[flounder88]

There is a new post on the wilsebbis Reddit thread "I believe bestselling author Mark Dawson is a serial plagiarist" claiming Self-Publishing Formula have announced various changes, including how Mark Dawson is going to "take a step back". Can anyone confirm if this has been published in the SPF Facebook page? I think it's members only. Interesting if confirmed to be true, as there is still no response to the allegations made in that Reddit thread.

The SPF post you refer to is pasted below - it appeared in their FB group yesterday. It's fooling nobody if the chatter out there is anything to go by. Dawson has made no response to the allegations and is trying to sneak away from public view opting to get out of the self-pub limelight, cutting short his career as a guru and focus on preserving his author business. Makes sense. I doubt many of his readers have heard about the plagiarism. That having been said his misdemeanours have made the mainstream press before (when he admitted underhand tactics to get on the UK Sunday Times bestseller list) and I hear that there may be more damaging revelations to come. Let's see. The folk who have invested in his courses over the years must feel pretty disappointed and cheated. It's hard to see how the SPF brand can reinvent itself without Dawson - at least he was a genuine bestselling author. The same can't be said for the guy left holding the baby (James Blatch). What an unholy mess - and wake-up call for all those other suspect gurus who inhabit the space.


Edited to remove post from SPF. You can't copy/paste material from a private group or forum to KBoards. Also edited for name-calling. - Becca

 

[flounder88]

Thanks for posting this confirmation, flounder88. Your assessment about the author's possible strategy to withdraw from the self-publishing sphere and focus on novels seems a rational path for him to take (although it's purely speculative from our point of view). I recall the reports in The Guardian and The Independent about when the author purchased 400 copies of his own novel, retail. It is ironic that two of the sources the Reddit post alleges the author plagiarised are these two newspapers. I wonder if either of these papers is aware of this?

On the subject of the novels, the last time I checked, the author's novella "Tarantula", which I believe was the subject of many of these allegations, had been removed from Amazon. Whether it was removed by Amazon or the author is of course not public information, but I believe some of the other titles mentioned in the same Reddit post are still for sale on Amazon, and also published by Welbeck in paperback. One wonders what Welbeck's reaction is to these serious allegations.

I think the author of the original plagiarism post on Reddit reached out to a whole bunch of press including The Guardian. It remains to be seen what will come of that; maybe there will be some mainstream press on this in the future (I think there would be a lot of research and crosschecking to do on the topic before going live with any such article). As for the missing books, I don't doubt there will be some rapid-fire re-editing of editions in the background to remove any further examples of his plagiarism. This would explain their absence. By the way, Welbeck is no more having been bought by Hachette in 2022. Dawson's books now appear under their Headline division. He doesn't have many books on there. I'll be amazed if they renew his deal when this one ends.

 

[flounder88]

I see Hidden Gems are doing a podcast called "Inspiration vs Plagiarism: Exploring the Fine Line between Inspiration and Plagiarism". I thought this was interesting timing.

Very interesting. I see there's a link to the Medium article on Dawson's plagiarism in there but the author's careful not to address the story directly - probably on the advice of HG's lawyer!

 

[flounder88]

I just discovered the Self Publishing Show podcast and feel that it's helpful for newbies to publishing, which I am. And then I came across the Dawson plagiarism allegations, which was disappointing and confusing. Confusing because, when going deeper, I haven't found anything other than a Reddit thread. Is there an actual law suit or anything official?

The evidence in the Reddit post is pretty damning but you'll now find many references to that post in the self-pub world. Dawson has yet to make any public comment (as has his company Self Publishing Formula - or whatever it's now called) but who knows what's going on behind the scenes. There could be legal moves from Dawson against the author of the post but don't discount legal moves against Dawson from those authors whose works he allegedly plundered.

 

[flounder88]

Were I still playing in self-pub, I would likely continue to wave a red flag over this allegation. It very much reminds me of the plagiarism allegations levied at Cristiane Serruya in the romance genre a few years ago. I had a (very) minor hand in uncovering some of the evidence, ensuring the authors who'd had passages lifted were made aware, and otherwise spreading the word.

Nora Roberts (aka J.D. Robb) sued Cristiane, who is Brazilian, so that suit played out in Brazil. I don't know the outcome of the suit, but there was at least a media outcry at the time. For example:

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/24/books/nora-roberts-plagiarism.html (behind a paywall)

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/apr/25/nora-roberts-files-multi-plagiarism-lawsuit-alleging-writer-copied-more-than-40-authors

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/feb/20/romantic-novelist-cristiane-serruya-accused-of-plagiarism-courtney-milan

I don't pretend to know UK law or Brazilian law around plagiarism -- and, often, even the nuances of US law elude me -- but it just takes someone with the clout of a Nora Roberts (or a Courtney Milan) to capture media attention. Maybe someone who's been following the Mark Dawson story and the allegations can put the bug in the ear of one of the well-known authors whose work was lifted (hey, free media attention!) and/or in that of an influential journalist or two...

I'm not sure if you've seen the updated post on Reddit from the guy who kicked all this off:



It provides evidence of pilfering by Dawson from some major works by the likes of Elmore Leonard & Cormac McCarthy, no less. Once their estates start taking a legal interest, we might finally see some action against him. With both authors now deceased, representatives of theirs estates may well value the publicity of legal action against Dawson providing a boost for the respective brands and some lucre to boot. Bring it on I say!