Among Friends
Lao Tsu wrote something to the effect – keep your friends close, but your enemies closer.
In the year 2000 I published a book with a person that I thought was my friend and someone whom I could trust. It was just after the book was released and it was time to publicize it that my mother came to live with us and I became a 24/7/365 end-of-life caregiver. It was hard for me to concentrate on publicizing the book because I was worried about things like keeping my mother comfortable and alive.
My friend kept pushing me to do things to publicize the book that I thought were unethical and just wrong. It came to a point where I was about ready to go nuts … a short trip anyway I can assure you. She said give me all the royalties to the book for a year and I will take over the task of publicizing it. Now my mother may have given birth to a slightly eccentric child but not to a fool. I refused to give up my rights.
The next year I found out that my friend had taken out parts of the book and republished it under another title and her name alone. I was not mentioned or credited as the original co-owner of the copyright and that the book was a derived from that book. I learned from this experience that sometimes those who are closest to us and appear to be friends in fair weather will become enemies when it comes to money and fame. I find it very hard to forgive and forget this incident even though in my heart I don’t think that this friend thought she was doing anything wrong even though according to US copyright laws she had broken the law. Did I do anything? Not much I was to busy helping my best friend spend her last days on earth. Did I learn anything? Yes. Never write a book with a friend and always hire a good editor.
In the year 2000 I published a book with a person that I thought was my friend and someone whom I could trust. It was just after the book was released and it was time to publicize it that my mother came to live with us and I became a 24/7/365 end-of-life caregiver. It was hard for me to concentrate on publicizing the book because I was worried about things like keeping my mother comfortable and alive.
My friend kept pushing me to do things to publicize the book that I thought were unethical and just wrong. It came to a point where I was about ready to go nuts … a short trip anyway I can assure you. She said give me all the royalties to the book for a year and I will take over the task of publicizing it. Now my mother may have given birth to a slightly eccentric child but not to a fool. I refused to give up my rights.
The next year I found out that my friend had taken out parts of the book and republished it under another title and her name alone. I was not mentioned or credited as the original co-owner of the copyright and that the book was a derived from that book. I learned from this experience that sometimes those who are closest to us and appear to be friends in fair weather will become enemies when it comes to money and fame. I find it very hard to forgive and forget this incident even though in my heart I don’t think that this friend thought she was doing anything wrong even though according to US copyright laws she had broken the law. Did I do anything? Not much I was to busy helping my best friend spend her last days on earth. Did I learn anything? Yes. Never write a book with a friend and always hire a good editor.
posted by Myriam Maytorena at 7:39 AM
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