Writing a Book Is Easy...Like Writing a Long Email
Real Housewives can do it all. They can sing...
They can dance burlesque...
And, as we've already established, they can write books.
Lots...
...and lots...
and lots of books.
Professional writers are fine with that. We know that the big publishers realize the built-in audience for this sort of thing and all these books are pretty much ghostwritten anyway. Does anyone really think this woman could write a coherent paragraph?
The problem comes when a real writer joins the cast. Carole Radziwill is a former ABC News correspondent and Glamour magazine columnist who sold her first novel to Holt Publishing in a six-figure deal in 2014.
Carole is also on Real Housewives of New York alongside the woman who wrote this book:
Carole, like many writers who have worked for decades at our craft, was feeling a little frustrated listening to her friend brag about her book deal. She asked if Aviva had a ghostwriter. Turns out, she had multiple ghostwriters. But at first she denied it, saying writing a book was really easy, like "writing a long email."
What ensued was a multi-episode battle titled "bookgate" where the non-writer said the writer had a ghostwriter, too, and the writer said the non-writer doesn't know the difference between an editor and a ghostwriter. Apparently because "it takes a village" to write a book, the non-writer's argument was that anyone who says she wrote a book alone is lying.
Okay...so at this point I'm going to amend my earlier statement that published authors aren't bothered by reality stars getting book deals. As Carole Radziwell put it, Aviva Drescher's comments about writing being "easy" completely disrespect the years of hard work it takes to become a successful writer. Ghostwritten or not, the cold, hard truth is that Aviva Drescher would never have gotten a book published if not for being on a reality TV show. Carole Radziwell, on the other hand, would have likely had a book published eventually because of her talent.
Sure, she has led an interesting life--once married to a Kennedy, best friends with Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy, etc. She was actually the one who reported John F. Kennedy, Jr.'s plane missing to the Coast Guard that morning.
But she's also a writer. When you're a writer, it's not what you do...it's who you are. Anyone who is an artist understands that. Unfortunately, reality TV stars are rarely true artists. If they were, they'd be creating art rather than trying to get attention for looking pretty.
It's understood that celebrities will sell books. They may be actors, singers, dancers, or reality show stars...but they aren't writers. When they compare themselves to someone who has put years of hard work into a field, then it's a problem. That's when we'll make an issue of the fact that they only got a book deal because they allow cameras to follow them around 24 hours a day while they create pretend drama.
They can dance burlesque...
And, as we've already established, they can write books.
Lots...
...and lots...
and lots of books.
Professional writers are fine with that. We know that the big publishers realize the built-in audience for this sort of thing and all these books are pretty much ghostwritten anyway. Does anyone really think this woman could write a coherent paragraph?
The problem comes when a real writer joins the cast. Carole Radziwill is a former ABC News correspondent and Glamour magazine columnist who sold her first novel to Holt Publishing in a six-figure deal in 2014.
Carole is also on Real Housewives of New York alongside the woman who wrote this book:
Carole, like many writers who have worked for decades at our craft, was feeling a little frustrated listening to her friend brag about her book deal. She asked if Aviva had a ghostwriter. Turns out, she had multiple ghostwriters. But at first she denied it, saying writing a book was really easy, like "writing a long email."
What ensued was a multi-episode battle titled "bookgate" where the non-writer said the writer had a ghostwriter, too, and the writer said the non-writer doesn't know the difference between an editor and a ghostwriter. Apparently because "it takes a village" to write a book, the non-writer's argument was that anyone who says she wrote a book alone is lying.
Okay...so at this point I'm going to amend my earlier statement that published authors aren't bothered by reality stars getting book deals. As Carole Radziwell put it, Aviva Drescher's comments about writing being "easy" completely disrespect the years of hard work it takes to become a successful writer. Ghostwritten or not, the cold, hard truth is that Aviva Drescher would never have gotten a book published if not for being on a reality TV show. Carole Radziwell, on the other hand, would have likely had a book published eventually because of her talent.
Sure, she has led an interesting life--once married to a Kennedy, best friends with Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy, etc. She was actually the one who reported John F. Kennedy, Jr.'s plane missing to the Coast Guard that morning.
But she's also a writer. When you're a writer, it's not what you do...it's who you are. Anyone who is an artist understands that. Unfortunately, reality TV stars are rarely true artists. If they were, they'd be creating art rather than trying to get attention for looking pretty.
It's understood that celebrities will sell books. They may be actors, singers, dancers, or reality show stars...but they aren't writers. When they compare themselves to someone who has put years of hard work into a field, then it's a problem. That's when we'll make an issue of the fact that they only got a book deal because they allow cameras to follow them around 24 hours a day while they create pretend drama.
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