Jessica Seinfeld Woes Keep Getting More Woeful

re: Jessica Seinfeld Woes Keep Getting More Woeful

Suzy — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 01:27:25 GMT

Jessica also got on Oprah instead of Missy Lapine because Jessica is so much more promotable. Then Jessica follows up by sending 21 pairs of Manolos to the richest woman in the world with a card that said "there are no words" as if Oprah had donated a kidney to Jessica's first born instead of letting Jessica pump sales of her rip-off book on Oprah's show.

I had to laugh when Oprah showed the clip on TV while Jerry was there flogging his b movie and he went "Wow!" Better check those credit card receipts Jerry if you want to know how Jessica is wasting your money and making both of you look like arrogant fools in the process. I wonder how many baby buggies JS could have bought for the money she spent on shoes for a billionaire?

re: Jessica Seinfeld Woes Keep Getting More Woeful

Keisha — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 21:02:59 GMT

re: Mary Ellen O'Neill

One problem, Ms. O'Neill, is Jessica Seinfeld has a record of unethical behavior, as does her husband. And her book was "promotable" based on HER. She is a creep.

re: Jessica Seinfeld Woes Keep Getting More Woeful

Kelly Mills — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 15:54:14 GMT

Well, if you actually read my post, you'll see I'm not accusing her or anyone of plagiarism, but more what no one seems to dispute: that her book was more promotable than the Lapine's because Seinfeld is famous, and that subsequent scandal is also big news because Seinfeld is famous. I do think it's a shame one book gets published and another gets a pass because one author is so "promotable" though I'm also not surprised by this. However, I remain a little suspicious that no one was bothered by the similarities between the competing titles (and some reports say the cover art was changed to avoid similarities, so it's not like no one knew about Lapine's book) though I think that has more to do with the arrogance of having a "promotable" title and therefore not needing to worry that a similar book was already out there.

re: Jessica Seinfeld Woes Keep Getting More Woeful

Mary Ellen O'Neill — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 14:25:12 GMT

Dear Kelly,

I'm responding to the accusation you have put forth in your post above. As the publisher who saw both The Sneaky Chef and Deceptively Delicious, I'd like the set the record straight. I passed on the opportunity to publish the Sneaky Chef. We were in the midst of publishing a book for the same audience--healthier eating for kids--Lunch Lessons, if you'd like to look it up-- and I did not think we'd sell a profitable number of copies of a similar book by an author with a similar platform. When Jessica Seinfeld's proposal came in to me, I asked another editor to review it. This is common--publishers get a lot of proposals. They are delegated to editors to share the workload and to share the opportunity to acquire good books. It's how the business works. That editor, along with the president of our company, and without me, met with Jessica and were so impressed with her passion for cooking and, of course, her ability to get media. I deeply resent, as you and some other bloggers have suggested, that I would use one author's work to influence another's. We see similar proposals all the time. As people have pointed out, it's not plagiarism when two books have the same idea. It's a common occurrence, especially when the subject, such as getting kids to eat healthier foods, is of public concern. Hiding vegetables in foods has been employed by mothers for years: Jessica has never claimed ownership of the idea nor claimed that it was the perfect solution; it worked for her and she wanted to share it with the millions of mothers out there who struggle with their kids every day over the dinner table. The publication of these two books has been swarmed by lies, distortions, seemingly deliberate misunderstandings, bias, and anger. I don't understand why you support it. Why not seek out the truth? Two different books with similar ideas. Just like thousands of cookbooks out there.

And by the way, as a mother of 9 and 13 year old girls, I'm grateful for any way at all to get them eating more veggies--roasted, sautéed, or hidden. What on earth can be the problem with that?

Jessica Seinfeld Woes Keep Getting More Woeful

Jessica Seinfeld Woes Keep Getting More Woeful — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 15:46:58 GMT

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re: Jessica Seinfeld Woes Keep Getting More Woeful

arirang — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 03:56:30 GMT

I bought the lapine book.

I will never buy anything written by Mrs. Seinfeld for ethical reasons (per what Susan said --- she STALKED her now husband at the gym, I guess the first wedding wasn't all that)

re: Jessica Seinfeld Woes Keep Getting More Woeful

emmarose — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 23:24:25 GMT

i didn't know that the viswanathan girl had this agent too. i mean jessica is busted. this agent is now notorious for getting ghost writers to piece together various books (so missy lapine's along with others she scraped up) and having a "promotional author" take credit to sell those books. that kaavya girl got busted but maybe jessica is so powerful (jerry) and the books are not exactly alike, that she'll get away with this blatant plagiarism. like others have said, missy's background is as a chef, nutritionist..etc..so this book and her knowledge makes sense. but jessica has no background in nutrition, probably has never cooked anything beyond baking a potato in her life..she was spoiled long before meeting seinfeld, so her desire to puree every sunday!! and test out food combinations doesn't ring true. she just wanted attention since she's a bored housewife/socialite only known as mrs. jerry seinfeld. i hope missy gets a ton of money and litigates and i hope this agent never works again. she is a parasite.

re: Jessica Seinfeld Woes Keep Getting More Woeful

Sue — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 06:25:33 GMT

TWO books which are:

both cookbooks

shown to the same publisher

in the same year

with the same UNIQUE recipes

on the same UNIQUE cooking concept

by authors who live in the same city

with nearly IDENTICAL book covers

both pitched to OPRAH

IS JUST A COINCIDENCE. No way, I smell a rat!

re: Jessica Seinfeld Woes Keep Getting More Woeful

Sue — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 19:13:33 GMT

THIS IS A HUGE DEAL!

Point #1 - Ms. Lapine showed her book the HarperCollins 6 months before Ms. Seinfeld. Ms. Lapine's publisher had already made Ms. Seinfeld's publisher change the book cover (which easily resembled Ms. Lapine's book cover).

Point #2 - Ms. Seinfeld has the same agent from the William Morris Agency as the Harvard sophomore student who recently lost her book contract for copying another's novel.

Coincidence? You be the judge!

re: Jessica Seinfeld Woes Keep Getting More Woeful

Kristen — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 15:08:03 GMT

If the Sneaky Chef had her book submitted at the same time as Jessica's or just slightly before, how could JS have plagiarized it? They'd both have been in manuscript form...

I could certainly see why it would suck to not get picked up by a big publisher and then see someone with a similar idea get picked up.

But thus is celebrity in this country. We've all seen it happen in one form or another.

But do say she plagiarized? Eh. I think that's a bit much. It's the same concept, delivered differently.

So we bash the celebrity and say "I'm sure she didn't do it herself -- she's got 3 nannies and a cook" -- please. If I had her money, damn straight I'd have a cook.

And. HELLO. Same concept different delivery is all over the freaking place -- everywhere you look!

Think about all the similar baby products out there? Are those all stolen ideas? I can list off about 15 baby products right off the top of my head and all their "copy cats" -- do people get in a big huff about knockoffs then?

I mean, Babble isn't the first website with a group news blog for parents with a bunch of bloggers writing about parenthood...

(heh)

re: Jessica Seinfeld Woes Keep Getting More Woeful

AllisonWonder — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 15:00:07 GMT

I was going to buy the book, but then I realized that I certainly wasn't going to spend my Sunday nights pureeing...

re: Jessica Seinfeld Woes Keep Getting More Woeful

chyna823 — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 02:06:57 GMT

With all this free publicity (and Seinfeld's book being out of stock in many stores), Lapine's book is zooming up the bestseller charts. So it's working out well for her in the end.

But I'm with Kelly--do we really think that Jessica Seinfeld did any of the research usually required of authors? Hell, did she even really write this book? I have a hard time believing that someone with their money actually does all her own cooking. When she was on Oprah talking about how she spends her Sunday nights pureeing, all I could think was, "Girl, please."

re: Jessica Seinfeld Woes Keep Getting More Woeful

Mountains Out Of Molehills — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 01:03:46 GMT

Honestly, I don't get why this book is such a big deal. The idea isn't new, moms have been hiding veggies in other food for ages. My mother did it, and her mother did it too. It's interesting that the people who have a problem with this book are the ones with good eaters. My son was labeled failure to thrive for awhile, and the saying, "they'll eat when they are hungry" is just not true for FTT kids. Babies and toddlers can have bizarre eating habits, so what's wrong with encouraging them to eat their veggies, but also ensuring that they are getting some nutrition if they don't eat their veggies?

I don't make special meals unless we're having something that they absolutely won't eat, nor do I rely on "kid food." My son is 3 now and has never had a hot dog, only has store bought chicken nuggets as a treat, and doesn't even like french fries, but trust me, it's been difficult to get him to try new foods. Unless you've been there, don't judge.

If it's not your thing, then don't buy the book, but why all the vitriol?

re: Jessica Seinfeld Woes Keep Getting More Woeful

Susan — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 22:48:41 GMT

If you cheat on your husband of only three weeks, as Jessica did with her first hubby, then there is no doubt in my mind that she would have no trouble with plagiarism.

I hope Missy Chase Lapine sues her.