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Reader comment on:
Why Publishers Don't Fact-Check Memoirs

Submitted by mike, Mar 5, 2008 17:34

The most unfortunate part of this situation, in my opinion, is that these recent incidents only further undermine the trust between author and reader. As luck would have it, the week my literary agent and I first approached publishers with my addiction memoir, "An Officer and A Junkie: From West Point to the Point of No Return", James Frey was being exposed as a fraud. All the publishers immediately turned us down; no one wanted to touch another memoir, let alone one on addiction. We realized that we had to do something intrinsically unique and different to confirm the veracity of my story and reestablish faith with the reader. Ultimately, we decided to insert source material in my memoir, including documents such as police records, officer evaluation reports, hospital records, and journal entries. In hindsight, transforming my book into the first "documented memoir" is one of the most important decisions I've made for my story. I hope that I am setting something of a precedent, because right now the state of memoirs is in rather poor condition and something needs to be done in the future to ensure some level of authenticity. For more information, please visit my website at: www.michaelwinder.com.

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