Last week, a post on Publishers Lunch, a daily email publication, jumped out at me, because the subject—plagiarism—was one I’d discussed with a friend. On the eve of the distribution of a nonfiction book written by a doctor (and possibly others, though only the doctor is named on the cover), the Los Angeles Times alleged that “at least” (quoting from the L.A. Times and a CBS News article you can access here) 95 separate sections in this author’s forthcoming book were plagiarized from Wikipedia, The New York Times, and other sources. I won’t name the author here, though the L.A. Times and CBS News do so.
I’ll pause here for a definition of plagiarism for anyone who needs it. Click here to see what Merriam-Webster says on the subject.
According to PlagiarismToday (an article you can read by clicking on the source name), the L.A. Times made the discovery during their “pre-publication review.” Whoops. 😣 😖
On the day I read the Publishers Lunch post, I saw the book listed on Amazon. After all, this was the day before its release. When I began this post (3-15-23), I returned to Amazon only to find that the book had been taken out of the list.
The author released a statement through his publisher that he had the book recalled, and would revise it, either rewriting the sections in question or giving credit to the ones who did.
Think about it: this nearly $30 book had been printed and undoubtedly an audiobook had been completed. All of those books that would have been sold have to be scrapped at the author’s expense.
Sobering, huh?
The subject came up because in my years as a book editor, proofreader, and copy editor, I have had to confront authors about plagiarism. I understand that deadlines place authors—particularly busy ones—under the gun. The internet makes plagiarism easy with quick access to encyclopedias, news articles, etc. Sometimes people forget to give credit where credit is due. Neither is an excuse, however, to justify the act.
The internet is full of articles of people who were caught—some after multiple infractions. Some were award-winning journalists.
The cost of plagiarism is steep, but not just in the cost of having to recall a book. “Borrowing” that sentence or paragraph from someone else can damage your reputation. I wish I could say that goes without saying. But the fact that plagiarism still happens means that it still needs to be said.
Plagiarism image from The Veggie Queen’s website.
El Space--The Blog of L. Marie 
Your post called to mind A Million Little Pieces, a book by James Frey, originally sold as a memoir and later marketed as a semi-fictional novel following accusations of literary forgery. Oprah Winfrey called Frey to task about the book on her show. Still, the author garnered millions before the book was adapted.
I’m happy to say my second memoir contains several pages of references, giving credit where credit is due. I fear plagiarism, so I wouldn’t intentionally commit the act.
Now I’m thinking of the many ways A.I. artificial intelligence, will make plagiarism so easy. I’m also remembering the software available for teachers at the college many years ago to detect plagiarism in student essays and term papers. Intention, I think, has a lot to do with whether an author has plagiarized or not. Give credit where credit is due, I say. Great topic, L. Marie. You speak with authority again, of course. 😀
Marian, I’m grateful you found this helpful. I remember the Frey event, especially since it was an Oprah pick before the truth came out. A sad event.
Brava on giving credit where credit is due, Marian! 😄
It might be easy to plagiarize. But savvy editors are still on the lookout, especially in regard to AI. Plus the things that are done in the dark will be brought to the light, sooner or later.
Unfortunately, the author of A Million Little Pieces suffered zero consequences for his action, which led him to additional sketchy (and profitable for him) behavior.
When I searched the internet for plagiarism stories, I noticed a number of what was termed “serial plagiarists” who apparently hadn’t learned the lesson either.
Wow. I’m glad they caught it. Reminds me of how we try to stop plagiarism in school. Kids still do it though.
Yes they do, sadly.😔 I hope they don’t have to learn the hard way and can instead break the habit. Imagine the cost of having to pull a bunch of published books out of the market. The embarrassment of having a newspaper call out a book. The story gave me the chills.
That seems rather humiliating. Though I’ll admit that I don’t have much sympathy for the plagiarizing author.
I just wonder how much the recall cost. No idea what the print run was like. Probably a significant one since the L.A. Times was going to review it.
Has to be expensive.
Yes 😞 And that’s out of the author’s pocket.
If they plagiarized then I guess that’s the risk they take.
I guess the trick is to monitor the work of anyone you hire to work on your books.
Best to double check. Just like in school.
Yes, which makes me wonder what people are learning in schools. We couldn’t graduate without handing in a term paper with properly cited note cards. I wonder if schools still require term papers.
Tests. They do more tests than papers and projects. So, there aren’t many chances for plagiarism.
Which might also mean they don’t really learn how to correctly cite sources until college or graduate school. 😖 That’s when the rude awakening commences. But there’s a resource for that: easybib. That cite makes citations easy.
I still see them go over citations and research for essays. Don’t see a lot of big papers these days.
Oh okay. Glad they are getting it from somewhere.
Wow, wow, and wow. So many easy things that could have been done to avoid that situation.
Very true, Arlene. It’s very sad. But I have seen how busy nonfiction authors (particularly those who delegate the work to someone else) let things fall through the cracks to their detriment. This story is a chilling result.
What a thing when an author of some renown at the last minute says “oopsy, I may have forgotten to credit all my sources.” I don’t even know how that could happen, yet here we are. I do my best to know where I find information– and I write a personal blog, yet I realize that’s the ethical thing to do. Shaking my head in sadness on this one.
I also am shaking my head sadly, Ally. In this case, I believe the work was delegated to a research assistant. According to Twitter, the author the and the publisher didn’t reaize plagiarism until the newspaper contacted them. And Twitter revealed they had used a plagiarism detection program. My question in all of this is why they felt the need to do so in the first place for a book review. Perhaps the plagiarism detection is a routine of theirs.
Good question. I suspect you may be right about how using the plagiarism detector is now standard procedure– and that’s sad, too.
Based on projects I’ve worked on over the years, I see why it is standard practice. 😢 And yes, it is sad.
The advent of the internet makes plagiarism so much easier, and, I think, harder to avoid. It’s too easy to look something up and then quote it almost unconsciously without attribution. Of course, with some people it’s not unconscious – cut and paste plagiarism is sadly not uncommon, either in education or in those innumerable cheap Kindle “reference” books that basically just collect stuff from various websites and regurgitate it as “original” work. But you really don’t expect to come across it in a serious academic work issued by a reputable publisher, do you? And as you say, once it happens, the author will have that blot on their reputation forever.
Unfortunately, FictionFan, this is where plagiarism sometimes occurs. People in academics are busy and sometimes hand off the research to students. So just as the book linked in the article was published by a reputable publisher, so are many academic works. I worked on a project written by people with PhDs and discovered some plagiarized passages in the work. This is not to say that the perpetrators had malicious intent. But publishing deadlines and busy schedules sometimes collide and lead to plagiarism.
Unfortunately, FictionFan, this is where plagiarism sometimes occurs. People in academics are busy and sometimes hand off the research to students. So just as the book linked in the article was published by a reputable publisher, so are many academic works. I worked on a project written by people with PhDs and discovered some plagiarized passages in the work. This is not to say that the perpetrators had malicious intent. But publishing deadlines and busy schedules sometimes collide and lead to plagiarism.
Charles mentions teaching kids in school about plagiarism. It must be hard when they’re just learning to write a research paper and they have to learn about attribution at the same time.
Thanks, L. Marie, for a good reminder not to be sloppy when quoting.
Very true, Nicki. Students definitely need to learn about plagiarism, especially with plagiarism checkers in use. No one wants to have to trash a book because it was plagiarized.
“But the fact that plagiarism still happens means that it still needs to be said.” I am heartened by this – even in this easy-to-plagiarize digital age at least some of these guys get caught and have to pay the consequences…even if it was discovered at the last moment in this case.
Just sayin’…
It is a hideous lesson to learn, Laura. And sometimes people don’t get caught right away. But getting caught once means your previous work might be scrutinized.
After I posted this comment, I found in my mailbox that the publisher decided to check the author’s previous books. A sad fruit of this incident.
We must be aware that when we write, we may be recirculating something we’ve read or heard elsewhere and “adopted as our own” because it so perfectly encapsulates our views. Time passes. We forget where we read or heard it and . . . oops.
Of course, that’s not the case here . . . with 95 separate instances. 😀
So true, Nancy. That’s why copying citations and having them with any quotes or facts is so important. If people are writing books on the fly, this goes by the wayside, unfortunately.
Great post, Linda! Plagiarism is rampant these days with so much media online. I think if I had research assistants, I’d be checking those notes and inserts behind them. What a mess!
And unfortunately, the story gained a new development the other day. So yes, this is a warning to authors who delegate writing tasks to others.