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Reader comment on:
Why Publishers Don't Fact-Check Memoirs
in response to reader comment: Underpaid yes, but not that badly!

Submitted by Litwit, Mar 6, 2008 18:43

Every publisher's contract includes a 'liability clause' in which the author takes responsibility for what is on the page. And unlike The New Yorker or Vanity Fair, books are not supported by advertising from businesses that actually make money. Most books are already commercial failures, failing to earn back what you pay to acquire, produce & distribute them. That's the truth of the matter. And especially narrative nonfiction, when it's not a diet book or some Oprah guru's exhortation on the inner light or somesuch. Adding the expense, time, and complication of 'vetting' them would make it worse. I have one author whose work gets factchecked at his request and at a fee we agree upon as part of the contract. The ones we've done, had we not accounted for it in the contract, would have added $5-10,000 to a book's plant cost. Those of you saying "oh come on" should look at my P&L's sometime.

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Other reader comments on this article

Comment	By	Date
More necessary than fact checkers are editors with some smarts. One has to ponder how this absurd story got past... [MORE]	Mona	Mar 6, 2008 11:43
The most unfortunate part of this situation, in my opinion, is that these recent incidents only further undermine the trust... [MORE]	mike	Mar 5, 2008 17:34
I fail to be astonished with stories like these anymore. Apparently it's easier to lie about things that never happened then... [MORE]	Adaora	Mar 5, 2008 14:12
Since the concept of "it takes a village to raise a child" has been the heart of tribal culture (and... [MORE]	Kit Prate	Mar 5, 2008 13:18
You don't have to fact-check to the extent of The New Yorker to find out if a memoir is completely... [MORE]	Tim Jackson	Mar 5, 2008 10:36
Oh, come on! They pay factcheckers with graduate degrees ten dollars an hour. At that rate how long much would... [MORE]	Nancy Seitz	Mar 5, 2008 10:12
As a former fact checker, I can say that it's rare for a reputable publication to pay $10 an hour.... [MORE]	Mona	Mar 6, 2008 10:38
Every publisher's contract includes a 'liability clause' in which the author takes responsibility for what is on the page. And...	Litwit	Mar 6, 2008 18:43
I found this quote very interesting: Most books are already commercial failures, failing to earn back what you pay to acquire,... [MORE]	Kit Prate	Mar 7, 2008 19:21
People have such weird ideas about how publishing works. The many books that don't work commercially, are supported by those... [MORE]	Litwit	Mar 8, 2008 09:29
Thanks for the enlightenment. However, the foreign publishing thing? It happened to me; twice. The first time the issue was... [MORE]	Kit Prate	Mar 9, 2008 18:29