James Frey, Full Fathom Five, and Why I am Torn

Dear Readers,

Note: Sorry this is later than expected, school work has been hell but here is the post I promised.

So you know that song Torn by Natalie Imbruglia. That song pretty much describes how I am feeling about James Frey, Full Fathom Five, and his new book.

Jame Frey

James Frey is a very controversial author who has published a book A Million Little Pieces. The book was a hit after Oprah started supporting it and slapped her book club sticker on it. The problem, the book was sold as a memoir but actually was mostly fictitious. James Frey had lied about the events in the book and was even called out about it live on Oprah's show. It seems after you have been publicly humiliated and outed as a impostor of a writer on live TV you would have the decency to apologize and not do anything like this again, but with James Frey it gets worse.

The Full Fathom Five

The Full Fathom Five is a publishing company that is basically, in my opinion, a scam and sweatshop for authors. Full Fathom Five is basically a company that publishes books and is in the package publishing business. The book packaging business is not new and has been going on since like Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys books were published. Book packaging is pretty much a group of ghost writers. Now I do not have any problems with book packaging companies itself, this one in particular really gets under my skin. Full Fathom Five basically is a company that signs new writers who dream of having their names in print and on the cover of a book. The problem: They only pay the writers about 250 dollars to complete the book and a percentage of the revenue from the book like any movie deals (40% is idea was thought up by author and 30% if it was Frey's idea from the beginning). The writer does not own the copyright, but does have to deal with any legal action made towards them even if they don't own the copyright. The writers also do not have any control over their publicity, biographical content, or photographs. The writers associated with the company also are not allowed to admit publicly to working with company without the Full Fathom Five permission or they will receive a 500,000 dollar fine.

Why I am Torn?

While I do not like James Frey and believe Full Fathom Five is taking advantage of young hopeful writers who usually sign with them because they want to get their work published, I really am interested in a book that James Frey is coming out with. It is called Endgame: The Calling by James Frey. The book seems at first like a knock off of the hunger games books ( which after looking at the synopsis I can see why people would believe that), but the twist is the books actually are interactive. Inside their are puzzles to complete for the readers. The reader reads the book, but also solves the puzzle. I have even seen and heard some people getting little clues sent to them from the company like puzzles to solve to find more clues. The readers will play along with the game and solve the puzzles to find more clues, the grand prize for the first person to complete all the puzzles and win the competition: 500,000 dollars in gold coins! Now some of you may be saying to yourself: "Screw what Jessica is saying, I am gonna pre-order this book so I can win 500,000 dollars." I advise you though not to do that ( reasons being what I have said previously about James Frey and Full Fathom Five as well as the fact that chances of winning those contest are maybe around or a little better than the chances of winning the lottery). The pros of these books I will admit are appealing, the puzzles and interactive aspect seem new and interesting to me and of course the grand prize is probably something that some people could only dream of obtaining. The cons though are the fact that Jame Frey has proven to be a sketchy and not always trustworthy in my opinion. I have also read that the book is a knock off of the hunger games and is somewhat poorly written ( these are from mixed reviews at goodread.com from people who had gotten early copies of the book). Some have said it is good but many have mixed reviews or negative remarks to say about it. So while the interactive aspect of the series does appeal to me greatly, I am still unsure about purchasing this book and completing the interactive elements because of my dislike for James Frey and Full Fathom Five, as well as the fact that I may just not like the book when I read it.

Decision:

I think I am gonna spend my money elsewhere and wait till the book has been out for a while and see what others think. If the book turns out to have a positive reaction by society, I then may decide to possibly give it a go ( If I can let my dislike for James Frey and Full Fathom Five go, which will be a pretty hard task). For right now though I think I am going to be sticking to reading and purchasing other books that are not from the Full Fathom Five.

-Jessica

PS. Here is a  link to a list of books Full Fathom Five has published if anyone is interested in boycotting them like I am ( which is kinda a shame because I was planning on reading one of the books called Dorothy Must Die)

Full Fathom Five Book List Link: http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/45872.Full_Fathom_Five


Sources:

• http://nymag.com/arts/books/features/69474/index2.html
• http://www.coastreporter.net/photos-videos/james-frey-s-new-young-adult-book-project-includes-gold-coin-payouts-of-more-than-500-000-1.1127640
• http://www.snugglyoranges.com/2014/01/full-fathom-five-boycott-books/

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (and other Concerns) by Mindy Kaling Book Review

Dear Readers,

I know I said I was going to do a review for the book Firecracker, but I had to write this review for an amazingly hilarious book I just read. That book is Mindy Kaling's memoir/biography "Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (and other concerns). The book is written by Emmy Nominated writer and actress Mindy Kaling. Mindy has written and stared in shows such as The Office and The Mindy Project. In the book Mindy recounts memories from her childhood, how she got into comedy writing and acting, her journey so far in the acting business, and even little bits about Mindy and her opinions about everything from men to how she wants her funeral to be. Mindy is honestly a hilarious and funny writer. The book had be laughing out loud which not since The Fault In Our Stars have I laughed out loud while reading a book ( I laughed at some funny parts of TFIOS, so if you are wondering why I was laughing at a book that is known for being sad, but good that is why). I really wish I could write more on this book but It honestly is a speak for itself kind of book. You have to read it yourself to really understand how entertaining this book really is. I love Mindy and cant wait for Mindy Project to return (one more week after new girl season premier, my favorite TV show by the way) as well as see any new TV shows, movies, books, etc. that Mindy may be completing. All in all it was a really good book and I hope you readers think so too.


picture source link: http://lifeofafemalebibliophile.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/is-everyone-hanging-out-with-me-and-other-concers.jpg

4.5 stars out of 5.

-Jessica

PS. There is a second post I will probably be making today or tomorrow. It is about being torn about  James Frey, Full Fathom Five, and this book that he is publishing that I am torn about reading. If you don't know about James Frey you can google him and the controversy surrounding him and the Full Fathom Five ( which I will explain in my post but if you want to do some research before you read my post by all mean please do). Please leave comments as well about your opinion on this post and the post I will be making later today or tomorrow.