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    story645Mark Shrayber
    10/29/15 3:44pm

    Is the audience for M/M stuff typically gay men or straight women? I can understand this not getting ‘caught if it’s the latter ‘cause most slash/yaoi is very much could be a straight romance just as easily, but I’m a little more baffled if gay men didn’t catch on. Unless this author was just generally pretty unpopular ‘cause it sounds like the books were likely terrible.

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      HufflethePuffstory645
      10/29/15 3:47pm

      Pretty sure it’s straight women. I think most M/M books sold are written by, and targeted for straight women.

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      mercenarykittenstory645
      10/29/15 3:51pm

      It depends,M/M romances I think might be geared towards women at least in this instance, however there are probably other works by Queer authors that cater to queer men.

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    memorykid9Mark Shrayber
    10/29/15 4:01pm

    Serious question here for anyone who doesn’t mind explaining a bit about the editorial process of the romance world:

    If someone today were to take a 40-year old romance novel, change all the names, the title, edit-out any anachronisms, and submit it as an original manuscript; what mechanisms are in place to catch the theivery?

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      Kathygnomememorykid9
      10/29/15 4:05pm

      These were independently published.

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      memorykid9Kathygnome
      10/29/15 4:21pm

      I understand that. I’ve just alaways wondered how it doesn’t happen in the traditional romance publishing model. I mean, those stories are pretty formulaic to begin with. I know I’m a bit off-topic here.

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    Wh4tTh3Wh4tMark Shrayber
    10/29/15 4:10pm

    This probably puts me in the “hopelessly stupid” category, but I wasn’t aware that there was a gay romance genre.

    I have seen gay porn and erotica in stores but not romances. Straight men make such a big thing of never reading romance novels that I guess I assumed that there’s no appeal for men of any orientation. Now I’m curious...

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      spoonfedkitWh4tTh3Wh4t
      10/29/15 4:30pm

      These books are mostly geared toward straight women, but that doesn’t mean gay romances written by/for gay men don’t exist.

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      JuniperWh4tTh3Wh4t
      10/29/15 5:19pm

      There is a very large MM Romance fan group on Goodreads, or you can just browse the MM Romance category of books there to find a wide variety of sub-genres (Mystery, Historical, Paranormal, etc.)

      ETA: you don’t see them in stores because they’re almost all ebooks, or POD. Some authors and publishers are also branching into audiobooks.

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    SipowitzMark Shrayber
    10/29/15 3:47pm

    I wrote this great M/M romance novel about two star-crossed lovers from families that hate each other for seemingly no reason at all, Romeo and Julian.

    It gets pretty dark towards the end.

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      MeggannaSipowitz
      10/29/15 3:51pm

      As long as the original is in the public domain, you’re A-OK ;]

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      BrightEyesSipowitz
      10/29/15 3:56pm

      Gnomeo and Julian even more so.

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    Still Cat from MAMark Shrayber
    10/29/15 3:58pm

    “For those who know me best, you know that responsibility for my actions begins and ends with me. I will also add there are some personal and professional issues I’ve had to deal with in the last year that have stretched me in ways that haven’t always been good for me. I write about certain concerns related to military service for a reason; however, I am not offering that as an excuse.

    Actually, Ms. Harper, you just did.

    She never expected someone to read both versions, recognize the theft, and actually report it to the people who would take her to task for it. Pretty stupid to even use basically the same cover blurb. She could — and probably did for some of “her” books — take the safer route of more complete revision of another author’s work, but she got lazy and complacent.

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      Mark ShrayberStill Cat from MA
      10/29/15 4:16pm

      This is the first time I’ve heard the military being used to reason away plagiarism; and I’ve heard every excuse for this kind of blatant plagiarism—it’s very easy to tell when it’s accidental—when I was teaching.

      What Hatner’s doing here is something very special and I look forward to the explanation that will definitely put everyone, including Becky McGraw and the other authors she’s burned, at ease about the situation. (Just as soon as she finds one to lift?)

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      Still Cat from MAMark Shrayber
      10/29/15 4:36pm

      Yes, blaming the military is a fresh, original plot angle for her, for a change.

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    MostlyKelp ( Now, you people get that oven, or die trying. You hear that, Stormy? DIE.)Mark Shrayber
    10/29/15 4:14pm

    The masterpiece that is Pounded in the Butt by my own BUtt

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      Mark ShrayberMostlyKelp ( Now, you people get that oven, or die trying. You hear that, Stormy? DIE.)
      10/29/15 5:10pm

      I tried to explain the concept behind that story at a party last weekend and there was a stern lecture on the way home about appropriate conversation topics to bring up in polite company.

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      MostlyKelp ( Now, you people get that oven, or die trying. You hear that, Stormy? DIE.)Mark Shrayber
      10/29/15 5:55pm

      I feel as if this would be an amazingly appropriate topic at any party.

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    HappyHighwaymanMark Shrayber
    10/29/15 4:31pm

    It’s clear theft, and she should pay compensation.

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      scottHappyHighwayman
      10/29/15 5:08pm

      I’m wondering if she could argue that it is transformative. From Stanford:

      • Has the material you have taken from the original work been transformed by adding new expression or meaning?
      • Was value added to the original by creating new information, new aesthetics, new insights, and understandings?”

      Would chaging the characters derived from a hetero-normative writing tradition to explore a homoesexual relationship be sufficient?

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      Mark Shrayberscott
      10/29/15 5:12pm

      She definitely used the word ‘transformation’ for a reason then?

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    britt93Mark Shrayber
    10/29/15 3:47pm

    Is it wrong that I want to know why a straight woman is writing M/M romance?

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      Meggannabritt93
      10/29/15 3:54pm

      It’s a really popular romance genre right now (and has grown over the past several years). It’s primarily written by women, for women. Not unlike yaoi from Japan.

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      britt93Megganna
      10/29/15 4:01pm

      That’s what I don’t like. It sounds incredibly exploitive to me,

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    BrightEyesMark Shrayber
    10/29/15 3:42pm

    What about Cumming Home Texas?

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      Jwend392Mark Shrayber
      10/29/15 3:57pm

      Who doesn’t love a bit of cowboy yaoi?

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        deliaplumJwend392
        10/29/15 4:31pm

        i just learned about yaoi from Southpark last night. what a coinkydink.

        yes, my comment has nothing to do about anything. sorry.

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        DarkTowerLateArrivaldeliaplum
        10/29/15 9:59pm

        We should all be more like Tweek and Craig. ;)

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