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February 01, 2006

This just in: the Bait and Switch is bad.

More repercussions for the author who wrote a highly fictionalized, non-fiction book. See, people don't like it when they buy one thing but get actually get another. A cautionary tale to sear into your brain as you write your copy this week:  CNN.com - Agent drops 'Pieces' author - Feb 1, 2006.

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Comments

I do believe there will be a line of agents waiting to snatch him up, merely because his book will probably sell a ridiculous number of copies, in spite of and because of the controversy.

Perhaps Don King would like to try the literary ring?

i have to ask, as writers, american copywriter, you are prone to embelllish the truth a bit to make stories better, right? BUT, you don't go on national television and tell everyone it's the absolute truth, right?
haven't read this book, but is that what all the hoopla is about? not that he fibbed to make the sales numbers rise, but that he fibbed about something like addiction and tried to say it was all true.

Of course, CV! Every good story you've heard at every bar was embellished. The issue here is that he didn't just stretch the truth, he changed it. But still marketed the book as a non-fiction memoir. There's some wiggle room since memories can be subjective...but he just out and out changed facts for dramatic effect (the book talks of friend who hung herself but really she slashed her wrists). He's clearly never done any copywriting. We copywriters learn early to love our disclaimers, don't we? What if he'd added a subhead: A mostly true story of addiction.

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