Self-help queen Louise Hay is a publishing phenomenon, with her own publishing house.

Read this excellent article Louise Hay – Hay House – Publishing – Books – Authors – You Can Heal Your Life – New Age – New York Times which reports:

“LOUISE HAY IS ONE OF THE BEST-SELLING AUTHORS IN HISTORY, and none of the women who have sold more — like J. K. Rowling, Danielle Steel and Barbara Cartland — owned a publishing empire. They did not change the spiritual landscape of America and several of its Western allies. They were not pregnant at 15 and they did not lack high-school diplomas. Finer writers they may have been (depending on your taste), and wealthier women, but it would be hard to argue that any was more interesting than Louise Hay.”

I love the self-help field – it’s one area where you can turn the lemons which life hands you into lemonade, using your writing skills.

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Harry Potter publisher Bloomsbury has some unhappy authors.

Bloomsbury authors revolt over Harry Potter – Telegraph reports:

“One of their bestselling authors said: ‘I wouldn’t place another book with them.

‘They treat you with complete disregard and I know of four other writers who are very discontented.’”

Joanna Trollope has moved to Transworld, and the publisher has paid vast sums for celebrity “books” – viz “Gary Barlow, the singer with boy band Take That, received a £1 million advance for his autobiography, while the young boxer, Amir Khan, was said to have received £400,000 for his memoirs.”

Romance writer, publisher split up over plagiarism claims – Boston.com reports:

“‘Signet has conducted an extensive review of all its Cassie Edwards novels and due to irreconcilable editorial differences, Ms. Edwards and Signet have mutually agreed to part ways,’ the publisher said in a statement Friday.

‘Cassie Edwards novels will no longer be published with Signet Books. All rights to Ms. Edwards’ previously published Signet books have reverted to the author.’”

There’s more information on Smart Bitches, Trashy Books, which first broke the plagiarism story.

If you’re writing a novel (or indeed, any kind of book) please learn how to cite sources, and how to work with source information. It’s vital.

Since we all work on computer these days, it’s easy to confuse your own words with those of others. It’s up to you to work out how you handle this. I keep all my own notes separate from research (different folders, and different programs), and when I’m using a digital recorder to take notes, I emphasize which words are someone else’s and which are my own.

This is a sad story, because Cassie Edwards has been writing for years.

Let this story be a moral to you. Develop professional work habits, right from the start. Take nothing for granted.

Where will it all end? It seems that the POD world is in chaos.

An interesting post Which PODs are affected by Scamazon 2008? « PODdy Mouth – Daily Dirt on POD and Self-Publishing reports:

“There is a lot of guess work flying around the Internet about how the Scamazon shake-down will affect the POD services, and which ones it will affect the most (and why). Since I’m always up for a little conjecture, I’ll offer my two cents worth on that subject here and next time I’ll provide some data about each POD I mention to ‘justify’ my position (as if I have to do that – ha!) – I’ll focus on the 16 PODs that took part in my recent self-publishing sweet 16 tournament.”

The post makes for interesting reading – read the comments too.

If you’re writing a book and intend going the POD route, read your contract carefully.

Oh dear. Sad story about yet another publisher – Lonely Planet – which doesn’t check the credentials of its writers.

Lonely Planet reeling after author’s fraud | NEWS.com.au reports:

“An email to management posted on the company’s internal authors’ forum describes Mr Kohnstamm’s book as ‘a car crash waiting to happen’.

‘Why did you (management) not understand that when you hire a constant stream of new, unvetted people, pay them poorly and set them loose, that someone, somehow was going to screw you?’ author Jeanne Oliver wrote.”

Read the entire story. It’s enough to make you shudder.