So was this considered plagiarism, or was I just a dummy?

Hi all. I had an experience a few years back that left a sour taste in my mouth, and I was wondering if maybe I can get some enlightmenment on it.

I was working at a newspaper locally, and had started writing for a national magazine about a sports subject that I am pretty well versed in. I received an email from a person across the country about an article that I wrote, asking if I would consider having it used in an upcoming travel guide to these venues.

There is a long story here I won't bore you with, but the Cliff's Notes version is I said yes. I also ended up agreeing to write several other pieces, things that became more extensive as time went on. I told the person that I did not want compensation for the writing itself: instead I wanted to have acknowledgment for the parts that I wrote so that I wouild have this as a publishing credit when the time came to submit my own work.

This was agreed to, and a contract sent to me that stated I would be "acknowledged" for my work and receive X number of books when it came out. I ended up spending a lot of time on this, met the person several times, traveled to some places to accurately write about them, etc. Mind you, I really enjoyed all of this, and was not in the least upset about not asking for money. It was always about furthering my credentials.

In the winter before the book was due, I received a random, unasked for, check for a few hundred dollars, and a note thanking me for everything. I was surprised, to put it mildly, but banked it thinking they were being decent. I was also asked to fill out an 'author's bio', also a surprise.

Fast forward to the spring that the book came out. I waited, and waited for my copies. Finally, a month after it came out (and the folks were being cavalier about sending my copies) I ordered it from Amazon.

Most you you probably already know where this is going, right? My 'acknowledgement' was literally that: a sentence in the acknowledgements in the front, vaguely thanking me for 'my work', which could have been fetching coffee or cleaning the catbox for the specifics it addressed. I was lumped in with about a dozen other people, who assisted in one way or another.

Besides that, inside I found the author even wrote a specific disclaimer, stating in no uncertain terms that "everything in this book was written by me and me alone."

Well, I felt like a total dummy. There is no way in hell I was ever going to be able to point to this book as a credit. To say I was hurt and angry would be an understatement, mostly at myself for thinking that this person wouldn't screw me over and for not seeing how it could happen. I honestly thought there was to be a reference in the front to what I had written, especially since the foreword was attributed to the man who wrote that.

We never at any time stated or agreed that anything that I wrote would be attributed to someone else. I did not expect to be listed as a co-author either, I just thought I would have the pieces (which by now, were a fair number) credited to me.Especially the original one, which was already published under my name.

I asked my coworkers at the newspaper about it. They said that this would be considered plagerism. I told this to this person, who became incensed and we ceased any contact.

So, to those of you with far more experience than I; Was it plagerism? (not that anything will come of it, too much water under the bridge)

What should I have done up front to prevent this?

Do you think the check sent to cover their butts, to prove I took payment as a 'ghost writer'?

Was that really considered acknowledgement for the work I did? My contract was really vague, a fact I realized after it was in print.

Just looking to lay it to rest in my head and learn from it I guess.
Thanks in advance. This site has been invaluable to me so far. How I wish I had found it when this was going on!

Thanks for the input.

The articles were used verbatim.

When I asked about the check, I was told it was to offset some of the expenses I had incurred because they were 'grateful' for my help. (I had traveled for some of it, spent a few weekends on the road checking some of these places out) I believed them at the time, but later wondered if it was a CYA move.

I am trying to recall the exact wording of the contract (this was about 7 years ago now) and it was vague. It said something along the lines of that in exchange for the writing I was doing, I would receive acknowledgement in the book. And that term 'acknowledgement' was key. It didn't say credit. And I did not realize what that meant. My bad.

At this point, I won't take it any further legally, because really, what would I gain? At the time, this person got really angry and very hotly told me I was wrong and that they did nothing wrong, yet my coworkers said this was plagerism.

I felt pretty burned by it all, yet wondered if I had the right to feel that way. Sounds like maybe I did.

I am not looking to do anything about it. There has been too much time gone by, and it is indeed a "lesson learned" thing. And it isn't like this book was a runaway bestseller, hardly. It is a niche book that languishes in Amazon at a cut rate now.

My other concern then, and now, is that I am leery of making a stink and perhaps inadvertently branding myself as a troublemaker in the industry. The publisher is one that I would indeed query if I were to do something in their genre again (they also were the parent company of the magazine that I had written several articles for, including some features) so I really didn't want to start a pissing match over my failure to comprehend.

No,at this point I am simply trying to get insight from those of you more experienced as to whether or not I screwed myself over or if this was a sly way of sliding one past me. I honestly thought I had practiced due diligence in my talks with this person. We met several times, all across the country. We spoke often both online and on the phone. They told me there was a European version of this in the works, and would I consider signing on formally for that? They even sent me business cards (quite fancy ones at that) listing me as a writer for their company, saying it gave me credibility for accessing some of the people I needed to talk to. Until the bitter end, they seemed very upright with me.

The sad thing was, I enjoyed my time writing for them. If they hadn't done this, I would have been happy to continue some sort of a relationship with them.

I have the contract still and some of the correspondence. I have not dug it out, again because I am not looking to do anything with it, other than learn from it and not fall for something like this in the future. And, it has bugged me over the years too. I did not tell a lot of people around me about what happened because I was embarrassed by it. But some of them asked about the book off and on, because they knew I was doing it.

I agree, the "acknowledgement" term cooked me. But, in light of the multiple conversations I had where I specifically stated that I was more interested in a publishing credit, I honestly can say I didn't see it coming. I never in a million years gave the acknowledgement thing you see so commonly one thought.

Edited to add; the author put in a disclaimer stating that s/he alone wrote everything in the book, an unusual disclaimer I thought. And my original article ( the one s/he contacted me about originally) had actually been published twice by me, once in our paper, and once with the magazine (who knew it had been previously published). It was used verbatim and credited to this person by this person. That really shocked me. And no, I did not give them permission to do that. My work was to be credited to me, but they could use it.

Thanks for all of the insight. This is the kind of stuff I was looking to find out. I will be the first to tell you, I was for sure more of a newbie about it than I even realized. And again: I am not looking to pursue anything other than learning from this. There will be no contacting the publisher or lawyers from me, because I feel that I contributed to this from my own ignorance.

The magazine had a one time right to the article. There was no conflict there. And the publishing company owned that magazine, so often things were used in books that had already been out in one of their magazines. (They have many titles).

They had three project ideas (that I was aware of anyway). The first was this one,which was pitched and sold, and under deadline to complete (hence the eagerness to have me write so many pieces)

The second one would have involved cuisine and unique dining experiences found at unusual venues. Then the third was the European version of the project I was working on.

Supposedly, having the cards would make it easier to access people at these places for the purposes of interviews, gave credibility. At least that is what I was told. And truthfully, I didn't need any help, being as I had been involved in this sport for a long time, and knew a great many of the people I was interviewing anyway. Which was part of the attraction: feeling like I was part of a cool new project involving something I loved.

You know, the cards were sent to me randomly too, like the check. They simply showed up in the mail one day, and when I called about them, I was told about how they would help me, and that they were kind of a thank you and a gesture of looking forward to working on many projects together.

I still don't know for sure why either came to me like that. Deception? Genuine gratitude for what I was doing? Maybe there was a change of heart later about including me? I don't know, and probably never will.

As far as I know, none of those other projects ever came to fruition. And the little "company" is defunct.

What I am realizing now, was that there were a lot of nuances that I did not catch. I really hope to avoid the repeat of this should I land a contract for representation or publication some day.

I also hope that my experience was more due to bumbling on the part of these folks rather than outright deception. I had always felt (hoped?) that was the case. I am as much bothered by feeling like I misjudged people as I am by how the project turned out.

I also never knew for sure who was correct about the plagerism claim: my coworkers at the paper or the people with the project. I did bring my contract in (unfortunately after the fact) and they said how it was out in the book was plagerism. The folks at this little book company reacted like I had tossed a grenade into a garden party when I told them this.

I will pull the contract and reread it. Maybe I signed away rights without knowing it, although I do remember reading that I would be acknowledged FOR WHAT I WROTE. Which was what made the actual acknowledgement and disclaimer a shock.

What is most important about this now is that I really hope to find the resources I need to avoid anything like this in the future. Again, I wish I had found this site back then.

In a way, I do owe these folks some thanks. They crystalized my certainty of wanting to do my own projects and to be published. Who knows if I would have gotten the same kick in the ass otherwise?