and Editors” for defamation. The statements that Cretella sued over were postings Kuzminski made at the Absolute Write forum. The statements stated that Cretella was engaged in extortion, a crime, and that he had engaged in conduct that could be sanctioned by [...]

On Tuesday, Barbara Bauer’s defamation suit against Wikipedia/Wikimedia was dismissed on the grounds that the CDA provided a safe harbor for websites that host content created by others. I thought that this would be the ruling
“To date, Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act has begun to be interpreted fairly broadly to immunize [...]

Barbara Bauer, named one of the publishing industry’s 20 Worst Literary Agents, has sued over 19 bloggers and website administrators for allegedly defaming her. The New Jersey Star-Ledger has reported on it, in part because Bauer is a local resident. Wikipedia and Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America website have [...]

Individuals who are, or once were, associated with PublishAmerica are suing  the Preditor & Editors site for libel. Barbara Bauer is an agent who claims that P&E libeled her by calling her a scammer.  Victor E. Cretella, an attorney with PublishAmerica and a member of the Maryland Bar, is suing P&E for harming his reputation.
Barbara [...]