The Plagiarist (cont.)

Plagiarists, beware: the internet will find you out | Books | guardian.co.uk

The story of Kay Manning, found out for raiding other people’s books, is a cautionary tale for anyone tempted to copy

Hurrah for the internet, which has unmasked and brought down another plagiariser: in this case a romance “writer” going under the name of Kay Manning. Her uncovering came courtesy of a crack team of authors: first Liz Fielding, who posted about a short story of hers which she’d discovered had been plagiarised. “All Kay Manning has done is change the names of the characters, change the location and minor details,” wrote Fielding. “Why, I cannot imagine, since she’s giving it away free. To have her name on a successful story, perhaps? To build a reputation she can use to sell her own work?” Manning apparently responded to the accusation, claiming the situation was the result of “an honest mistake”. “I put this story in the wrong folder on my computer and actually thought it was mine that I started a long time ago. If I really wanted to ‘steal it’ do you honestly think I would have put it up for free?” she asked.

Perhaps. But then Elizabeth Chadwick entered the fray, uncovering a host of other works which Manning had seemingly lifted.