Once More Into the Frey
In the Times, Edward Wyatt keeps the heat on, pointing out that, hey, James Frey's agent and editor also have some 'splainin' to do.
Further down in the article, some of book publishing's top editors explain why they can't afford to hire fact-checkers.
As Wyatt reports: "There are absolutely going to be instances where you see it necessary to hire a fact checker or researcher," said John Sterling, the president and publisher of Henry Holt & Company. "But I don't see in the foreseeable future that any publishing house is going to hire a full-time fact checker to go through every single book published." Whether or not fact checkers are hired, is not the relevant point, Mr. Entrekin said. Many memoirs are already scrutinized by a publisher's legal department in order to make sure that no one is defamed or libeled. As part of that process, "questions inevitably come up," Mr. Entrekin said, adding, "If the author can't answer those questions, it sends up a red flag, and a good editor will know to ask the questions."
This is sort of true. Both of my books were lawyered by their respective publishers (one of whom was John Sterling; American Son was published by Henry Holt). And, especially with Harvard Rules, HarperCollins' lawyer did a good job of pushing me for factual back-up of any potentially libelous material.
But two points.
First, the publishing biz is far more concerned about libel than accuracy, and that's essentially what these lawyers do. James Frey's book, for example, was lawyered...and it's obviously complete nonsense. The reason? Everyone's name was changed (well, invented), so no one had legal standing for a lawsuit. Boom—the lawyer did his job.
And two, I don't believe that a publisher can't afford to pay some smart twenty-something $35,000 a year to check facts. The truth is—and I leave John Sterling out of this, because he's an honorable guy—publishers don't
want to check facts.
Again: Some stories are too good to check...and while the Frey affair might be damaging to Frey and Nan Talese, Doubleday has made millions of dollars off the book.
You can bet that, knowing what they know now, they'd still do it all over again.
