Leroy unmasked

[blacbird]

MSN reports this morning:

"The writer penning the novels of “JT LeRoy,” a purported 25-year-old former male prostitute and drug addict, has been unmasked as a 40-year-old woman who allegedly undertook the ruse to get her work recognized."

Read the last five words closely.

caw.

[Christine N.]

Ya know, I think it's really a shame... why can't people leave well enough alone? They're novels - fiction. And the mysterious identity of their author was part of their popularity. Kids LOVE Lemony Snicket - and part of the reason is he's such a mysterious character.

Hey, it got the job done, right? It's not like she called them 'memoirs'.

[maestrowork]

I tend to agree. There's a difference between fiction and non-fiction. My identify as a fiction author should not be an issue. If a novelist can use a pen name, then he or she should be able to assume a pen "identity." And seriously, who cares, as long as it sells books?

Now, non-fiction (especially memoirs) is another matter...

[blacbird]

You're missing a point, guys. Yeah, it's fiction, and never presented as anything but (thus differing from James Frey's gambit), but still this woman felt she had to perform a masquerade "to get her work recognized". What exactly does this say about the mentality of the publishing industry, agent to bookseller? Is this kind of thing the wave of the future? Do the rest of us now need to become fictitious characters in order to sell our books?

caw.

[Richard]

What exactly does this say about the mentality of the publishing industry, agent to bookseller?

Um. Nothing? She felt she had to do it, she wasn't actually compelled to. The fact that this is news pretty much says that it's on the rare side.

[maestrowork]

I think it speaks more about HER mental state than the state of publishing. TOO MANY writers don't have to disguise themselves to be "recognized." Some even use their own unpronouncable names, and they sell tons of books.

[blacbird]

I dunno. I can see the new form-rejection statement:

"We feel we cannot offer representation for your manuscript because you have neither been a drug addict nor a prostitute. Good luck in placing your work elsewhere."

caw.

[Tish Davidson]

If she had just been sending out her work under the assumed name and identity, I wouldn't care, but she wrote to and called several well known authors who helped her extensively with her work (according to today's New York Times) and put her in touch with agents, apparently because these authors wanted to help an HIV-positive former drug-addicted male prostitute. I doubt if she would have gotten the same level of help without the false identity.

[clara bow]

tx for posting the update!

[alleycat]

Actually, this story broke some time ago.

She wasn't just using a pen name and remaining anonymus; she was posing as the writer as someone she wasn't.

As for what it says about the publishing industry. . .that's books by celebrities sell; that books that are controversial sell; that books that make news sell; that books that are touted by Oprah sell; that books that promise easy weight loss in only two weeks sell. . . .

What we need is a tell-all diet book written by Heidi Fleiss that is cathartic (to use Oprah’s favorite term) and controversial because it claims she had an affair with Hillary Clinton while she First Lady. Now that one would sell.




ac

[Shadow_Ferret]

Lots of women use either initials or even male names (Andre Norton) to disguise their gender and appeal to a male audience.

This one just took it a step further.

It is, after all, fiction. Who was harmed byt the charade?

I mean, does this reach the level of Milli-Vanilli? :)

[Maryn]

Does anyone [i]want/i] to reach the level of Milli-Vanilli? (snicker)

I've written under male pen names several times, when it was more appropriate for a man to have written the story. So long as the check was made out to me, I was good to go. However, I didn't adopt that persona as a writer, in touch with other authors, editors, agents or publishers, only with readers.

Maryn, who's pretty sure she's a woman

[blacbird]

Who was harmed by the charade?

I reiterate: She felt she had to do this in order to sell the book. Yeah, maybe that's her problem, but it worked, didn't it? Which says something about the gullibility/susceptibility/active collusion of the "market". Who you are (or in this and some other cases, who you pretend to be) is a part of marketing the "product". How much, I don't know, hard to tell. But it seems to be a lot more than it used to be, not all that long ago. And it doesn't seem to matter much to agents/editors/publishers/booksellers if there's any truth to the image.

caw.

[scribbler1382]

Do some more research. This isn't anything new. And it goes both ways. I think somewhere on Joe Konrath's website he talks about going with J.A. Konrath on his books because people predisposed to female authors would assume J.A. was a female name.

[Tish Davidson]

Do some more research. This isn't anything new. And it goes both ways. I think somewhere on Joe Konrath's website he talks about going with J.A. Konrath on his books because people predisposed to female authors would assume J.A. was a female name.

But he isn't asking a relative to put on a disguise and pretent to actually be the pen name he has chosen - and he didn't make up a sob story bio and ask people for help because he had worked so hard to overcome his dysfunctional life.

[blacbird]

Thanks, Tish. Part of my point in starting this thread, which some people seem either not to get or anxious to ignore.

caw.

[Celia Cyanide]

I don't understand why everyone is quick to forgive JT LeRoy and not James Frey. LeRoy's stories were not marketed as "memoir," but they were marketed as autobiographical, and that was a lie. Memoir is not historical document, anyway. It's a writer recording his/her memories of an experience.

As Tish pointed out, "JT LeRoy" went around putting on a "poor me" act, and manipulating people with connections into helping "him." How can you say that people were not hurt by this? It hurt the people who were tricked. In the future, these people he manipulated will probably be less likely to help anyone, even those who are sincere and deserve it.

[Christine N.]

Again, Lemony Snicket does the same. The author shows up to talk to kids, but doesn't say "hey, I'm LS" - he gives some elaborate tale of why the real Lemony Snicket couldn't be there.

And no matter how "poor me" JT LeRoy made herself out to be, if the work wasn't good, it don't get published. Lots of people have tried it... lots more didn't get published.
So she must have had something there to begin with.

I'm sure JT's agent knew who she was. And that's the sad thing - no one told her or Frey that what they did was a 'bad idea'.

[Albedo of Zero]

There was a fella who came to my door three times within the last year and asked for five dollars. Evreytime he said "My mom just died and I need to get down to -somecity- to get my dad but I don't have the gas money."

First time...I gave him nothing.
Second time(about 3months later)...I rolled my eyes and I gave him nothing.
Third time...I gave him five bucks. I figured he must have a mental problem so I felt sorry for him.
I don't think I'll buy his book if he writes one.

[popmuze]

I agree with B. Although on some level you have to admire the scam. Almost every writer, midlist and below, tries to avoid the slushpile in one way or another. What's the best way? To get recommended to an agent or a publisher by Michael Chabon or some other famous writer. And how are you going to do that? Make yourself up as if you were your own novel. Pretty creative. And what's the down side? If you don't do it, what celebrity writer or agent is going to give you the time of day?

Recently, I found out an old college teacher of mine had published six novels and was on the Pulitzer Prize committee. So I managed to get him an email through the college I attended years (and years) ago. I'm sure he didn't remember me, but he was nice enough to respond to my email. But when it came time to ask if he would look at my novel, he disappeared. Too bad I didn't have the foresight to pack my life story since college with the kind of lies that spell publicity, awards, dollar signs.

[Celia Cyanide]

And no matter how "poor me" JT LeRoy made herself out to be, if the work wasn't good, it don't get published. Lots of people have tried it... lots more didn't get published.
So she must have had something there to begin with.

I didn't say that's the only reason she got the work published. I said she treated people like crap, and that is wrong. This is what Susie Bright had to say about him:

http://susiebright.blogs.com/susie_brights_journal_/2006/01/my_name_is_susi.html

For those of you who don't feel like clicking on the link and reading the damn thing, she says, "if you’re an author, an editor, a publisher— or worse, a friend— to someone who ******** you up one side and down the other, it’s not cute. It’s not irrelevant. It’s a cruel con, straight up, and the whole writers’ community suffered for it...I’m embarrassed to tell you all the nutty things I did. Every time he was mean, or screwed up, I always told myself to stay steady and kind. Why did I make the effort? I’m no saint. But from listening to him, I believed the childhood he described surviving would have killed anyone else. The very least I could do was show compassion...Just to let you know how far gone I was, when I first read Beachy’s expose, my first thought was, “If this is true, JT might kill himself.” My suicide alert bells went off. Truth be told, a lot of us who got conned by JT have been trained since childhood to respond to these kind of distress calls."

So again, I don't get why James Frey is a horrible person, and JT is not. As long as you say, "autobiographical" instead of "memoir," is anything else you lie about, or do to other people, acceptable?

[maestrowork]

Pulling a stunt like this can go either way. Some people may take pity on you and help you out (and they're naive), or some people will totally ignore you (and they're cynical). Leroy must be doing something right to get as far as she did.

I'm not advocating pulling scams to get places. And I'm not saying "Leroy" is right to have done what she did. What I am saying, though, is that it's premature to say she did it because that's how publishing works. I think it's more of her problems than the publishing business. Plenty of writers get published without any scams. And the fact that her story made headlines means that she is a rare case (we hope).

There is a big difference between Frey and Leroy, though. When you're writing fiction, the rules really are different. Fiction is about entertainment, and sometimes the "artist" would do anything he or she needs to get noticed. The work, however, is still fiction, whether it's marketed as autobiographical or not. People who buy fiction would care less who the author is, or pretends to be. That's why authors can use a different name/identity when publishing novels. I can call myself "Patricia Inglewood" if I like, and it won't make a difference, because I write fiction. It's a persona. When I go to a bookstore and pick up that novel, I am not going to ask "Is this based on the author's true life story?" All I'd ask is, "Is this a good, well-written story?"

Memoirs and other non-fiction are different, IMHO, because the author's credibility is important. Frey's credibility is shot because he didn't just fudge fuzzy memories, he deliberately made things up.

Both Leroy and Frey are scam artists. But the difference lies in the final products. Leroy's is a work of fiction, made-believe -- so we know things are made up, no matter how "autobiographical" they claim to be -- while Frey's is lauded as a true, personal triumph that is going to inspire millions. Personally, I wouldn't buy either book. But I would be at least curious about how good Leroy's made-up story is -- or is it complete crap.

[SC Harrison]

these authors wanted to help an HIV-positive former drug-addicted male prostitute.

If she did tell people she was HIV positive, I can't imagine anybody thinking this is "okay".

[willietheshakes]

If she did tell people she was HIV positive, I can't imagine anybody thinking this is "okay".

And it went much further than that - LeRoy claimed to have been abandoned, abused multiple times by relatives and others, forced into child prostitution, living on the streets... The entire career was based on the cult of personality surrounding the author and their horrific life; it had nothing to do with the work. And as to the thought that 'if it wasn't good, it wouldn't matter what the scam was', the quality of the work is only occasionally the arbiter of success. In this case it wasn't (can anyone even name one LeRoy book without looking it up?). Nor was it in the case of James Frey (good lord, but MLP was one crappy book). In both cases, it was the hype about the authors that made the career. The publishers found stories that they could tell that would draw people to the product - the books themselves were secondary.

[Celia Cyanide]

And it went much further than that - LeRoy claimed to have been abandoned, abused multiple times by relatives and others, forced into child prostitution, living on the streets... The entire career was based on the cult of personality surrounding the author and their horrific life; it had nothing to do with the work.

Yes, that's the whole thing. LeRoy's work was marketed as "autobiographical fiction," yet "he" claimed it was all true. Labeling it "autobiographical fiction" instead of "memoir" doesn't really make it any less of a lie, when you claim it's a true story about a real person, when it isn't.

quality of the work is only occasionally the arbiter of success. In this case it wasn't (can anyone even name one LeRoy book without looking it up?).

Sarah. And The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things. But that just proves the level of success, not the quality of the work.

[maestrowork]

I wasn't aware that they marketed the book as "true story, but categorized as fiction." But yeah, that would be deceiving.

Like I said, both Leroy and Frey are scam artists. They did what they did to get ahead, to cut in line because their stuff just wasn't good enough. I don't support writers like that. And I have to think hard on the publishers who support and defend them.

[blacbird]

Like I said, both Leroy and Frey are scam artists. They did what they did to get ahead, to cut in line because their stuff just wasn't good enough.

Exactly. The infuriating part being that the scams actually worked, either through gullibility or outright connivance on the part of everybody else in the publication chain. Just one more item to add to the list of reasons nobody trusts anybody in the "process" anymore.

caw.

[willietheshakes]

I think it's worse than that, unfortunately. What we see with LeRoy and Frey is the marketing of personality completely subsuming the work. It is as if the book exists only as a souvenir of the 'writer' -- it's 'his' story we're being sold, and people purchase the books with the author's story in mind, not the story within the book. It's not a matter of writer's doing things to get a leg up for the books -- the writers themselves have become the product.

[maestrowork]

It's our celebrity/reality TV worshipping culture...

[willietheshakes]

It's our celebrity/reality TV worshipping culture...

... meeting our I'm-a-victim-but-everyone-can-be-a-victor culture of recovery.

[Christine N.]

Oh, no, I don't think what she did was acceptable in civilized society (although terribly creative) - lying to people and treating them badly is not alright.

I said I thought it was a shame that after so many people were into the fantasy and mystery of the author that it was blown. Making up a biography for yourself to put on a book jacket, I don't think isn't that big a deal (again, Lemony Snicket does it every book) and even adds to the book in some cases. But no, treating people like trash is too much.

[maestrowork]

Yeah, I think it's one thing to make up a persona (e.g Lemony Snicket) -- surely the publisher knows who the real author is. It's another thing to deceive and treat everyone like trash (and laugh at them behind their backs).

[blacbird]

I think it's worse than that, unfortunately. What we see with LeRoy and Frey is the marketing of personality completely subsuming the work. It is as if the book exists only as a souvenir of the 'writer' -- it's 'his' story we're being sold, and people purchase the books with the author's story in mind, not the story within the book. It's not a matter of writer's doing things to get a leg up for the books -- the writers themselves have become the product.

Astutely put. It seems to have gone a step beyond anything Marshall McLuhan imagined. "The medium is the message" is now, like, sooooo 1960s. Today, "the messenger is the message." Doesn't even matter much to a lot of people if the messenger is complete hokum.

caw.

[blacbird]

Digression: Ray, why is that savage cat menacing your poor abused dog?

caw.

[travNastee]

LeRoy's work was marketed as "autobiographical fiction," yet "he" claimed it was all true. Labeling it "autobiographical fiction" instead of "memoir" doesn't really make it any less of a lie, when you claim it's a true story about a real person, when it isn't.

Let me see how i can wrap my head around this:
It is autobiography. It's the biography of a fictional character, a character that the author decided had to be real before we would care about "him" so they became him, which made it "autobiographical".

And then things started getting weird.

[blacbird]

"We are what we pretend to be. So we have to be careful about what we pretend to be."

-- Kurt Vonnegut

[scribbler1382]

Digression: Ray, why is that savage cat menacing your poor abused dog?

caw.

That's the great MesmerMeowDini. He's hypnotising the dog into thinking it's a person so it will be the cat's slave.

[alleycat]

That's the great MesmerMeowDini. He's hypnotising the dog into thinking it's a person so it will be the cat's slave.
Cats are very intelligent creatures. . . .

[blacbird]

That's the great MesmerMeowDini. He's hypnotising the dog into thinking it's a person so it will be the cat's slave.

Looks like it's working.

caw.

[maestrowork]

Cats are very intelligent creatures. . . .

Yes they are...

http://www.babyanimalz.com/images/frogkitten6av8py.jpg

[blacbird]

I'm turning you in to PETA.

caw.

[Tirjasdyn]

hrm what about the Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys thing....Created by a man, franchised out, then continued by his daughters then franchised out by those same daughters?

In my opinion literary scams happen all the time. Something that at the time seems appalling, but we laugh about it later. Do I think either is right? Not really, but at least they are really writers behind the facade, whether good or not.

There are many others...I can't think of the classical author at the moment...george something or other...her books are still published under her assumed name. She created a male background for herself because she could not sell her books as a woman in the 1800s. Or what about Koontz, who sold some his books as a woman later reprinted under his name when he became famous?

I don't know, yes they lied, but the publisher seemed to know about it. Wasn't Bridges of Madison County marketed as a true story at first? (I could be wrong about this one).

Lemony Snicket (there is a fantasy series in the same vein) is probably an author farm, like VC Andrews or the Sweet Valley high books.

VC Andrews now there's a scam...compare Flowers in the Attic with Dawn. Specifically the scene where the Brother rapes the Sister. It is word for word the same in both books. I don't know who writes her books now but Dawn was the first book that came out after she died.

Personally I think the Frey thing only made major headlines because Oprah stuck her foot in her mouth. Leroy sounds a little desparate but I haven't even heard of her books before.

[AnneMarble]

hrm what about the Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys thing....Created by a man, franchised out, then continued by his daughters then franchised out by those same daughters?
I see this sort of thing as different because pen names, and even "house names," have been with us for ages. The Nick Carter books were also written by lots of different people, none of whom was actually Nick Carter. But no one ever went to friends and other writers and asked for help because they were the real Nick Carter, and they needed money for a doctor because the bad guys kept beating them up. ;) There's a difference between pen names and setting up a fake persona to get people to help you.

Lemony Snicket (there is a fantasy series in the same vein) is probably an author farm, like VC Andrews or the Sweet Valley high books.
As far as I know, this hasn't happened with these books yet. I think the actual writer is a guy who writes mysteries for adults under his real name. As far as I know, he doesn't farmed the Snicket books out. There are only a dozen so books so far anyway. Now maybe the related books, such as the Unauthorized Autobiography, were farmed out to other writers. But as an Unauthorized Autobiography shouldn't exist to begin with, I don't mind. ;)

VC Andrews now there's a scam...compare Flowers in the Attic with Dawn. Specifically the scene where the Brother rapes the Sister. It is word for word the same in both books. I don't know who writes her books now but Dawn was the first book that came out after she died.
I don't know if this is still true, but the author who took over after the death of the original author is Andrew Niederman. However, I'm not sure where his writing really "took over."

[willietheshakes]

hrm what about the Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys thing....Created by a man, franchised out, then continued by his daughters then franchised out by those same daughters?

It was a bit before my time, but was there a lot of press coverage about Franklin W. Dixon's frequent childhood rapes? His time spent hooking at truck stops? His frequent beatings? The redemptive quality of his rise from the pits of despair to be championed by the Hollywood and literary elite?

I'm not sure the comparison is apt. And I don't think the syndicate writing for Dixon/Keene et al really qualifies as a literary scam.



I don't know, yes they lied, but the publisher seemed to know about it.


No, they didn't. In either Frey or LeRoy's case.

Lemony Snicket is probably an author farm

No, it's not. Lemony Snicket is a nom de plume for Daniel Handler. He is also a character within the books themselves.

[Tirjasdyn]

I don't know if this is still true, but the author who took over after the death of the original author is Andrew Niederman. However, I'm not sure where his writing really "took over."

If that's true then he's a crazy because VC Andrew's later books are nothing like Niderman's (I've read both recently, my mom still sends me Andrew's books and I just got through the Niederman section of my book collection so I've read both recently.). He's just not devious enough. Besides I'd still doubt it simple due to the fact that later books lift word for word text from earlier books. If that is the case then that's quite a bit of plaugerism. I probably wouldn't have caught this if I didn't read books aphabetically by author. Currently the A's are my bedroom and bathroom books and the N's are my away from home books.

Yes I'm wierd. Join the club, we have T-Shirts.

Hrm did some checking you are right and apparently he still is writing them huh...his books were pretty bad, the plaugerism thing is worse. Still it's bazaar.

[Christine N.]

Nah, Lemony Snicket is just one person, I can't think of his real name at the moment. He came up with the name while doing research for some journalistic article. I forget who he was calling, but had to use an alias, and that's what he came up with, well before he started A Series of Extrodinary Events

[AnneMarble]

Hrm did some checking you are right and apparently he still is writing them huh...his books were pretty bad, the plaugerism thing is worse. Still it's bazaar.
Part of the problem could be that even when she was alive, the V. C. Andrews were heavily edited. Somewhere, I read that if they had used her original manuscripts, the books would have been 1,000 pages long each. Yikes! Readers often complain that the stories could change dramatically within a page, or even a paragraph, and that characters can suddenly change personality from one book to another -- maybe that heavy editing explains why.

Apparently, V. C. Andrews would turn in her long manuscripts, and an editor would work on them. (This was, I believe, the editor who later hired on Andrew Niederman.) So a book published fairly soon after her death might have been an actual V. C. Andrews manuscript with heavy rewriting by the editor, rather than an Andrew Niederman contribution.

And what was up with My Sweet Audrina?! I'm sure I'm not the only one who guessed the big secret simply by reading the back cover copy.
:Shrug:

[Tirjasdyn]

It was a bit before my time, but was there a lot of press coverage about Franklin W. Dixon's frequent childhood rapes? His time spent hooking at truck stops? His frequent beatings? The redemptive quality of his rise from the pits of despair to be championed by the Hollywood and literary elite?

I'm not sure the comparison is apt. And I don't think the syndicate writing for Dixon/Keene et al really qualifies as a literary scam.

Since Dixon is a made up character...who knows. One of the author's who wrote some of the Nancy Drew books died recently, there was an article about her which seemed pretty scathing towards the franchise. Either way, it is still a lie, isn't that what we are judging Frey & Leroy on? Just curious.



No, they didn't. In either Frey or LeRoy's case.


Hrm thought they did. Aw well. I've been wrong before.


No, it's not. Lemony Snicket is a nom de plume for Daniel Handler. He is also a character within the books themselves Right he's the one telling the story...but again isn't it a lie? I'm feeling devilish today, forgive me. I need to look up that fantasy series in the same vein. I wonder if it is the same guy?

[Tirjasdyn]

Part of the problem could be that even when she was alive, the V. C. Andrews were heavily edited. Somewhere, I read that if they had used her original manuscripts, the books would have been 1,000 pages long each. Yikes! Readers often complain that the stories could change dramatically within a page, or even a paragraph, and that characters can suddenly change personality from one book to another -- maybe that heavy editing explains why.

Apparently, V. C. Andrews would turn in her long manuscripts, and an editor would work on them. (This was, I believe, the editor who later hired on Andrew Niederman.) So a book published fairly soon after her death might have been an actual V. C. Andrews manuscript with heavy rewriting by the editor, rather than an Andrew Niederman contribution.

And what was up with My Sweet Audrina?! I'm sure I'm not the only one who guessed the big secret simply by reading the back cover copy.
:Shrug:

I guess it's is unclear where Andrews left off (according to the quick google search I did.) But Dawn was the first new series that came out after she died. My Sweet Audrina was way creepy in my opinion, I was in elementary school when I first read it. I remember figuring out the secret right away but the book still gives me nightmares. Stephen Donaldson has nothing on Andrew's rape fixation.

[maestrowork]

Fiction is bunch of "lies" anyway. I see nothing wrong with having a nom de plume or adopting a literary persona for FICTION writers. However, I draw the line when the person uses the persona in real life for other purposes (in Leroy's case) or in a memoir/autobiography.

[batgirl]

The point that strikes me, though I don't know how relevant it is, is that both writers were given a free pass on craft. I haven't read Leroy's work, but Frey's is clunky and overly portentous, from the excerpt I read on Amazon.
Go Ask Alice was the same deal. It wasn't very well written, but many readers were willing to put up with that, because it was 'true'. In fact, skill in craft would even have worked against it, because of our cultural assumption that honest emotion is unfiltered.
-Barbara (who prefers her emotion recollected in tranquillity, thanks.)

[SC Harrison]

However, I draw the line when the person uses the persona in real life for other purposes

I agree totally. Regardless of how well the literary cloak wraps around Leroy, fraud and misrepresentation for personal gain is not only unethical, it is also illegal in most states of this Union. I would be interested to find out if any loans or grants were made to this person(a), and what steps (if any) are being considered to recoup them.

[Celia Cyanide]

Apparently, V. C. Andrews would turn in her long manuscripts, and an editor would work on them. (This was, I believe, the editor who later hired on Andrew Niederman.) So a book published fairly soon after her death might have been an actual V. C. Andrews manuscript with heavy rewriting by the editor, rather than an Andrew Niederman contribution.

Oddly enough, I am reading VC Andrews right now.

VC Andrews died of breast cancer. Since she knew she was going to die, she started writing synopses instead of manuscripts. She had the synopses for over 60 stories by the time she died. She said "stories," not books. By "story" she most likely meant a 5 book series.

It is unclear which manuscripts she actually wrote. Niederman claims there were no unfinished manuscripts. But you are right, the books that came out soon after her death were probably written by her, but hadn't been released yet.

As for plagerism, is it really plagarism, if you claim the words were written by...the person who actually wrote them, instead of yourself?

[aruna]

There are many others...I can't think of the classical author at the moment...george something or other...her books are still published under her assumed name. She created a male background for herself because she could not sell her books as a woman in the 1800s. .

George Elliot?

And let's not forget Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell; aka Charlotte, Emily and Anne Brontë.

I would take on the persona of a beautiful young diva in a second if it meant I could get books sold. And once my books sold like hot cakes and I was rich and famous I would out myself to show how prejudiced, fake and artificial the publishing world is.

[blacbird]

George Elliot?

And let's not forget Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell; aka Charlotte, Emily and Anne Brontë.


. . . and the French writer George Sand.

I can't name a specific name, because I don't read in the Romance genre, but I know of at least one currently successful male Romance novelist who uses a female nomme de plume, for essentially the same reason, only in reverse.

caw.

[Tirjasdyn]

Thank you. It's been bugging me all night.



George Elliot?

And let's not forget Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell; aka Charlotte, Emily and Anne Brontë.

I would take on the persona of a beautiful young diva in a second if it meant I could get books sold. And once my books sold like hot cakes and I was rich and famous I would out myself to show how prejudiced, fake and artificial the publishing world is.

[AnneMarble]

Lemony Snicket (there is a fantasy series in the same vein) is probably an author farm, like VC Andrews or the Sweet Valley high books.
OK, this one has been gnawing at me. :D

Do you mean a fantasy series for children or young adults? Or one for adults? While I can think of some fantasy series written under pen names, I can't think of a recent one written under a "house name." Not since, say, the Richard Blade series or the Dray Prescott books, or Perry Rhodan (although that's SF).

Pen names are another thing entirely. I don't see them as "lies" because most novelists don't take on a pen name because they are lying. These days, they often take on a pen name because they had low sales under a previous name, so the publisher encourages them to start again with a new name. Also, some authors use different names to separate their fantasy work from their mysteries, or whatever. But it's very rarely a "secret." The books often say that they were written by a well-known author writing under a pen name. Also, authors often use their legal name for the copyright, tell their fans they're writing under a new name, etc.

There are a few cases where it is a secret because the author is simply not allowed to use their own name to write books, because they work in spying or security. For example, it was decades before the real identity of John Le Carre could be revealed. I think that's understandable. Also, I'm pretty sure it was known that this was a pen name because people realized he was forced to use a pen name.

And of course, there's James Tipree, Jr., who was really Alice Sheldon, but that gets even more complicated. I do remember once reading a letter from an angry reader who had read one of Tiptree's stories and blasted the writer as being a woman-hating chauvinist because "he" had scenes about women being mistreated. By this time, it was already know Tiptree was a woman, so that was good for a laugh.

[Tirjasdyn]

OK, this one has been gnawing at me. :D

Do you mean a fantasy series for children or young adults? Or one for adults? While I can think of some fantasy series written under pen names, I can't think of a recent one written under a "house name." Not since, say, the Richard Blade series or the Dray Prescott books, or Perry Rhodan (although that's SF).

Pen names are another thing entirely. I don't see them as "lies" because most novelists don't take on a pen name because they are lying. These days, they often take on a pen name because they had low sales under a previous name, so the publisher encourages them to start again with a new name. Also, some authors use different names to separate their fantasy work from their mysteries, or whatever. But it's very rarely a "secret." The books often say that they were written by a well-known author writing under a pen name. Also, authors often use their legal name for the copyright, tell their fans they're writing under a new name, etc.


In a black and white world, it is a lie. Plain and simple.

Now in the real world, your right, however claiming everyone knew doesn't make it better. Various people in the publishing business are claiming that the Frey bit was a known secret anyway, just no one spoke it (Do a technorati search on Frey if you have the time and nothing better to do, like say sleep). Personally I could care less either way. My point is how is this any different from what Frey and Leroy have done? Basically it boils down to:

They lied about fiction being non-fiction.
They may have gotten extra money because they lied - here's the big nono.
Oprah opened her big mouth.

By the criteria everyone has given it's only noticable because of number 2 and everyone else cares only because of number 3.

As for the fantasy series mentioned in the (), I only glanced at it once while buying Lemony Snicket books. It had the same packaging as Lemony Snicket, but I was only vaugly interested at the time and haven't been to a Barnes and Nobles in that section for awhile I really couldn't tell you, but it was probably for kids.

And as a fun side note. I have a Dean Koontz novel that he published as Leigh Nichols. There was no about the author page or enough information in the copyright section...however each chapter was headed by a verse from the book of counted sorrows--a book that Koontz made up. The packaging is for a mid-eightes romance novel. I remember reading somewhere that Koontz didn't become a success until he stopped using pseudonyms.