Is There No Shame?
By Jerry D. Simmons | November 16th, 2006 | No Comments » (Click to add yours!)
Publishing has hit an all time low in my opinion. I thought it was bad enough with the James Frey A Million Little Pieces debacle on Oprah earlier this year, but this is much worse. An imprint of Harper Collins, Regan Books, is publishing If I Did It by O.J. Simpson. For a reported $3.5 million dollars this fiend is going to tell readers how the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman, “could have happened.” Are you kidding me?
How desperate is the world of commercial trade publishing in New York? This is a perfect example of a publisher pulling out all the stops to make money. What could have prompted any respectful editor from even considering such a book? The answer is a shortfall in revenue, the company needed to generate publicity for the upcoming holiday season and increase billing. My hope is that all major booksellers at the retail level such as B&N, Borders, Costco, and Target would refuse to buy this crap. If you see copies in their stores, you need to realize it is all about product and sales. It just happens that books are one of their products to sell.
I certainly hope that readers will turn their backs on this so-called book, because if this title hits any major bestseller lists, you can expect more of the same. What’s next? True stories of Saddam Hussein’s torture chambers? Do you really think Harper Collins cares about great writing? The sad thing is, if I were sitting in my old New York office I can almost guarantee my bosses would be kicking themselves for not thinking of the idea to publish O.J.’s story. This is a very sad commentary on the state of publishing in this country.
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