The big steal: rise of the plagiarist

Thanks to the internet, it has never been easier to steal other people's work. There's also a high risk you'll be found out. So why do it? Rhodri Marsden goes in search of a little originalityIt's not that hard to think of something totally original. If you don't worry about it being any good, it's easy. "Colorless green ideas sleep furiously," was Noam Chomsky's spirited attempt in his ground-breaking 1957 book on linguistics, Syntactic Structures. "Hold the newsreader's nose squarely, waiter, or friendly milk will countermand my trousers," was Stephen Fry's during an episode of A Bit Of Fry And Laurie. But when novelist John Gardner used the phrase "opening the throttle at the last moment" in his 1983 book Icebreaker, it's unlikely that he sat back and congratulated himself on being the first to have written it. Innovation wasn't what he was aiming for, after all; he was just trying to describe someone driving a scooter. But Google Books, that vast indexing project, informs us that Gardner's was the only book to contain this phrase until another, Vestige Of Evil by Len Vorster, appeared on Amazon in 2011. A section of the novel, one of two books self-published online under that name, featured other phrases that were no longer unique to Icebreaker, such as "the ice and snow were not as raw and killing as this" and "the slope angling gently downwards to flatten". The many coincidences were startling, though if it wasn't for the internet, nobody need ever have known.In... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2014-03-21 00:00:00 UTC ]

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The big steal: rise of the plagiarist

Thanks to the internet, it has never been easier to steal other people's work. There's also a high risk you'll be found out. So why do it? Rhodri Marsden goes in search of a little originalityIt's not that hard to think of something totally original. If you don't worry about it being any good,... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2014-03-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Rise of Surender Mohan Pathak: HarperCollins India Wins Big With Hindi Pulp Fiction

Hindi pulp fiction writer Surender Mohan Pathak has been made 'the Agatha Christie of India' by HarperCollins India's Minakshi Thakur, now at Westland. The post The Rise of Surender Mohan Pathak: HarperCollins India Wins Big With Hindi Pulp Fiction appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2017-12-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Frankfurt Book Fair 2017: With No Single Big Book, Multiple Memoirs Steal the Show

The tastemakers in the publishing industry spent big on a handful of novels, and a raft of memoirs at this year's fair. Some insiders mused that while the novels offer escapism, the memoirs give readers what they crave even more in these divisive times: a sense of connection with other people. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2017-10-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Big players slip as emerging markets rise

The top 10 publishers in the world had their lowest combined market share last year in the Livres... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2012-06-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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How to balance a big job with a big side hustle

‘Maman & Me’ author Roya Shariat talks about writing her cookbook while overseeing social impact and partnerships at Glossier. From the time she sat down with Glossier founder Emily Weiss for a job interview, Roya Shariat told anyone who would listen that her dream was to write a cookbook.... Continue reading at Fast Company

[ Fast Company | 2023-10-25 18:15:00 UTC ]
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Big Bad Wolf’s Big Plans

As the cofounder of BookXcess and Big Bad Wolf, Andrew Yap is the most powerful bookseller you likely don’t know. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-12-30 05:00:00 UTC ]
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The big bang created the universe. What created the big bang?

Quantum cosmologist Laura Mersini-Houghton winds back the clock to ponder the origin of our universe's origin. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2022-08-05 10:00:13 UTC ]
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Big hair, big dreams: Behind the curtain at the Miss America pageant

Amy Argetsinger traces the path to the crown, as well as the contest’s evolution. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2021-09-10 12:00:00 UTC ]
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Big Publishers Post Big Third- Quarter Gains

The easing of lockdowns and strong increases in digital sales led to double-digit sales gains for four trade publishers that reported financial results for the quarter ended September 30 over the same period in 2019. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-11-13 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Is the Next Big Idea Club the Next Big Thing?

Although serial entrepreneur Rufus Griscom has a background in books, he had no intention of getting into the book business when he launched a new venture, Heleo, in 2015. With the Next Big Idea Club, that's changed. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2019-04-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Casting a wide net: the rise and rise of podcasts

Renowned for their diversity, the popularity of podcasts has skyrocketed in recent years. This has not passed publishers by with many harnessing the potential of the medium by launching their own shows.   Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-03-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Is Big Tech Merging With Big Brother? Kinda Looks Like It

The all-seeing Amazon, Google, and Facebook have every incentive to help the national security state undermine privacy, free speech, and democracy. We’ve read this book before. Continue reading at Wired

[ Wired | 2019-01-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Immigration in 2018: Rising tensions and rising voices

Nearly every morning, a pseudo-dystopian scene unfolds just steps away from America’s gates. At the San Ysidro Port of Entry in Tijuana, someone reads aloud from a mysterious, unsanctioned notebook filled with the names of thousands of people from across the globe. Each of them — including the... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2018-12-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The long-suffering news business keeps getting big promises from Big Tech

With Google under pressure to clamp down on YouTube conspiracies and low-quality clickbait, the search giant is launching a major new effort aimed at strengthening its relationship with news publishers–and perhaps keeping them from going under. At an event in New York today, the company... Continue reading at Fast Company

[ Fast Company | 2018-03-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Canadian Publishing 2016: Big Books for a Big Country

Canadian publishing is dominated by some familiar names: Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, and HarperCollins. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-09-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Frankfurt Book Fair 2015: No Big Book Yet, But Plenty of Big Sales

One thing the absence of a big book has meant is that a handful of titles—drawing strong advances from editors in the U.S. and abroad—are being clumped into an ever-growing list of buzzed-about books. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-10-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Big Losses, Big Questions for Amazon

Amazon's release of its third quarter financial results Thursday afternoon gave analysts and investors lots to think about as the giant e-tailer posted a large quarterly loss, forecast the possibility of a loss for the fourth quarter and had slowing growth in its media segment. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-10-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Big Big History, Small Press

A wave of mainstream media attention shines a spotlight on David Christian, a leading proponent of "big history" and author published by academic press Berkshire Publishing. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-09-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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BEA 2014: Big Names and Big Flavors for Fall Cookbooks

Perusing the cookbook offerings at BEA revealed upcoming titles from big names and newcomers alike, and news that "Lucky Peach" is looking at getting into cookbooks. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-06-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Metamarkets Raises $6 Million To Help Big Web Publishers Corral Big Data

A ad tech startup that promises to help Web publishers make sense of all the data their ad sales generate. Continue reading at AllThingsD

[ AllThingsD | 2011-05-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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