Do two Wrongeds make a right?When Another Book is Published With the Same Title as Yours.

2012 saw the self-publishment of my third novel. (Is that even a word – I dunno, but I like it.)

It was called The Wronged and sold pretty well, thank you very much, considering I was and still am a self-published author who has managed to skilfully avoid attracting the attention of agents and publishers.

Fast forward a few years of increasingly modest sales to January 2015 which saw an event that threatened The Wronged's very existence.

A new book was coming out, entitled The Wronged.

Eek!

And this one was coming via traditional publishing routes, HarperCollins no less.

Double Eek!

So now there was going to be a new The Wronged in town.

My first reaction was to find out more about this new rival. Was it a straight rip off of my story?

A quick scan of the blurb for the newbie revealed, no. This new story was nothing like my older zombie haunted house story. Completely different genre in fact.

Then it was time to get defensive about my title. Could I copyright the title and remain the only The Wronged on sale? That question was swiftly answered, also in the negative. Anyone and everyone had the right to call their book The Wronged if they wanted. Fair enough.

Soon the paranoia kicked in. Would HarperCollins, who were publishing the new title, bring their clout to bear and force me to change my title? I had an alternative lined up that I considered using while writing the book: Slaughter at Saltonstall.

Should I raid my piggy bank and hire to a lawyer defend my Wronged against their Wronged when they inevitably contacted me, asking me to change my title?

Thankfully, the scant contents of said piggy bank remained undisturbed. No contact was received from either Mr Harper or Miss Collins.

And over the years, both Wrongeds have learned to live together side by side with the same name, admittedly with the newer title comfortably out-selling the older one.

Such is life.

It’s now time to wrap this up with some kind of reworking of the moral that two Wrongeds don’t make a right. The best I can do is provide links to both books, in the interests of fairness.

The Wronged

The Wronged