Theft of Words: When Janet Dailey Plagiarized Nora Roberts
In 1997, we learned that Janet Dailey had plagiarized Nora Roberts. Both were best-selling romance authors. Sadly, reporters made a misogynistic mockery of the case.
Many romance fans are still angry about what happened. We felt betrayed both by Janet Dailey and by the terrible media coverage. We stood by Nora Roberts.
Janet Dailey was dropped by her publisher. But in 2001, she was picked up by another publisher. For all the readers who refused to support Dailey, some were grateful to see her back.
The Scandalous Reporting
For the most part, the way this case was covered was shameful. The reporters thought they were being cute when they mocked romance writers and fans. The fans took notice.
We have long memories. In 2019, in Plagiarism in Romantic Fiction, Caroline Kincaid covered this case and others for the Unsuitable blog. She notes that when covering this story, Associated Press (!) reporter Jeff Wilson used the phrase, “there is a reason romance novels all seem to read alike” in his article. Like a bad penny, this line kept coming back.
Countless articles played up the “rival” angle. Eww. Multiple articles started with the sentence “There is a reason romance novels all seem to read alike.” The Entertainment Weekly…
