PUBLISHING TODAY, like every other entertainment industry, is all about the cult of personality. That's why Lauren Conrad of "The Hills" was able to sell her first attempt at a novel while less photogenic people, who can actually write, spin more compelling yarns in anonymity.

It's why every celeb and pseudo-celeb has a biography or life philosophy on the shelves.

It's why Elisabeth Hasselbeck, the perpetually pregnant co-host of "The View," is the author of "The G-Free Diet: A Gluten-Free Survival Guide," and not the pretty face who, in years past, would have written the forward for such a book, which would have been penned by a doctor.

Now the doctor writes the forward. Unless he's Dr. Oz.

Because, really, who could know more about celiac disease than a talk-show host?

But acording to a suit filed Monday in Massachusetts, Hasselbeck's take on G-Free may also have been Originality-Free.

Author Susan Hassett alleges that Hasselbeck lifted "word for word" content from her self-published book, "Living With Celiac Disease," which she says she sent to Hasselbeck with a personal note after she told "View"-ers she had the digestive disorder last year.

Hassett said Hasselbeck's book "slavishly reproduces" lists and passages from her own work and includes inaccuracies about celiac disease that can be "misleading and dangerous" for people with the illness.

The suit seeks to block the sale of Hasselbeck's best-selling diet tome and asks that copies of it be withdrawn from distributors and stores.

The Re-Producers

Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick are the proud parents of twin girls delivered by a surrogate mother, publicist Simon Halls said yesterday.

Marion Loretta Elwell Broderick (5 pounds and 11 ounces) and Tabitha Hodge Broderick (6 pounds) were born Monday afternoon at an Ohio hospital.

Hodge and Elwell are family names on Parker's side.

"The babies are doing beautifully and the entire family is over the moon," Halls said in a statement.

According to Hollyscoop.com, the family was at the hospital for the births.

The 'Joy' of winning contests

Few are the people who don't need more joy in their lives.

That's why Tattle is scattering some joy with copies of artist/designer Kathy Davis's new book, "Scatter Joy: Living, Giving and Creating A Life You Love" (Scatter Joy Publishing, 2009).

To enter, all you have to do is e-mail your name, address and phone number to tattlecontest@phillynews.com (no hyphens or spaces) by noon Friday with one sentence about how you like to scatter joy. If you're joyless but still want to win, you can get joyous ideas at www.scatterjoy.com.

Five winners chosen at random will each receive a copy of the book.