Welcome to this week’s Buzz Worthy News! Yet another couple of the Big Six talks about getting married and turning itself into one big baby, E.L James’ publisher is threatening people for being “parasites”, but why would anyone want to be a parasite to a book that can’t even make the shortlist for the worst sex in literature? A new Bad Lip Reading video is out, this time for New Moon and Game of Thrones Season 3 Trailer is out. Perhaps the most shocking news of all is that we managed to fit two entirely separate Sean Bean memes into the same post! All this and much, much more. Read on to find out everything that’s been happening in the book world this week.
Buzz Worthy News is Cuddlebuggery’s weekly Monday news post. Bringing you all the most interesting, relevant and fun news from the publishing and book blogging world.
Publishing News
HarperCollins/SimonSchuster?
So the end is nigh, ya’ll. From big six to big five and now maybe big four? Chuck Wending Wedig Wendig said on Twitter:
I agree. Except it won’t be two companies. It will be one giant publisher Harperschustette RandomPenguinillian and it will still be struggling to compete with Amazon. Have we yet mentioned how beneficial it is to buy from your local Indie? Buy your ebooks from Smashwords? Online order from usegoodbooks.com?
More about the possible merger:
“News Corp, owner of HarperCollins Publishers, has expressed interest about buying the publishing company Simon & Schuster from its owner, CBS Corp, according to News Corp-owned The Wall Street Journal.
This comes following News Corp’s unsuccessful, last-minute bid for Penguin, shortly before its announced merger with Random House. “The people described the talks as preliminary and cautioned that a deal isn’t imminent,” wrote the Wall Street Journal.”
Shortlist for the Bad Sex Award Announced – All Shocked that 50 Shades Wasn’t Included
So there’s lots of different kinds of literary awards out there. Some more prestigious than others. But apparently badly written sex scenes are even more prevalent in literature than I had originally presumed and it also turns out that it gets bad enough that they have an award for that too. The shortlist came out this week and here it is:
–The Yips by Nicola Barker
–The Adventuress: The Irresistible Rise of Miss Cath Fox by Nicholas Coleridge
–Infrared by Nancy Huston
–Rare Earth by Paul Mason
–Noughties by Ben Masters
–The Quiddity of Will Self by Sam Mills
–The Divine Comedy by Craig Raine
–Back to Blood by Tom Wolfe
The question everyone is inevitably asking, because how could you not, is why on earth Fifty Shades of Grey is not on this list? The answer is simple:
Now how did Fifty Shades of Grey manage to escape this dubious honor? Well, on a technicality. The book wasn’t eligible, The Guardian reports, because “the prize’s rubric explicity excludes pornographic and erotic literature,” said Johnathan Beckman, Literary Review senior editor.
Well, there you have it.
I would like to mention that, once again, the literary community has overlooked women writers. Of these eight terrible sex scene writers, only TWO are women. But, you know maybe women are just born knowing how to write better sex?
[tube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1zH5k6OVgY[/tube]
The People Who Should Be Profiting From Crimes
You know how you hear every so often that some douchebag like O.J. Simpson is going to write a book about their nefarious deeds and try to profit off of causing other people pain and agony and possibly taking their lives? Well the upside to that is that sometimes the victims can do that too. Elizabeth Smart joins the growing number of people writing about the horrific things done to them in a tell-all memoir.
Ten years after she was abducted, Elizabeth Smart is penning a memoir about the nine months she was held, often in chains, and raped almost daily.
Now married and a senior at Brigham Young University, Smart, 25, is co-writing her story with Chris Stewart, a Utah Congressman-elect.
“She has taken a professional outlook on this and is able to talk in an impressive way about these things frankly,’ Stewart said.
I say good for her.
Hypocrisy, Thy Name is E.L. James
Ah! The Way Back Machine! How we sometimes delight in the things that can be found in your saucy, saucy archives!
So, the French Publishers for infamous P2P writer, EL James has been doing this thing where they send out threatening legal-like letters to people. Why? Well, they feel that some of these titles bear a little bit too much similarity to Fifty Shades of Grey which was a totally original novel and was never based off or heavily inspired by anything. Ever.
The Telegraph had this quote from editorial director Laurent Laffont: ”Some of these titles, which pick up on elements of the book, are clearly parasitical … We would like those planning new releases next year to know that we are watching very closely to ensure they are not parasitical.”
But it really takes the Way Back Machine to appreciate how incredible it is that EL James’ publishers would accuse anyone else of being parasitical.
The official line from James’ team is: “This did start as Twilight fan fiction, inspired by Stephenie Meyer’s wonderful series of books. Originally it was written as fan fiction, then Erika decided to take it down after there were some comments about the racy nature of the material. She took it down and thought, I’d always wanted to write. I’ve got a couple unpublished novels here. I will rewrite this thing, and create these iconic characters, Christian and Anna.”
But of course, it’s all forgivable if the original (ha!) Fanfiction underwent heavy editing before being professionally published. Oh wait…
Blogger Jane Litte used the Turnitin plagiarism detection program to measure similarities between the two books. She reported: “According to Turnitin, the similarity index was 89%. There are whole swaths of text wherein just the names were changed from MoTU to 50 Shades.”
I don’t believe it! Impossible! EL James would never… Oh wait. Never mind. Anyway, back to that Hunger Games/Harry Potter fanfiction I plan to write so that I can pull and publish.
Entertainment
Game of Thrones Season 3 Teaser
So I’ve yet to actually sit down and watch Game of Thrones, but I hear it’s awesome. Whenever my best friend mentions it, she gets a wild look in her eyes that could rival that of a Twi-hard’s. One of these days I’ll join the rest of humanity and check it out. Especially since they seem to have added interesting new additions to the cast.
Entertainment Weekly reports that Will Champion, the drummer of the Grammy Award-winning band Coldplay, and Gary Lightbody, lead singer of alternative rockers Snow Patrol, have signed on to make cameo appearances this season. Champion will appear as a drummer and Lightbody’s role has not-yet-been-revealed.
You can check out the teaser trailer below. In my opinion, I’d barely call it a teaser. But Game of Thrones fans only have to wait until March 31, 2013 for the season premier!
[tube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsmUpYIA99o[/tube]
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Every Legend of Zelda Fan Needs This
Dark Horse Comics has teamed up with Nintendo to make one of my dreams come true. In January they are releasing a full-color Legend of Zelda: Hyrule Historia encyclopedia! *plays Zelda music on her ocarina*
The encyclopedia will cover the full history of The Legend of Zelda franchise and will include an introduction by famed game designer and producer Shigeru Miyamoto. It will also include the official chronology of The Legend of Zelda games, concept art, information on the making-of of the franchise, and a comic by The Legend of Zelda manga artist Akira Himekawa. Dark Horse Comics and Nintendo will release the book on January 16, 2013.
And it has a cool trailer!
[tube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjAEhkarb18[/tube]
LOL
Bad Lip Reading: New Moon
About a month or so ago Kat and I ran across a hilarious parody of Twilight. Now they are back again with New Moon. There are so many great lines in this one. “Yeah, well. We gots y’all’s toothbrushes. So it’s like viva la toothy.” And “Fish breasts! Little pig, little pig, china men!” LOL.
[tube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYC-waukYWo[/tube]
A Reading of Fifty Shades of Grey in Fifty Different Voices
A person’s creativity never ceases to amaze me when it comes to parodies of Fifty Shades of Grey. Will this ever get old? Well, I’ll stop laughing as soon as it stops being funny.
[tube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqkNYfKZV6s[/tube]
Scandals
So we haven’t done the Scandals section in a while, mostly because there is nothing much to report these days (thank goodness!). However, this time we feel the need to include one instance to help warn bloggers from being scammed.
Thea and Ana from The Book Smugglers hired designer Anna Marie Moore to redesign their site. They paid a total of $260 back in June with the understanding that the work would be completed in only 2 weeks. Unfortunately, they were met with excuse after excuse and never received the design or a full refund.
Which brings us to today, November 25, 2012. We would not have posted about this ridiculous situation publicly, except that Anna has a banner on her site saying that she is currently accepting design projects.
We know that we’ll never get our money back, and we’ve made peace with that. This post is not about getting our money back – this is a public service announcement.
We want to make sure that NO ONE else goes through what we went through.
If you are considering purchasing design services from Anna Marie Moore, we implore you to look elsewhere.
Shortly after the PSA was announced, Anna’s design site went down. And if you remember correctly, this is the same designer who redesigned The Story Siren and defended her venomously on Twitter when the plagiarism scandal broke. What’s more saddening are the comments on the post where others report similar experiences as well. Looks like irony is off being a bitch again.
You can check out their full statement in their Smugglers’ Stash & News.
Georgette
Holy hell! Too many mergers!!! And you’re right- we’ll all still be fighting to keep the book business going! I am so glad you guys always say shop indie(I’m the manager of an indie bookstore, and I am very blessed in being so).
Absolutely hysterical in a hypocritical way- E.L. James’ French publishers with their threatening letters. What’s next, letters to bloggers who state that it sucks?
The Twilight lip reading is hysterical!
Thank you for the Game of Thrones trailer.
As for the designer who’s screwing people out of their hard-earned money, beyond bogus. Grow up and be an adult, stop hiding behind your banner(well, not anymore, apparently, but you know what I mean). Karma is a bitch and will be gotten.
Fangs4Fantasy
I think 50 Shades may have been spared because there reaches a point where bad sex writing is so bad, it is no longer sex writing. I think we may even have an argument for not including it as erotica simply because I can’t imagine ANYONE getting off on that. Seriously, my work’s financial reports got me hotter. (oooh yeah, double entry system!)
Either that or they fear desperately that certain soon-to-be-divorcees are going to unleash the full might of the Fanpoodle against them.
“But, you know maybe women are just born knowing how to write better sex?”
Laurel K. Hamilton. That is all.
As for EL James sending threatening letters for plagiarism… I actually have to admire her. I mean, that level of sheer hypocrisy takes almost legendary levels of chutzpah. I want to stand back and applaud the utter lack of self-awareness.
That’s a Game of Thrones trailer… but but but it went a full 15 seconds without one breast?! How can it be Game of Thrones without unnecessary jiggling boobies?
Stephanie Sinclair
@Fangs4Fantasy Yup, James has balls of STEAL. DID YOU SEE WHAT I DID THERE?
cynicalsapphire
Woo! I am the first person here, though I suspect someone will leave a shorter comment and beat me to the punch. Oh well. My comments are worth waiting for, if I say so myself, which I do. Because who else will. I’m picking up your slack, people. Oh right, this wasn’t about me, was it? Why not? Sigh.
Damn. Harper and Schuster? I was rooting for Harper and Macmillan to hook up, so it could be Harper MacCollins, which sounds like an awesome Scottish name. They could hire David Tennant to be their mascot: http://s3.favim.com/orig/44/david-tennant-doctor-who-gif-Favim.com-374873.gif. I would buy so many books if he told me to. As always, Chuck Wendig is on point. We knew this was coming. “A deal isn’t imminent.” Hmmm, I was shocked how fast Random Penguin went down, so who knows.
Bad Sex: Wait, what? This is clearly a lie. Also, the worst sex I read this year was from a dystopian called The Testament of Jessie Lamb. *shudders* I didn’t get to any sex in 50 Shades though. DNFed out of boredom and frustration with it being set in a land where grammar does not exist before then.
Whoop. There’s the first comment. Sigh. I tried!
Elizabeth Smart: Should I know who that is? O_O Awareness fail.
50 Shades: No shit. I just. I can’t. Also, that baby costume thing makes me want to barf. ERRYWHERE.
Game of Thrones: I’ve been told to read the book first, so I will get around to watching GoT in roughly 2020.
Scandal: Why would a designer do this? Don’t take the job if you’re not going to do it. Especially if you know you’re working for people who are vocal on the internet, like say a FREAKING BLOGGER. Why are people so stupid?
Stephanie Sinclair
@cynicalsapphire LOL! You win the internet today!
Hahahaha! Harper MacCollins. With that name they can even market their books by including one in every Happy Meal at McDonalds. Think of the possibilities!
Don’t worry. You totally didn’t miss much with sex in 50 Shades. Hmmm… The Testament of Jessie Lamb? That title scares me.
Elizabeth Smart: All I really remember is that she was kidnapped as a child and found later. I didn’t follow the story that much because I was a kid when it happened.
GoT: LOL. You and I both! Those books are long too!
Scandal: That’s a good question. It’s kinda like you’re asking to be called out at that point.
cynicalsapphire
@Stephanie Sinclair Right? So many possibilities. They clearly did not think this shiz through!
Testament of Jessie Lamb is a post-apocalyptic that was nominated for the Man Booker. I thought it would be good as a result, but it was AWFUL. So many misuses of punctuation and a sex scene that compared a dick to an earthworm. I THINK NOT.
Elizabeth Smart: Well, that would explain it. I was probably too young to care.
Scandal: Maybe she’s the all press is good press sort?
veela_valoom
EL James publishers fighting fanfiction being republished is probably the most ridiculous thing I’ve heard of lately. I’ve seen it posted a few times and every time I’m like “You hypocritical idiots.” Have you guys seen the Rob Pattinson hates Twilight clip video put together from his interviews? I suspect you’d like it.
Stephanie Sinclair
@veela_valoom I know. It boggles the mind. And nope! Haven’t seen it. But I have seen the Tumblr page. No one hates Twilight more than RPatz. What’s funny is when they ask Steph Meyer about it and she has to explain. “Oh, no. I think her meant…” LOL.
Giselleco
Omg I almost died watching the Twilight parody. But, how the fuck do they do that? Playing with the fastforward? And as a designer I’m very annoyed by this Anna scandal. I think bloggers should really make sure they check out the designer they hire. It’s easy to contact prior clients or ask for a list of references, or google/search in Twitter their names to see if complaints pop up. And most importantly, don’t agree to pay 100% upfront. No designer I ever worked with asked for the full amount up front and I would not agree to those terms as a buyer either. I’m glad that she’s finally being outed though I hear she did this tons and the others never spoke up.
Stephanie Sinclair
@Giselleco Completely agree. I think the only time I ever payed 100% up font was for a button ($20) from The Cutest Blog on the Block. It’s such a shame because her designs were really cute and Kat and I considered her for one minute. But we ultimately went with someone else. I’m incredibly sad for TBS and the other bloggers who lost their money.
Twilight Parody: They have a Hunger Games one too!
Jenni Alluring Reads
hahaha Those bad lip reading parodies are hilarious. My favourite is still the first Twilight one. Thats really sad to see how those girls were swindled by Anna. It’s too bad that someone as big as her would do something like that, hopefully they get their money back.
Stephanie Sinclair
I really liked the first one too! I’m looking forward to what they do with Eclipse!
I was wondering the same thing. Why do it to someone as big as them???
Kara_M
That 50 impressions video had me crying I was laughing so hard. Faves: Mickey Mouse, George W. Bush, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Hilarious.
I was following the Anna Marie Moore story all day yesterday and I was completely flabbergasted by the number of people she swindled and the fact that it had not come out before this! I’m glad it has, but shit. So sorry to all the bloggers that got screwed over. It makes me really sad because I doubt they will ever see that money again. But I do want to thank The Book Smugglers for speaking up.
Stephanie Sinclair
@Kara_M Mickey Mouse was my favorite!
And yes, I agree. I’m glad they spoke up too.
Lisa FicTalk
That onesie grosses me out every single time I see it. Ugh. Think of the poor kid that has to wear that in public. I’m sorry but I’d be judging the parents like a mofo if I ever saw that in real life.
Secondly, Elizabeth Smart deserves the chance to tell her story, however, I don’t know if I’d be strong enough to read that. I’d be angry on her behalf and also very very sad.
E.L’s french publishers need to go take a flying leap. That is all.
LOVE the bad lip-reading! LMAO!
Finally, why is it not surprising that this Anna person was a HUGE supporter of the Stolen Story Siren?
After all, birds of a feather do stick together. And Anna obviously didn’t mind supporting TSS for her wrongdoings since she has been doing WAY WORSE. Stealing money? WHERE IS THE POLICE? WHERE IS THE FBI? I WANT MAH MONEY BACK! – That’s what I’d be sayin’, not even gonna lie. I’m from the islands, we don’t take shit like that lying down. We need retribution.
I remember when that woman was posting the bloggers’ identities on her site and people were happy about that… why aren’t people doing the same to this Anna person? Shouldn’t she be held accountable? I think so.
Lisa FicTalk
That last part reads funny, it makes it sound like what Vanity did was okay which it WAS NOT. She was a total looney toon biotch.
I meant to say that people supported the lengths of crazy that that woman went to in order to personally attack bloggers who were not in the wrong, so why aren’t people getting angry about this situation that warrants THAT kind of behaviour?I mean, not only is money lost but I bet she has those bloggers personal info too, like, real names and addresses, etc if they used paypal and what not to process their orders. There should be ways to track that sort of thing, no?
Stephanie Sinclair
@Lisa FicTalk I think the best course of action would be to pursue action legally for all those who were effected. It’s the best chance for Anna to be held accountable for her actions and for the possibility of getting their money back.
Erika
I literally lost it when I saw the Legend of Zelda: Hyrule Historia! I need that because it sounds completely awesome. I think I’ve watched that trailer like five times now. And that New Moon bad lip reading was hilarious!
RachelTsoumbakos
OMGs! Zelda AND Game of Thrones IN THE ONE ARTICLE! I can die happy now (but not until after GoT is over…..)
AnimeGirlAlex
Thanks for the roundup!
I’m so over 50 shades that it’s not even fun, but yeah, that’s pretty hypocritical on their side *shakes head*
the sex awards thing made me crack up. and it sucks that thing with the wed designer 🙁 so sad.
Stephanie Sinclair
@AnimeGirlAlex I think this is the second time we’ve heard about James suing someone over that. I believe the first time she had a lady’s book pulled or sent her a legal letter. Smh.
aprilmom00
OMG what a great roundup and love Zelda and GoT.
Seriously I don’t like what happened and glad for the PSA by the Book Smugglers. Wrong on so many levels.
Good for Elizabeth to tell her side.
booksandwine
I totally had a wild look in my eyes on Thanksgiving when explaining Game Of Thrones and why it is THE BEST at dinner.
Also. That whole designer thing sucks. I know a few other people who went through it and TBH, I was looking into hiring her but was deterred by the cost and end up buying a skin for my theme instead (Marketer’s Delight at Kolakube) for like 60$. I am more than pleased with my layout, plus with saving all that cash money. But yeah, long story short it’s kind of the worst to steal people’s money, especially because I am pretty sure that we all work damn hard for our paychecks.
Stephanie Sinclair
@booksandwine I see I’m going to have to Netflix this show as you’re the 100 millionth person to claim that!
Redesigning a site is expensive and most professionals can charge over $1,000 for it.
Primrose
Goodness! What has the world come to? I was just thinking the other day of getting a personalized blog design for my blog but now I’m generally worried that it’s hard to find a good and honest blog designer out there.
Stephanie Sinclair
@Primrose You could ask other bloggers for recommendations. Most are more than happy to share their experience with others.
Renae M
But only imagine how much fun it would be to say “And releasing this week from Harperschustette RandomPenguinillian: <i>Fifty-five Hues of Pink</i>, a dashing new erotic thriller sure to make your grandmother swoon!”
…it has possibilities.
Renae M
But only imagine how much fun it would be to say “And releasing this week from Harperschustette RandomPenguinillian: Fifty-five Hues of Pink, a dashing new erotic thriller sure to make your grandmother swoon!”
…it has possibilities.
The Hipster Owl's Bookshelf
@Renae M Haha!! :))) It most certainly does!
Stephanie Sinclair
@Renae M Hahahaha! Win!
The Hipster Owl's Bookshelf
I think Elizabeth is very strong to come out and be blunt about what happened. The only thing that worries me is that some sick pervs out there will only want to read her memoir to read the explicit sections. Trust me. I wouldn’t be surprised. But I’m so glad she got a happy ending… :))Btw, Steph… you are awesome!! lol Writing reviews for both your blog AND goodreads is pretty awesome! :))
I loved the way the publishers are defending any titles from being slightly plagiaristic (does that word even exist?? I say it DOES!!) toward the Fifty Shades of Crap trilogy…I mean…James DID just practically steal it from Twilight… ahem…
I was just reading The Book Smugglers post about what than con-designer did to them! And you’re right…what a coincidence that it was the same person who defended The Story Syren… goodness… I’m counting my lucky stars that so far, I’ve never lost $$$ to a con. Hopefully it will stay that way!
And FINALLY…. the more I read your blog, the MORE I love it! My favorite posts are definitely the Buzz-worthy News. hehe ;))) Keep up the awesome work!
Thanks for hosting an awesome blog! :)))
Stephanie Sinclair
@The Hipster Owl’s Bookshelf Thank you!
And I agree, It’s really sad what happened to The Book Smuggers and the other bloggers. 🙁
The Hipster Owl's Bookshelf
@Stephanie Sinclair @The Hipster Owl’s Bookshelf Yup… btw…thanks so much for the follow! TOTALLY MADE MY DAY, since you guys are one of my top favorite book blogs :))
Stephanie Parent
I’m really worried about all the publishers combining, and I certainly don’t want amazon to be the only option, but…I feel like Smashwords looks kind of amateurish. I don’t want to put my book on there!
Also, since she commented here, I have to say that Giselle is a *great* cover designer!
Neyra
I… will never again see Twilight & Fifty the same again #LaughingForDays xD that’s just… tfff!! LOL
I can’t believe the Scandal, and really E.L. James, really?? -.- smh! What is this world coming too >.<
Heartless_Lyn
I’m glad that I know enough bloggers to find a good designer!
The E.L.James thing…..UGH. There are people online swearing that it was NOT fanfiction. Sick, Sad world.
JennyJen
Okay. That 50 Shades in 50 voices gave me the stomachache of all stomach aches – from laughter. That was brilliant.
cancan
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