To blame the writer and not the publishers is like busting the prostitute and not the john. Publishers know that writers lie because they want to be published. Yet they don’t check facts. Should they find lies the book can’t be published as a memoir. Fiction just doesn’t pay. Watching the massacre of James Fry on Oprah was nauseating. His publisher faux shock and disappointment was laughable. Nan Talese was as part of that deal as Fry. Why the man sat in that chair and allowed Oprah to berate him, I will never know. Perhaps it’s the equivalent of wearing the hair shirt or maybe Nan told him to. To me, Fry didn’t look any more guilty than anyone else on that show. Oprah’s moral indignation was over the top not because the lie was so grievous. She was pissed because he made her look bad. Fiction writing isn’t dead in America. It’s everywhere.

What I find so sad is how “fake” memoirs can become published while actual accounts of individual’s stuggles are constantly rejected. As a publisher of two fiction novels, under Raven West, I could never have imagined the real-life nightmare of guardian abuse against my father which became my non-fiction memoir “Blood Tastes Lousy With Scotch, How I rescued my father from greedy cousins, theiving attorneys and the Florida Guardianshp System”. When I sent out the proposal, not ONE “tradional” publishing company wanted it, so I published it myself through Star Publish. There is no reason to embellish the facts, or create the illusion of reality when you’re living an actual nightmare that no one would believe, yet it seems the only way to gain any acclaim in our society, especially in the publishing arena, is by deception and lies. I hope the author has enough integrity to return her advance, but if she follow’s Frey’s example, she will not.

Americans are so enamored with celebrity. That’s why!

I agree with Ganz and Cooney. What I don’t understand is why it soooo hard to get an agent, never mind get published. I recently self-published my first novel, MANY VOICES, ONE ECHO about young female office workers in Hartford CT’s insurance industry during the Sixties and how they changed in a changing society, gaining self-empowerment both in the workplace and at home. Is it autobiographical? You betcha! But it is definitely also fiction. I also wrote part 1 of a memoir. It’s title is Sylvia’s Daughter, and part 1 is The Queen of Lemonade. What puzzles me is that people tend to think the fiction is real and the memoir is fiction. I guess with all the poseurs out there it’s an easy thing to do. But I am a woman of ingtegrity and would never lie, never mind for money. I personally hold nothing against someone claiming fiction or non-fiction when the opposite is true. They’re lucky to be published! Speaking of which, and not to change the subject per se, but does anyone know how to get publicity for a self-published novel? This is not a Vanity Press.

I am dying to write a bok abut my life. I really have an interesting story to tell. Not any self help stories, just some real situations that have molded me, and I would love to share it with who ever is interested in losing themselves in my life for a little while. Now we have all these writers deceiving people, it is discouraging. I just want to tell my story, and No I’m no one special, but I have done more than the average housewife. It’s worth a try to see who’ll bite and get a kick out my memoirs.

The editor of this latest faked memoirs had never met the author in the three years between acquisition and publishing, in which the editor claimed she was “editing” the book. Right there is an example of what publishing is all about today. There is no real connection between author and editor, and the book is only a product a publisher sells to the market, a packaged good not unlike a new cereal brand.

PLAIN AND SIMPLE, SOMEONE IS NOT DOING THEIR HOMEWORK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A retraction…In my post above I wrote: “I’m most puzzled (and yes, outraged) by the recent Joshua Ferris case. His critically acclaimed novel, Then We Came to the End, won the 2008 PEN/Hemingway Award and then almost immediately it was taken away from him after it was revealed that the novel was based on fact.” I want everyone to know that this is NOT true: Joshua Ferris IS the winner of the 2008 PEN/Hemingway award. I had fallen for a spoof post on the Net. I’m relieved that the publishing world is not that crazy…and I regret having spread false information. I’m blushing! Oddly enough, my own falling for a fictional “factual” account relates directly to the discussion at hand.

Simply put - money. The pubishers are greedy, therefore, they check references or verify facts. Oprah should be held accountable as well. One minute she’s enthralled with Frey, when he’s outed, she comes on Larry King and says she supports, then a week later crucified him on her show. Frey appeared more idiotic than ever when he agreed to come back to talk to her. Why does the public fall into the trap of buying the books promoted on her show when clearly these books are fabricated. The audience pretends they have these “ah ha” moments. I can’t believe anyone would fall for some of these ideas rather than using good ole common sense. i.e. put a picture of a new car or a new house or that perfect job and if you THINK about it everyday and hard enough, it will land in your lap. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.

I’m a writer and a publsiher. So small you guys have never heard of me. Most people who sit down and write a book have absolutely no idea how the publishing business works. They do very little research and after continuous rejections they suddenly decide a little embellishment and a little fudging might encourage publishers to take a second look or a third look. When the manuscript is returned time and time again they may abandon that project and start a new one loaded with juicy tidbits as no one wants to read another housewife strikes it rich thing of man survives a gazillion foot fall only to have his memory jogged after hitting the ground and surviving. The victim needs to recall endless abuse at the hands of a drunken aunt or something with a little twist. Publishers reject more than they accept and writers are hungry both literally and figurately. I have a great life story to tell but hell people like my erotic mysteries much better. Big publishing houses are as hungry for new talent as writers are for fame and fortune and so there is sometimes a rush to publish.

We know someone who published, what we believe to be multiple fake memoirs. The way we figured it out was that his last book was collaborative with my husband. My husband made significant corrections to the text to accurately reflect the sequence of events that he witnessed. When the book was published, the changes had not been made. When he questioned the author, the author replied - It makes a better story this way. My husband was horrified. This man publishes one of the few series of books that are still published after 20 years. It is an astounding record and we suspect many of the stories are pure fabrications. Publishers don’t really want to know the truth if the books sell well. I’m sure they are afraid that the truth is out there lurking somewhere.