Letters to the Editor
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Don't hold your breath.
Peggy, here are some of the passages:
http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=512948
I've done what you do too and I've plagiarized a concept or string of words by accident--usually I catch it-- but this was different. I do have empathy for her because when you were 17 did you know there could be ramifications heard 'round the world? Or that you could be on the Post James Frey Shit List for the rest of your life? (different situation, I realize) --probably not.
With gimmicks,(she's 17) come problems. She's a kid. She was too young to know she committed a serious error. I don't know how the editors detect plagiarism if they aren't aware of the plagiarized work in the first place, although you'd think those editors would know this genre, yes? But if a kid sends you her manuscript, heads up, you better conduct a question and answer to vet each page.
Moreover, there is a literary climate (and industry) that wants bigger,(not richer or better thought out, in fact shorter books, it seems), gimmicky-er, more stuff happening, more plots, a rabid fear of the glorious mundane, less good writing, more writers with their own stories and dramas that look good on the jacket, no matter how dubious. Hello, James Frey.
I think exposing the industry's pimps would be a more interesting article than this one and I apologize if Salon did a tie-in article that I missed during the Frey hoopla.