posted on May 25, 2003 09:05:12 AM new
NEW YORK - Where is the literary feeding frenzy? Book publishers have yet to besiege Jayson Blair with the million-dollar offers his agent predicted after the ex-reporter's plagiarized and falsified stories bloodied the New York Times.
One publisher said she wouldn't touch Blair's story with a 10-foot pole. Another said she'd be a sucker to pay $1 million for a book by Blair.
But the literary world was intrigued about the idea of someone publishing something by the disgraced journalist who left the Times this month. Most agreed Blair will likely get some kind of deal for a novel, a made-for-TV movie or an expose about the New York Times Co. flagship newspaper.
"Not from me!" said Judith Regan, when asked if she was about to enter the bidding war for a Blair tome. "There's a sucker born every minute!"
The owner of Regan Books, which just published Michael Moore's "Stupid White Men...and Other Sorry Excuses For The State of the Nation," added. "Of course, it would depend on what he does, he obviously knows how to write fiction, but he doesn't have a lot of credibility."
But Cedric Crocker, vice president publisher for Jossey-Bass Business, a unit of J.W. Wiley & Sons, said there would be a big human interest level in the scandal.
"There are lots of interesting elements to his particular story, his race is one," Crocker said of the black reporter.
But he said that Blair's "window of opportunity" to cash in on the scandal was narrow.
"It's almost the instant book market where it has to be out so quickly while it's still in the media," he added.
QUESTIONABLE ETHICS
In his only interview since quitting the Times, Blair told the New York Observer he resented being compared with Stephen Glass, fired five years ago by The New Republic magazine for making up much of what he wrote there.
Glass just published a novel, "The Fabulist" about a journalist with questionable ethics. The publisher, Simon & Schuster, declined comment on whether it was interested in Blair.
Joan O'Neil, vice president publisher at J.W. Wiley, which recently published "Martha Inc." about the rise of homestyle maven Martha Stewart, shied away from Blair.
"He may find a publisher who wants to publish his story. Personally that's not one I'd be interested in."
"There are people looking for stories with publicity and his story has publicity and I'm sure he's got a lot more to say and tell," said O'Neill.
Blair's literary agent David Vigliano, did not respond to queries from Reuters, but he has been quoted as saying he believes Blair can command $1 million.
"I doubt that," said one publishing expert, who requested anonymity. "In most of the country, what happens at the New York Times is of absolutely no interest.
"He will be lucky to get paid something in the upper five- or lower six-figures," the source said.
"LOVABLE SCOUNDREL"
He added a small right-wing publisher could be interested for political reasons, to denigrate the liberal-leaning Times. But he said major publishers might shy away from offending the Times on whom they depend for reviews and advertising.
Bennett Johnson of Third World Press, which specializes in minority writers, was blunt: "We don't pay an advance and I can't imagine him working without an advance. Anyway, I am not sure anyone would have that kind of money."
However, Bob Thompson, professor of popular culture at Syracuse University, said in 21st Century America, there was no telling who might profit from their 15 minutes of fame.
"This is a fascinating story of an anti-hero undermining a big American institution. It's a rip-roaring tale of the young century."
Thompson noted that Blair was "a handsome guy, a lovable scoundrel and in an era where the Jerry Springer show can become a phenomenon then why not?"
posted on May 25, 2003 09:13:26 AM new
You gotta wonder if they are not acting like sharks in chum because....
a) Morally opposed to what was done
b) Don't have faith in his ability to tell the real story
c) Don't think it will sell
d) Afraid that the Times will retalliate
Peronally - I have to wonder how interesting the story of a coke snorting drunk making up stories from home would really be. On the otherhand the cynic in me wonders if the whole thing was not engineered specifically towards a future book. ( Think of all of the publicity of a "How I snowed the Times" book would have gotten if the Times had not discovered it first. )
posted on May 25, 2003 12:32:35 PM new
After being fired for plagiarism, New Republic reporter Stephen Glass profited from his infamous notoriety by writing his autobiography, "The Fabulist", published this month by Simon and Schuster.
posted on May 27, 2003 11:16:06 AM new
One small correction ... Stephen Glass's book (The Fabulist) is a NOVEL, not his autobiography. Technically, I suppose, it's an autobiographical novel since it's a fictional account of a journalist who makes stuff up.
The other big difference between Glass and Blair is that Glass can write. Blair's talents are mediocre at best.
posted on May 27, 2003 08:48:42 PM new
What a nitpicking comment. The book is being called an AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL novel. LOL! As someone at the New Republic said, "Even when it comes to reckoning with his own sins, Glass is still incapable of nonfiction."
