The New Trend of Fake Memoirs
Why Writers Lie in Non-Fiction Books and Publishers Buy Them
Margaret Seltzer (aka Margaret A. Jones) is the author of the latest fake memoir. How did the publishing industry allow this happen?
In her supposed memoir “Love and Consequences” (Riverhead Books, 2008), Margaret A. Jones writes about her life as a half-Native American, half-white girl growing up in a foster home in South Central Los Angeles. She describes her experiences as a drug-dealing gang member in L.A. watching friends and family die in gang violence.
Days after publication, Margaret's sister Cynthia Hoffman read an interview about the book in the New York Times and called the publisher Riverhead – a division of Penguin Books – to report that the story was a fraud. Not only was Margaret A. Jones really Margaret Seltzer; she was white, had attended private school, grown up with her birth parents, and had never been a member of a gang.
These are not small indiscrepancies. The publisher has since pulled all copies of the book and canceled Seltzer's book tour.
Two years ago readers and publishers were shocked when James Frey admitted to having made up and exaggerated large parts of his memoir “A Million Little Pieces.” His excuse was that the exaggerations made for a better story.
Fake Memoirs - Are Editors Responsible?
How could the publishers have published something so glaringly untrue? How could they make this mistake with Seltzer so shortly after the drama and bad publicity of the James Frey upset?
Magazine writers know that magazine fact checkers can be ruthless. Magazine editors tend to pride themselves on truth, factual evidence and data. Every source will be called, every quote checked.
Editors of book-length memoirs, though, seem to rely more heavily on the word of the author. Seltzer's editor Sarah McGrath worked with Seltzer for three years on the manuscript, though reportedly never actually met her. McGrath said that in all that time Seltzer's story never changed, thus the editor had no reason to doubt her. The publisher says the author went to great lengths to deceive them, even providing people who posed as her foster sibling. Seltzer was referred by a reputable literary agent, and she had signed a contract promising to tell the truth.
Essentially, editors of memoirs place great importance on the relationship of trust between author and editor. There is worry that this sacred relationship that could be jeopardised by excessive questioning and fact checking.
Critics are urging changes to the publication process for memoirs to prevent similar mistakes in the future.
Why Do Writers Lie?
When Frey approached publishers marketing his manuscript of “A Million Little Pieces” as fiction, none were interested. When he labeled it “memoir” Random House jumped.
Margaret Seltzer's excuse was that she really wanted to tell the stories of the life her gang-member ffriends lived, and she believed that they had a greater chance of being heard if she wrote them as her own story.
Seltzer and Frey both sold memoirs because that's what the publishers wanted. And the publishers wanted memoirs because readers crave them. Non-fiction books sell. Readers want the intimacy of a memoir and the sense of being allowed into another person's world – especially if that person has had a dramatic and harrowing life.
The process of memoir writing is fraught with the possibility of factual inaccuracy, being dependent as it is on memory and recollection. It is nearly impossible to guarantee that every detail of a creative non-fiction story is unquestionably accurate.
Still, readers are right to assume that memoirs are true, or at least as true as memory will allow.
