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LJ Smith removed from writing Vampire Diaries and the Secret Circle

It’s every writer’s worst nightmare. You’ve created a successful series that you’ve poured your heart and soul into. You are excited that it has been turned into a tv series and who knows it might become a film one day. Then you are fired from your own books.

Sounds too farfetched to be true? This is what happened to LJ Smith according to the about page on her website.

To her legions of fans this is old news but I am surprised it isn’t more well known. Apparently there was a clause in her contact to do with writer for hire which meant she lost control of anything she wrote in these series. She was effectively fired from her own books.

This is a cautionary tale for new writers to understand the contracts they are signing but also for the fans of authors to make sure they are buying the book they are expectimg. If a book says created by LJ Smith, it is probably written by a ghost writer with minimal to no input from the ‘real’ author. I for one would never buy a book in those circumstances.

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