The publishing industry has been rife with scandal in recent years. We’ve all been told how competitive the market is, but lately it seems like some writers will quite literally do anything — lie, cheat, or steal — in order to see their books in print.

Did I Type Life? I Meant Lie.

The phenomenon started with James Frey and his supposed memoir A Million Little Pieces. After getting all kinds of recognition, including the nod from Oprah, Frey’s book was discovered to be filled with lies.

But why would someone decide to write a bunch of lies? After a little more sleuthing, it came to light that Frey had originally pitched his book as fiction, but that it wouldn’t sell. In order to make the story more compelling — to editors as well as readers — Frey then repackaged it as nonfiction.

Fast forward to 2008, and here we are again — except this time, one fake memoir has become two. In late February, Misha Defonseca admitted that she lied about being Jewish, being a Holocaust survivor, and being raised by wolves. One week later, Margaret B. Jones, a.k.a. Margaret Seltzer, was outed by her sister when she tried to pass a fiction of foster care and gang activity off as her real childhood.

Jones’s book never made it to the stands, but Misha: A Memoire of the Holocaust Years is another story. The book has circled the world in 18 different languages, and the author was once awarded $22.5 in damages when she took her publisher to court for breach of contract (!). To add insult to injury, the French have made a film about Misha’s remarkable LIFE, only to find out the F was in there by accident. Read More »

It seems that 2008 is shaping up rather dubiously as the year of the plagiarizer. Or rather, the accused plagiarizer, as many of the cases brought to light thus far have not been substantiated with any sort of real punishment. Obviously, all this dirty copying is going to be easier and easier to catch as new technology surfaces.

The most high profile cases of supposed plagiarism, are, of course, in politics, as both Democratic candidates have been brought to task for some of their rather heavy-handedly copied speeches. Hillary Clinton pointed the finger at her rival Barack Obama first, claiming that he had borrowed lines from Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick.

Obama shrugged these reports off at first and then fought back, responding that Clinton had stolen ideas from Obama himself, namely his trademark slogan, “Fired Up! Ready to Go!” Read More »