The world of fake memoirs and author mills is very strange
to me. I find it really interesting that James Frey is involved in both of
these categories. I will never understand why people write outrageous stories
that they claim are true. People like Frey make readers question all memoirs
and authorship. Frey seems to be a writer who is all about making money, no
matter what it takes.
Have you heard of Full Fathom Five? It is a book company run
by Frey. “Full Fathom Five is a book packager, which is basically a company
which pays authors a flat fee (and possibly a royalty) to write commercially
viable books. While we won’t make the blanket statement that all book packagers
are slowly killing literature, it’s pretty safe to say that Full Fathom Five
is,” (Read This Not That).
You might have heard of I
am Number Four by Pittacus Lore. A movie adaptation was released a few
years ago. “I Am Number Four was “written”
by Pittacus Lore – also known as Jobie Hughes and James Frey. The pseudonym
Pittacus Lore is part of the deal that Hughes struck with Frey upon signing
with Full Fathom Five. In fact, all Full Fathom Five authors can expect limited
(if any) name recognition for their work as the company’s standard contract
includes a clause specifically prohibiting authors from discussing their work,”
(Read This Not That).
Something about this situation just doesn’t sound right. I
hate that I purchase this series for my library, but teens request the sequels.
At least teens are reading, I tell myself; I just wish they were reading
something written through true author collaboration in which young writers are
not getting screwed over. Jobie Hughes wrote most of I Am Number Four and his contract was very restrictive: “Hughes
wrote the novel without any compensation and signed a contract, without
consulting a lawyer, that specified that he would receive 30 percent of all
revenue that came from the project. The book would be published under a
pseudonym, and the contract stipulated that Hughes would not be allowed to
speak publicly about the project or confirm his attachment to it. There was a
$250,000 penalty Frey could invoke if Hughes violated his confidentiality
terms,” (Mozes). Many readers don’t know about the secrets, lies, and
backhanded deals, and many of them probably don’t care, but it bothers me as a
librarian.
Writing books that fall into popular genres in order to make
money shows me that the writers don’t care about the quality of the book or
think much about the readers. I understand that the young writers see this deal
as their big break, but it doesn’t seem to work out that way. I would highly
suggest reading the Suzanne Mozes article. It discloses more information about
Full Fathom Five and made me angry. Mozes pitched a story idea to Frey and one
of the first things he mentioned was merchandising the story: “He encouraged me
to start imagining product placement—“think Happy Meals”—because merchandise is
where you make money in these deals. He mentioned the Mogadorian swords in I Am Number Four, which were
described with unusual specificity. “We added that after Spielberg told us he
needed stuff to sell,”” (Mozes). I would think product placement would not even
be on an author’s mind while writing a story.
Maybe I am just a romantic and think authors write because
they are compelled to do so. Money isn’t necessarily why they do it, they do it
because it is in their bones. They would write regardless of a publishing deal or merchandising potential.
Frey is the antithesis of this, and it makes me sad.
Works Cited
Mozes, Suzanne. "James Frey’s Fiction Factory." NYMag.com.
New York Media LLC, 12 Nov. 2010. Web. 1 Mar. 2015.
<http://nymag.com/arts/books/features/69474/>.
"Read This Not That: Full
Fathom Five." C2 Education. 23 Feb. 2012. Web. 1 Mar. 2015.
<http://www.c2educate.com/read-this-not-that/read-this-not-that-full-fathom-five/>.
Ewww. Shady! I contrast that to people getting angry about James Patterson having co-authors on his books. At least they get their name on the book and can talk about writing them! And, presumably Patterson pays them for their work.
ReplyDeleteI don't have a huge problem with authors writing something commercially viable. Mario Puzo is a great example - he wrote "The Godfather" because his previous books didn't make him a lot of money and the publisher told him his book would have done better with more mafia in it. (At least, according to Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mario_Puzo.) However, I think it's also sometimes quite obvious in the quality of writing if books are being written as a cash grab instead of as something that the author genuinely wants to write. I'd think that all but the most "pure" of writers would probably have an eye on whether the book is something that people will want to buy, so that it will get published! An eye on merchandising or film rights wouldn't be out of the mind of smart writers either. I think it's a balance between artistic purity and a desire to make writing financially viable.
I have always known Frey was a shady person. But because the books are popular, I have to purchase the Pittacus Lore books.
ReplyDeletePatterson does make me angry though. I suspect that he writes a single chapter but make 90% of the money. It inflates his bibliography and takes up valuable real estate to books from other authors.