Signet and Cassie Edwards Part Ways

Part of a series: Cassie Edwards 1: The First Post | Cassie Edwards 2: Savage Longings | Cassie Edwards Part 3: Running Fox | Cassie Edwards Part 4: Savage Moon | Cassie Edwards Part 5: Savage Beloved | Follow-up: Penguin (Part 1?) | Official Statement from Signet | AP Article Contains Response from Edwards  | RWA Responds to Allegations  | A centralized document for the Cassie Edwards situation


Thanks to the many, many readers, the first of whom was AnnaPiper, who sent me this link to late breaking news: Cassie Edwards and Signet publishing have parted ways due to “irreconcilable editorial differences:”

Romance writer Cassie Edwards and publisher Signet Books have decided to break up after allegations emerged in January that in she lifted passages in several of her books from other sources.

“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.”

The news article, which was written by AP writer Hillel Italie, who covered the original story, gives a summary, and there is no comment by Edwards for the article.

Categorized:

General Bitching...

Comments are Closed

  1. Goblin says:

    All rights to Ms. Edwards’ previously published Signet books except the bits she didn’t write herself have reverted to the author.

    There. Fixed that for them.

  2. Signet: “And by ‘irreconcilable editorial differences’ we mean ‘Good god, woman, what were you THINKING?!’”

    *bows* Glad to be of service.

  3. Kate says:

    The blog entry appears to cut off in the middle of a sentence.  Posting error, possibly?

  4. laurad says:

    Tonight, the ferrets drink champagne.

  5. Madd says:

    Is it odd that I’ve never read anything by Cassie Edwards?

  6. liz says:

    Neither have her fans.

    (Ok, that was unfair, and it’s unfortunate that a mutually beneficial relationship
    between Edwards & Signet had to die of a self inflicted wound, but snark dies slowly)

  7. Elyssa says:

    Wow.  I’m shocked that Signet finally did sometihng because I thought they never would.  It’s about time. 

    Raising a glass to ferrets. This is to you black-footed ferrets.

  8. Bron says:

    My thoughts are that that is a class act from Signet. Yes, I know the outrage in many of us wanted something fast and furious, but it looks like they have taken the time to do a thorough review, investigate the legal and moral implications, discuss the issue with the author, and give her the fairness that a long and mutually beneficial relationship has earned. The statement makes their stance on the matter clear, but doesn’t engage in demonising her (as I would hope a publisher who bears some responsibility for the mess wouldn’t).

    So, the part of me that hopes that all authors receive a considered, just response to any accusations of wrong-doing is impressed.

    And the part of me that was totally outraged back in January and still is? It’s feeling pretty damned satisfied with Signet, and waiting for statements from the other publishers.

  9. YarnHo says:

    I’m new to this whole thing (where have I BEEN?) but I admit that a tiny part of me feels vindicated – Cassie Edwards is one of the only authors I have ever not read all the way through. I have a tic that makes me finish a book even if it’s reeeeeaaaally bad because I’m crazily fascinated with how it will end – but it this case it was so incredibly awful that I felt the need to pretend I had never picked it up. I have no problem reading books with mantitty on the cover, or females in various states of undress, or both (in fact, no one at work even teases me anymore, since my total non-reaction makes it unfun), but I was actually embarrassed that someone might see name and judge me by it. I felt like yelling, “I have better taste, really!”. And I didn’t even know about the plagiarism.

    Also (kind of related but not really), could we have some more stereotypes? Please? I just LOVE assumptions made about entire groups of people! We should have a contest to see how many times the word “savage” is used.

  10. And I forgot to say, kudos (again) to the SBs and friends, for uncovering and researching the extent of the plagiarism.

    I bow before the awesomeness of BitchPower.

  11. Nora Roberts says:

    I’d echo what Bron said.

    Signet performed due diligence—and that took time considering the number of books involved. And once that was concluded, they did what I feel is the right thing.

    As I writer and a reader, I’m satisfied with that. And grateful to the SBs for bringing the situation to light.

  12. Bernita says:

    Well said, Bron.
    A highly satisfactory conclusion.
    Signet is to be commended.

  13. moira says:

    I have to say I thought nothing would come of this. I thought that the author and Signet had ridden out the brief storm of publicity and planned to do nothing more about it.

    Clearly, I was wrong, and I am relieved to be so. This has restored a bit of my faith in the honour of the industry.

    Well done, Bitches.

  14. MaryKate says:

    Wow. Amazing news. Well done, Ladies.

  15. Rachel says:

    Like others have said, I’m really impressed with the way Signet handled this. They certainly gave it the time and consideration such a serious situation deserves, and they definitely did the right thing. Now I just wonder what willl happen next for her. While I’ve never read one of her books, and even though she clearly did something very wrong, the whole thing just strikes me as sad and stupid. After all these books, and such a big readership, she loses it all because she can’t be bothered to change big hunks of other people’s writing? Way to throw your writing career away with both hands!

  16. Barb Ferrer says:

    Echoing Bron as well.  I’m glad Signet took their time and reviewed the situation and made a decision based on what they found.  And of course, kudos to the SBs for bringing it to light and for not letting it go, even when there were plenty of individuals out there who didn’t see anything “wrong” with what Ms. Edwards was doing.

    Yay, ferrets.  *g*

  17. Wow. Incredibly impressed with Signet. Kudos to them and to the Bitches.

  18. saltypepper says:

    Hallefuckinglujah. 

    Me, I’m raising a glass of champagne to all the Native Americans who will no longer have to deal with her racist books appropriating their culture and reducing them to the worst stereotypes prominently displayed on the shelves and promoted by a major publishing house.

  19. Sarah Frantz says:

    Well done, Bitches.  Well done, Signet.  Now we wait for Dorchester and Kensington, right?

  20. SAM says:

    I don’t know you are all so happy. 

    Mrs. Edwards and Signet going their seperate ways has nothing to do with what you did so you can stop gloating!

    Unless you know the exact story you should keep your mouths shut.  If you post the wrong thing you will be opening yourself up to one heck of a slander lawsuit.

  21. I’m very glad to see something come from this. I’m very, very glad to see the publishing industry make a definitive stand.

    Thank you to all of you who managed to read for the research. I tried, and couldn’t.

  22. Barb Ferrer says:

    Mrs. Edwards and Signet going their seperate ways has nothing to do with what you did so you can stop gloating!

    Well, given that the AP journalist led the piece with: Romance writer Cassie Edwards and publisher Signet Books have decided to break up after allegations emerged in January that in she lifted passages in several of her books from other sources. I’d suspect that it has at least a little something to do with the alleged plagiarism.

    I don’t know… just a suspicion. 

    And who’s gloating?  It’s not as if the woman is being hung in effigy or anything.  It’s simply a case of being pleased that in this day and age where closing your eyes, plugging your ears, and shouting “lalalalalalala” is all too common in the hopes that a situation will go away, it’s refreshing to see a corporation stepping up, conducting a thorough, measured review, and opting to take a stance.  Period.

  23. SAM says:

    As I said, you don’t know what happened.  It had nothing to do with what these people did.  You only know what the AP printed, not the whole story.  LMAO

    By celebrating you are making asses out of yourselves.  LMAO

  24. Nora Roberts says:

    Sam, you’re right. This decision by Signet has nothing to do with what anyone who posts here did.

    It has everything to do with what Edwards did.

    I wonder that certain types of people just can’t stop tossing around the lawsuit gambit. Even when they have the wrong type of lawsuit.

    And when somebody I don’t know believes she can rudely tell me to keep my mouth shut, I’m just compelled to say more.

  25. Shelly says:

    You’re right, we only know what AP said.  And AP said “after allegations emerged in January that in she lifted passages in several of her books from other sources”.  Just where, SAM, do you think those allegations arose?  If you re-read all the articles on the subject, you’ll know they arose here.

    Personally, I never really thought it was making an ass of oneself to celebrate someone doing the right thing, but perhaps I was brought up with different values.

  26. Nora Roberts says:

    Please, Sam, enlighten us. Tell us the whole story as we have to assume by your posts you’re in the know.

  27. Barb Ferrer says:

    Because obviously, the AP is such an unreliable source.

  28. liz says:

    Rachel, I don’t think she’s tossed her writing career away. I think she’d tossed the casual reader she was picking up away, and those that hadn’t read her and no doubt a fair amount of change. But there is a certain type of fan that will stand by your twice as hard if they feel you’ve been a victim and I imagine (based on observations) that she has a fair number of those. At this point she could probably do all right vanity printing. She’s down and dented, but only out if she decides to be. Other authors have come back from such actions. And I don’t know what she looks like in the international market, with her rights reverting to her she may have income from translations.

    But yea, snark put back in the snark box, I am also very encouraged to see Signet took things seriously and an outcome was reached.

  29. Arethusa says:

    Is it odd that I’ve never read anything by Cassie Edwards?

    – Madd

    Neither have her fans.

    – Liz

    Ha! This exchange made my day. And SAM, you’ve given my hope. Tell me that they dumped her because they realised her books were racist rubbish? I’d buy you a ferret.

  30. Phyl says:

    I’m curious as to what this means in practical terms. As of Thursday, when I was at my local grocery store, her books were still for sale. Will they be left there to sell or will they be pulled?

    Congrats SBs for some righteous work.

  31. Carrie Lofty says:

    I think it’s to their credit that they took their time. It doesn’t look reactionary; it looks like they actually investigated the allegations and did it all proper-like. Good for Penguin. Class act. And bravo to the Bitchery for starting the ball rolling. I wonder if the other houses involved will take their cue from this?

  32. Bernita says:

    “Signet has conducted an extensive review of all its Cassie Edwards novels”
    Now I wonder why they did that – if “Mrs. Edwards and Signet going their seperate ways has nothing to do with what you did so you can stop gloating”

  33. Good for NAL and good job SBs!

    And on a personal note, as a lawyer, I am SICK to FREAKING DEATH of the IGNORAMUSES who throw around the “watch out for the lawsuit” threat.  Let me just say that in EIGHT YEARS of practice as a trial lawyer, licensed in THREE different states and several federal jurisdictions, and as someone who has won multiple verdicts in the millions of dollars range, I spent WAY MORE TIME counseling people to AVOID litigation than to sue.  As by far the majority of my fellow trial lawyers did.  So here, once and for all, to any armchair lawyers, rabid threat-makers, and all-around nincompoops: 

    Defamation is the act of harming the reputation of another by making a FALSE statement to a third person.  (Libel is written defamation; slander is verbal defamation).  Therefore, TRUTH is an ABSOLUTE DEFENSE to a charge of defamation.

    Get it??  TRUTH.  You can’t sue people for telling the TRUTH.  Well, maybe you can sue them if you find an attorney desperate enough to take a case like that (don’t count on it), but you won’t WIN. 

    So maybe read through those passages in the books and the ferret article, among others, again, before you go slinging around the lawsuit threat.  In the meantime, I’ll dust off my First Amendment, because a big part of why I became a lawyer was to protect people from threatening bullies.

  34. DS says:

    My first cynical reaction was to wonder which publisher would pick her up next.  Then I thought about it some more.  Her penguin books now have a major liability attached.  How could any publisher trust a manuscript she hands in to them to be free of plagiarism?  One publisher has dropped her in a rather public manner so no other house could claim they were not on notice.  Contract clause or not about it being her own work, it is the publisher who would end up paying to defend a law suit—or a settlement.

  35. DS says:

    Oh, and THANK YOU, Ms Holliday.

  36. Anon76 says:

    Nora said:

    “Sam, you’re right. This decision by Signet has nothing to do with what anyone who posts here did.

    It has everything to do with what Edwards did. “

    Brava! Exactly on point.

  37. You’re welcome, although perhaps “all-around nincompoops” was a little harsh . . .

  38. Lorelie says:

    If you post the wrong thing you will be opening yourself up to one heck of a slander lawsuit

    How many drinks is that worth?

    A

    s of Thursday, when I was at my local grocery store, her books were still for sale. Will they be left there to sell or will they be pulled?

    I was curious about this same thing.  Could also depend which house published them, I imagine.

    As for the actual parting of Signet and Edwards, I’m both glad and hopeful she invested enough along the way.

  39. Bernita says:

    “And on a personal note, as a lawyer, I am SICK to FREAKING DEATH of the IGNORAMUSES who throw around the “watch out for the lawsuit” threat.”
    ~ pounds desk in delight~
    Add my THANK YOU too, Ms. Holliday!

  40. Barb Ferrer says:

    You’re welcome, although perhaps “all-around nincompoops” was a little harsh

    But it was funny as hell.

By posting a comment, you consent to have your personally identifiable information collected and used in accordance with our privacy policy.

↑ Back to Top