Julie Barrett is a freelance writer and photographer based in Plano, TX.

Two sentences: Holy. Crap.

Fresh when it gets here from Julie Barrett
Thursday, October 11, 2007


It started with Top 10 Tips for Plagiarists at DearAuthor.com this morning. Apparently an author asked for a review, and the reviewer determined that the author's work was not all her own.

Ouch.

This was picked up and posted in a Absolute Write about Roval Publishing, the vanity press that published the book placed for review.

Then Making Light picked it up. Wowsers.

There's a whole lotta train wreck going on, and it got worse when the author told the world that her supposedly original work was ghostwritten by Christopher Hill, possibly the same Christopher Hill who formerly ran a literary agency that got into a bit of hot water.

If this woman was taken, I certainly feel sorry for her. But what possessed her to have a novel ghostwritten and then self-publish it? That's just plain naive.

I was getting ready to post this entry when I saw that the author showed up in the comment thread at Making Light. She claims to be a victim of Hill and will sue.

Writer Beware says they'll be chiming in on this soon.

If you hire a ghostwriter (or a copywriter) it is incumbent upon you to be sure that writer has provided original work. Thus endeth the lesson.

Update in the next entry.

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