Books in the news
Yesterday the dh was watching the morning news and two stories featuring books came on.
The first was the lawsuit against Dan Brown, author of The Da Vinci Code. Have you heard about this? He's on trial in England because the authors of a 1982 nonn-fiction book called Holy Blood, Holy Grail, said he got his ideas from their book. He used other books as well, but I think his mistake was mentioning this in the context of his book. If the authors of Holy Blood, Holy Grail win, what will that mean for research for writers? Right now it's expected to go either way.
The second was the outrageous book deal televangelist Joel Osteen got for his book. $13 million, is what the CBS morning news reported! Clinton didn't get that much, nor did the Pope. What Osteen did was take a smaller advance (only $1 or $2 mil, not much) and he'll get 50% royalties! Yeow! Can you imagine?
I've got to take the dh to work - hopefully I wake up before I have to drive home. I look forward to hearing your take on these stories.
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11 comments:
The Da Vinci Code lawsuit drives me nuts for that very reason, Mary. If they didn't expect people to use them as a research tool, then they shouldn't have published their books as non-fiction, IMO!
Er, that should have been "they shouldn' have published their book" singular. *g*
Sounds like this is another one of those deals where someone wants to capitalize monetarily on someone else's success.
And whoa on that Osteen deal. Wow.
Maybe the preacher needs the money in case God sues?
I've heard an analysis on the news that the Holy Blood, Holy Grail writers don't even care if they win. They did it specifically to piggy-back on the success of Dan Brown, and their book sales have jumped astronomically at amazon because of the trial already.
I just don't see how a fiction book can plagerize a non-fiction work. Call it artistic license, what have you - but you don't see environmental scientists suing Michael Crichton for using global-warming information in his latest thriller!
I think his defense is arguing that the ideas he used are part of the "public domain", meaning the conclusions in HBHG are general knowledge published in many books...
good topic - we'll have to watch and see. I never read the book and hope it goes well so they will release the movie!!
Amen, Tori and Sarah! I read the book and will see the movie, but I'm not too excited. I mean, Tom Hanks? Why?
Trish, that's exactly what it is...trying to get in on the money. The newscast was saying, though, that it may delay the release of the movie in the UK. Random House, the publisher, isn't worried, though - it owns both books.
Toni, LOL on Osteen's deal.
13 mill! Holy cow! What the heck is this story about? Must google... ;D
Honestly, I think the whole plagarism thing is bogus. C'mon, steal ideas? Does that mean that Shakespeare could sue everyone who stole his basic idea for Romeo & Juliet? That would be one heck of a long list, starting with lots of the romance novelists. *lol*
Besides, there are tonz of books similar to Holy Blood, Holy Grail, that talk about the same topic. Why not sue them too? Oops! I forgot. Those books aren't making the millions that The DaVinci Code.
As for the televangelist getting a $13 millions for his book, that's crazy. Did he sleep with more women than Jim Bakker and Jimmy Swaggart? Oh wait! Toni is right. God might sue him. If he cites the Bible in his book, is that considered plagiarism? Can he be sued for that? *lol*
I don't even want to think about that advance...
But I will say this, ebook publishers have been known to give anywhere from 35-45% royalties on books.
But that's a topic for another time..
Kellly, Osteen's book is a self-help kinda thing, a la Dr. Phil.
Silma, you're right about stealing ideas. Ideas aren't copyrighted, and HB, HG is not the only book to have put forth this idea. It was mentioned in the book, though.
Candace, yes on the e-pub royalties, but this guy will go on a book tour with his. Apparently millions of people watch his services on Sunday. One of my friends used to really like him, but she said his last book turned her off.
I only read The Da Vinci Code recently (loved it, btw!) and I had the same reaction about Tom Hanks playing Robert Langdon. Don't get me wrong, I love Tom Hanks, but he just isn't my idea of the character at all.
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