Goodreads Librarians Group discussion

Ugh, I hate it when authors use the name of a famous author to try and make their own book more interesting. Lewis Carroll didn't write this and I think he should not be credited as an author, but his name *is* on the cover.

Maybe have Carroll as secondary author with the role 'Inspired by'?

I hate this, too.

Tellingly, the publisher presents the book in this manner: Exeunt Alice by ‘Lewis Carroll’ and Kevin Sweeney. Those subtle quotes are supposed to signify that it's NOT the real Lewis Carroll and that the publisher knows it.

You could change the name to 'Lewis Carroll' with quotes, but I probably wouldn't do that because I don't think many GR users would understand the distinction. Plus, it would probably keep getting "fixed." (I doubt that there's a librarian note big enough to prevent mistaken changes.)

How about adding this "author conceit" to the description instead?

Edited to clarify and correct my typos. Doh!

P.S. I always learn so much as a Goodreads librarian. Today, I had fun reading about "Pseudepigrapha" on wikipedia. I also found an interesting article titled "Dealing With Fake Co-Authors: A New Publishing Problem." It's about academic papers, not books, but I suspect that the issue of fake co-authors on books is becoming more common.

Mesembryanthemum wrote: "I hate this, too.

Tellingly, the publisher presents the book in this manner: Exeunt Alice by ‘Lewis Carroll’ and Kevin Sweeney. Those subtle quotes are supposed to signify that it's NOT the real ..."

I sympathise with your POV Mesem, but the bots will probably just add the name back if the field is blank.

I like lethe's solution. Maybe Jaclyn could weigh in when she is back on deck?

Mesembryanthemum wrote: "P.S. I always learn so much as a Goodreads librarian. Today, I had fun reading about "Pseudepigrapha" on wikipedia."

Learning so much, yes.

Carol She's So Novel꧁꧂ wrote: "I sympathise with your POV Mesem, but the bots will probably just add the name back if the field is blank."

Oof -- the bots. How could I have forgotten about them? Sigh.

Anyway, I just read the author's note in a Kindle edition (Amazon kindly includes it in their free sample), where he says that he has reissued the book without Carroll's name and admits that the book is fan fiction.

So how does GR deal with fan fiction that uses a known author as "inspiration"? Perhaps this book could follow that model -- if there is one.

lethe wrote: "Ugh, I hate it when authors use the name of a famous author to try and make their own book more interesting. Lewis Carroll didn't write this and I think he should not be credited as an author, but his name *is* on the cover.

Maybe have Carroll as secondary author with the role 'Inspired by'?"

I agree with Lethe's suggestion.