Publishers fail to spot plagiarised Jane Austen

LONDON, July 19 (Reuters) Even Jane Austen would have trouble finding a publisher today, a struggling author revealed today.

David Lassman sent off to 18 publishers assorted chapters from Austen novels in which he changed just the titles and the names of the characters.

He called himself Alison Laydee after Austen's early pseudonym ''A Lady''.

Seventeen publishers rejected or ignored his bid for literary glory. Only one spotted the ruse and told him not to mimic ''Pride and Prejudice'' so closely.

Lassman, who decided on the experiment when struggling to get his own novel published, told British media: ''Getting a novel accepted is very difficult today unless you have an agent first. But I had no idea of the scale of rejection poor old Jane suffered.'' REUTERS GT BD1433