{"id":900,"date":"2006-04-29T09:23:40","date_gmt":"2006-04-29T08:23:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dianeduane.com\/outofambit\/?p=900"},"modified":"2006-04-29T09:23:40","modified_gmt":"2006-04-29T08:23:40","slug":"not-that-professional-writers-are-all-that","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dianeduane.com\/outofambit\/2006\/04\/29\/not-that-professional-writers-are-all-that\/","title":{"rendered":""Not that professional writers are 'all that'…""},"content":{"rendered":"

The only amusing take (with a few home truths thrown in) that I’ve seen so far on the Kaavya Viswanathan situation:<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

It doesn’t help<\/a> that publishers feel the need to compete<\/a> with, say, “American Idol” and try to make people famous just because they’re young and potentially marketable. There’s a difference between a 17-year-old who sings an Avril Lavigne song on TV and one who is faced with the task of generating 314 pages that will be distributed and marketed all over the world.<\/p>\n

Not that professional writers are all that, but published authors have to be more responsible than bloggers or MySpace types or clever e-mail writers. Sure, even though a few writers can be really good when they’re young \u2014 Mary Shelley wrote “Frankenstein” when she was 19, but that was in 1816 when you weren’t always getting interrupted by text messages \u2014 even the most meticulous of them aren’t really up to the task until they’re in their 20s or even really old, like in their 30s or 40s.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

An addendum: The Boston Globe takes a look at how the book deal itself was structured,<\/a> and raises some questions about this kind of packaged \/ “cooperative” literary project.<\/p>\n

\n

”They are not paying out that much money to a 17-year-old with no track record,” said Boston literary agent Doe Coover. ”They are paying it to this organization which has had huge hits aimed at a similar audience.” And some wondered who is looking out for the creator of the work…<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Interesting point, and one which may have gotten lost in the shuffle. This article points out that the copyright was split between the author and the packager, so that the author wouldn’t have gotten more than half of that $500,000 advance in any case. Yet it’s Visnawathan who is taking most of the heat for this: whereas (it seems to me) there’s been too little inquiry, in the press at least, to the packager’s role. (One exception being the NY Times<\/span> article here.<\/a>)<\/p>\n

This story has a bit further to run, I’d say…<\/p>\n

\n

Tags: Kaavya Viswanathan<\/a>, plagiarism<\/a>, packager<\/a>, 17th Street Productions<\/a>, Alloy Entertainment
\n<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Now playing:<\/strong> John Tesh<\/a> – Roubaix<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The only amusing take (with a few home truths thrown in) that I’ve seen so far on the Kaavya Viswanathan situation: It doesn’t help that publishers feel the need to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":4,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"","activitypub_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[43,70],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-900","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-media","category-writing"],"yoast_head":"\n"Not that professional writers are 'all that'..." - Out of Ambit<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dianeduane.com\/outofambit\/2006\/04\/29\/not-that-professional-writers-are-all-that\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\""Not that professional writers are 'all that'..." - Out of Ambit\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The only amusing take (with a few home truths thrown in) that I’ve seen so far on the Kaavya Viswanathan situation: It doesn’t help that publishers feel the need to…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.dianeduane.com\/outofambit\/2006\/04\/29\/not-that-professional-writers-are-all-that\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Out of Ambit\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2006-04-29T08:23:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.dianeduane.com\/outofambit\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/OOA-2024-Default-Featured-Image-Take-1-1024x576.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"576\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Diane Duane\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@dduane\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":[\"Article\",\"BlogPosting\"],\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.dianeduane.com\/outofambit\/2006\/04\/29\/not-that-professional-writers-are-all-that\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.dianeduane.com\/outofambit\/2006\/04\/29\/not-that-professional-writers-are-all-that\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Diane Duane\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.dianeduane.com\/outofambit\/#\/schema\/person\/ff54e1fb35d68dee5a5bf83f6070e2d1\"},\"headline\":\""Not that professional writers are 'all that'…"\",\"datePublished\":\"2006-04-29T08:23:40+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.dianeduane.com\/outofambit\/2006\/04\/29\/not-that-professional-writers-are-all-that\/\"},\"wordCount\":363,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.dianeduane.com\/outofambit\/#\/schema\/person\/c95a368813271f614d9104b74dfd83d8\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Media\",\"Writing\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.dianeduane.com\/outofambit\/2006\/04\/29\/not-that-professional-writers-are-all-that\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.dianeduane.com\/outofambit\/2006\/04\/29\/not-that-professional-writers-are-all-that\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.dianeduane.com\/outofambit\/2006\/04\/29\/not-that-professional-writers-are-all-that\/\",\"name\":\""Not that professional writers are 'all that'..." - Out of Ambit\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.dianeduane.com\/outofambit\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2006-04-29T08:23:40+00:00\",\"inLanguage\":\"en\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.dianeduane.com\/outofambit\/2006\/04\/29\/not-that-professional-writers-are-all-that\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.dianeduane.com\/outofambit\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.dianeduane.com\/outofambit\/\",\"name\":\"Out of Ambit\",\"description\":\"Diane Duane's weblog\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.dianeduane.com\/outofambit\/#\/schema\/person\/c95a368813271f614d9104b74dfd83d8\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.dianeduane.com\/outofambit\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en\"},{\"@type\":[\"Person\",\"Organization\"],\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.dianeduane.com\/outofambit\/#\/schema\/person\/c95a368813271f614d9104b74dfd83d8\",\"name\":\"Diane Duane\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.dianeduane.com\/outofambit\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.dianeduane.com\/outofambit\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/DD_avatar_2016_bg.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.dianeduane.com\/outofambit\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/DD_avatar_2016_bg.jpg\",\"width\":400,\"height\":400,\"caption\":\"Diane Duane\"},\"logo\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.dianeduane.com\/outofambit\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/x.com\/dduane\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.dianeduane.com\/outofambit\/#\/schema\/person\/ff54e1fb35d68dee5a5bf83f6070e2d1\",\"name\":\"Diane Duane\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.dianeduane.com\/outofambit\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d306027f6d44c1213f53b6912f027d6bde1b1c5c73748571ab976afc999e917e?s=96&d=mm&r=pg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d306027f6d44c1213f53b6912f027d6bde1b1c5c73748571ab976afc999e917e?s=96&d=mm&r=pg\",\"caption\":\"Diane Duane\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.dianeduane.com\/outofambit\/author\/admin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":""Not that professional writers are 'all that'..." - Out of Ambit","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.dianeduane.com\/outofambit\/2006\/04\/29\/not-that-professional-writers-are-all-that\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":""Not that professional writers are 'all that'..." - Out of Ambit","og_description":"The only amusing take (with a few home truths thrown in) that I’ve seen so far on the Kaavya Viswanathan situation: It doesn’t help that publishers feel the need to…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.dianeduane.com\/outofambit\/2006\/04\/29\/not-that-professional-writers-are-all-that\/","og_site_name":"Out of Ambit","article_published_time":"2006-04-29T08:23:40+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":576,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianeduane.com\/outofambit\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/OOA-2024-Default-Featured-Image-Take-1-1024x576.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Diane Duane","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_site":"@dduane","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":["Article","BlogPosting"],"@id":"https:\/\/www.dianeduane.com\/outofambit\/2006\/04\/29\/not-that-professional-writers-are-all-that\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dianeduane.com\/outofambit\/2006\/04\/29\/not-that-professional-writers-are-all-that\/"},"author":{"name":"Diane Duane","@id":"https:\/\/www.dianeduane.com\/outofambit\/#\/schema\/person\/ff54e1fb35d68dee5a5bf83f6070e2d1"},"headline":""Not that professional writers are 'all that'…"","datePublished":"2006-04-29T08:23:40+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dianeduane.com\/outofambit\/2006\/04\/29\/not-that-professional-writers-are-all-that\/"},"wordCount":363,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dianeduane.com\/outofambit\/#\/schema\/person\/c95a368813271f614d9104b74dfd83d8"},"articleSection":["Media","Writing"],"inLanguage":"en","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.dianeduane.com\/outofambit\/2006\/04\/29\/not-that-professional-writers-are-all-that\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.dianeduane.com\/outofambit\/2006\/04\/29\/not-that-professional-writers-are-all-that\/","url":"https:\/\/www.dianeduane.com\/outofambit\/2006\/04\/29\/not-that-professional-writers-are-all-that\/","name":""Not that professional writers are 'all that'..." - Out of Ambit","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dianeduane.com\/outofambit\/#website"},"datePublished":"2006-04-29T08:23:40+00:00","inLanguage":"en","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.dianeduane.com\/outofambit\/2006\/04\/29\/not-that-professional-writers-are-all-that\/"]}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.dianeduane.com\/outofambit\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.dianeduane.com\/outofambit\/","name":"Out of Ambit","description":"Diane Duane's weblog","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dianeduane.com\/outofambit\/#\/schema\/person\/c95a368813271f614d9104b74dfd83d8"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.dianeduane.com\/outofambit\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en"},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https:\/\/www.dianeduane.com\/outofambit\/#\/schema\/person\/c95a368813271f614d9104b74dfd83d8","name":"Diane Duane","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en","@id":"https:\/\/www.dianeduane.com\/outofambit\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.dianeduane.com\/outofambit\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/DD_avatar_2016_bg.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.dianeduane.com\/outofambit\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/DD_avatar_2016_bg.jpg","width":400,"height":400,"caption":"Diane Duane"},"logo":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dianeduane.com\/outofambit\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/dduane"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.dianeduane.com\/outofambit\/#\/schema\/person\/ff54e1fb35d68dee5a5bf83f6070e2d1","name":"Diane Duane","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en","@id":"https:\/\/www.dianeduane.com\/outofambit\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d306027f6d44c1213f53b6912f027d6bde1b1c5c73748571ab976afc999e917e?s=96&d=mm&r=pg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d306027f6d44c1213f53b6912f027d6bde1b1c5c73748571ab976afc999e917e?s=96&d=mm&r=pg","caption":"Diane Duane"},"url":"https:\/\/www.dianeduane.com\/outofambit\/author\/admin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dianeduane.com\/outofambit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/900","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dianeduane.com\/outofambit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dianeduane.com\/outofambit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dianeduane.com\/outofambit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dianeduane.com\/outofambit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=900"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.dianeduane.com\/outofambit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/900\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dianeduane.com\/outofambit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=900"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dianeduane.com\/outofambit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=900"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dianeduane.com\/outofambit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=900"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}