You probably ought to...

[telophase]

...at least name-check Pratchett's Soul Music when describing the plot of your book, Ms. Benson, or perhaps describe it in slightly different terms (I've just bolded the similarities):

The book follows the travails of Calliope Reaper-Jones, a young woman whose [grand]father is Death. “Death is run like a corporation and when her father is kidnapped, she has to eschew her normal life in order to take over the company and to find out what happened to her [grand]father,” Benson said. “Calliope is an immortal due to her parentage, but she wants nothing to do with the supernatural world. She wants to live in Manhattan and be a normal girl. She loves fashion and anything she can snatch off the sales rack. When she is thrust back into the supernatural world, she is very resentful at first, but as she embarks on the quest to take on her father’s mantle, she finds that she is better equipped to handle the Afterlife than she ever suspected.”

Yes I know that's probably the extent of the similarities, but I'd like more effort to point out the differences in the fifteen-second sound bites.

Comments

[trobadora]

This just makes me think I've already read that book - and who can measure up to Pratchett anyway?

[tprjones.livejournal.com]

Sounds like a pretty shallow character, whereas Susan was made of bedrock even as a young girl. I bet it will be quite different.

Based on the description, that's probably not a good thing, though.

[chomiji]

Tsk! What's really annoying me is that there will be a bunch of little urban fantasy fangirls who will read this first and then think that the Pratchett sounds like a retread.

[sub-divided.livejournal.com]

Woman taking up father's mantle is a common plot! Death/the afterlife is a common character/setting! I don't think this is too much of a similarity, and the books will probably be very different - this one sounds more Girl Power.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

I'm not that worried about the BOOK being similar, hence me saying Yes I know that's probably the extent of the similarities, but that when she's describing it, it sounds almost exactly like Soul Music, and it would really behoove her editor or agent to help her come up with a better description.

[sub-divided.livejournal.com]

Ah, gotcha.