Date: Sat, 14 Jan 2006 13:43:30 -0500
From: "Michael Walsh" <MJW at press.jhu.edu>
To: <WSFAlist at KeithLynch.net>
Subject: [WSFA] Re: How to sell books.....
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at KeithLynch.net>

> omni at omniphile.com 1/14/2006 12:59:50 PM >>>
>At 1/14/2006 12:32 PM, Michael Walsh wrote:
>> > kfl at KeithLynch.net 1/14/2006 12:21:32 PM >>>
>>
>> >It was marketed as nonfiction.
>>
>>I'm willing to give the author of a memoir/autobiography a certain
>>degree of leeway, memory being what it is.  Not everyone keeps a
diary,
>>much less a meticulous one.
>
>Sorry, but short of a serious head injury that resulted in long term
brain
>damage, I doubt that many people would remember a few hours in jail on
a
>drunk driving charge as 3 months in prison...complete with stories of
life
>with his cellmate.  Just for one example of his "memory failure".

Sorry, wasn't addressing the particulars of Mr Frey's "lapses", it was
more of a general comment about memoirs in general.  Sorry about the
lack of clarity there, I forgot what exactly I was responding to... <g>

I recall what Mary McGrory said of Lillian Hellman: "Every word she
writes is a lie, including 'and' and 'the.'"

[...some deletion occurs here...]

>
>>Considering the number of copies bought directly from the publisher,
I
>>suspect those refunds are being funded out of petty cash.  Mind you,
>>petty cash for Random House is a bit more than the rest of us
have....
>>in our entire lifetimes.... combined....
>
>Is Doubleday part of Random House?

Yes.  Details here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Random_House and
http://www.randomhouse.com/about/history.html

> The report on the radio last night said
>the publisher was Doubelday.  I can't say, as I haven't seen the book,
and
>don't plan to look for it, and I don't keep track of which big
publishing
>fish has eaten which other most recently.

Not much of that recently.  The Bertelsman acquisition of Random House
- Bantam - Doubleday - Dell, etc etc gave them, at the time, about
20%-25% of the trade market.  (trade being non-textbook and the
like...)

mjw