Book News: Publishing Ethics

Is there such a term as “publishing ethics”? If not, there needs to be. At the rate of nearly one scandal a month in 2006, it seems that the way writers and the publishing world deal with moral issues is coming under the microscope.

A Brief History of Big Headlines
Jan 2006 - Oprah Book Club author admits to embellished memoirs

Mar/Apr 2006 – Copyright case over potential plagiarism in The Da Vinci Code; Dan Brown cleared

The Latest
Little Brown has an author in trouble. A Harvard sophomore admits to “accidentally” plagiarizing over 40 pages of a novel. How “accidental” the plagiarism remains to be seen. But the passages are extremely similar, and it leaves a lot of questions about book content theft.

Trends in 2006
In my research, I can’t find an article that looks at the many recent headlines of 2006 to isolate trends. But I think the many big cases that have cropped up speak volumes about publishing ethics and author accountability. Writers and readers alike need to be more cognizant of the moral issues that surround the publishing industry. We should demand more.

Lagniappe
In creating this blog, I ran across an interesting article: “Word for Word: More and more pastors lift entire sermons off the internet—but is the practice always wrong?” Ever wondered if sermons can be plagiarized? Apparently so.