James Frey Forced To Defend Literary Ethics: Lawyer Says 'Never Seen A Contract Like It'

The Guardian:

James Frey, the bad boy of American letters who was given a very public dressing-down by Oprah Winfrey over his first book - in which he passed off fiction as memoir - is back in the headlines over his latest venture, a collective writing project that some have accused of being brutal and Dickensian.

Read the whole story: The Guardian

Comments

[ESerafina42]

03:14 PM on 11/23/2010

Who ever asserted that he had ethics?

[John Horner]

11:25 AM on 11/23/2010

I'm not a fan of James Fry, but it doesn't seem like any of the authors was forced to sign those contracts. There is a massive excess supply of people who want to be published book authors, just as there are far more wannabe pop stars than can ever possibly make it.

[pbnyc59]

10:54 AM on 11/23/2010

He claimed to having 'done time' in prison. Let's hope he does and is gang raped.

[bmonaghan]

10:42 AM on 11/23/2010

The Count of Monte Cristol was also written this way - Dumas had the exact same set up.

[ESerafina42]

03:14 PM on 11/23/2010

So does James Patterson - wonder what his contracts are like.

[bigdaveh]

10:12 AM on 11/23/2010

Anything this lying d0uchbaq has to say about writing should be considered suspect at best, and self-serviing in the least. His fiction/memior/fabrication was a joke, but taken too seriously,

[shelagh63]

08:44 AM on 11/23/2010

"He estimates that the central storyline of about 85% of the books under way originated with him."

Ok, let's review; in "a million lttle pieces" this guy exploited the tragic death of a high school classmate by inserting himself into her story, casting himself as the brooding, misunderstood suffering hero.( In another book he completely fabricated a story about a fellow prisoner named pork chop or t-bone or something, whom he claimed to have taught how to read the classics while in stir. His self aggrandizing claims that he is the "bad boy of literature not only makes him all the more ridiculous, it degrades the work of artists from, Bukowski et al. I remember seeing him on Oprah and he was banging on about AA shoving things down his throat. I guess he thought that as a "bad boy" he had some better ideas and catch phrases to help people stay sober, something like "hold on" Hold on indeed, to your hat and gut while this joker struts around the stage in his mind, where he is king of letters. Furthermore, his Koons comparison was hilarious!-ly sickening. He is no more a bad boy than Little Lord Fauntleroy. Were the Dickensian era contracts exploitative? Perhaps, writers were paid by the word and had little control of their work in the publishing arena, at least they didn't have to work for this blowhard. No offense of course...to blowhards.

[ESerafina42]

03:15 PM on 11/23/2010

Yes, to be a "bad boy of literature" you have to have talent. Byron he's not.

[farmerlady]

08:33 AM on 11/23/2010

This is actually pretty common; both Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys were books written by committees. Youth fiction is particular is often written this way. Not to mention, that so many editors and other people are involved in combing over any given book that by the time any book is published it can hardly be said to be the creative work of one person.....very few authors have any kind of veto power or final say over what gets published under their names. Frey is just being open about what the publishing industry has always done, which people don't like.

[shryock]

08:14 AM on 11/23/2010

this sort of thing is not new in the publishing world.
the stratemeyer syndicate in the 1920s and 1930s published nearly 100 different series of books, including nancy drew, the hardy boys, tom swift, the rover boys, the bobbsey twins, many of them reissued and updated in the 1980s.
as a general rule the real authors were not credited when the books were released; the books were credited to a pen name so that many different authors could write books in each series. the series was what was important, not the author.
sounds very much like frey is doing exactly what stratemeyer did.

[chromodynamics]

07:51 AM on 11/23/2010

It would be interesting to see what kind of junk comes out of Full Fathom Five. From the description of stories, none of these books will ever be contenders for the Hugo or Nebula awards. Neil Gaiman or Robert J. Sawyer, James Frey is not!

[robertdaniel]

07:34 AM on 11/23/2010

Frey pre-dated Bush with his imaginary, untrue memoir.

[chromodynamics]

07:41 AM on 11/23/2010

That's why it's a memoir... They call a memoir based on truth an autobiography.

[beekeeper]

02:11 AM on 11/23/2010

Dear James... you may be clean from drugs but you are not in recovery. Most would call you a dry drunk.

[shelagh63]

08:47 AM on 11/23/2010

Well said, F&F'd

[janiepants]

12:25 AM on 11/23/2010

This sort of things happens all the time in Hollywood. He's just moving what television and movie people do to the literary world. Writers, whether they're just getting out of college or not still know how to read. No one is making people sign these deals. I could see if he was lying to them, then there would be a story here. If you're such a great writer on your own, then why are you signing up to this? People need to stop passing blame and learn to control their greed. What happened here is writers want more of the pie when the model started proving to be successful and their project were getting sold for movie rights.
I'm sure these people were aware of who James Frey was when they signed up with him. Moving on. Nothing to see here.

[shelagh63]

08:49 AM on 11/23/2010

Yes, Mr. Frey needs to stop passing the blame around and control his greed

[peegan]

11:52 PM on 11/22/2010

Read the contract. If you don't like it, walk away. As a writer, one of the hardest things to do when you are unknown is to get your work read. The writers that have helped produce successful works for this group will now be able to get an agent. That agent will get their independent work to the right person in publishing houses and give them a real chance at making their own name. It's called paying your dues.

[shelagh63]

08:46 AM on 11/23/2010

Dream on my friend

[peegan]

05:34 PM on 11/23/2010

Dream on? I don't understand your comment. I make my living as a fiction writer. My family has been in publishing for two generations. Writing is like any other area of the entertainment business, a catch 22. You need an agent/manager to have success, you need success to get an agent/manager. These writers in this group who have some success as part of the group will have a much easier time finding an agent and getting their submissions off "the pile" and on to someones desk.

[bmonaghan]

10:45 AM on 11/23/2010

A lot of belly aching. I've been a professional writer and rasied four kids as one. Not complaining. It's not the easiest life, but what is?

[Justin Manask]

10:28 PM on 11/22/2010

Typical British journalist, attacking an American for doing what an English company did first. Ever heard of Working Partners Ltd? Same set up, same draconian contracts for writers. Far, far less creative output.

[dennissinned]

10:21 PM on 11/22/2010

This reminds me of an "artist", perhaps back in the 90s, who tried to create a brand around his name and then hired a bunch of artists who could create paintings that embody his brand. Funny part is that even some of his own paintings were rejected by his panel.