Book Club

[Judaline]

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@mollybgood wrote:

I am looking forward to listening to this book in

summer 2018! This appears to be a great writing

duet.

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You're kidding.

[CLEM]

I will be sure to buy this.  Thanks for posting. 

[gardenman]

As a general rule, when there's a book cover with a title before there's a book, it's a bad sign.

The press release sounds more like a pure money grab than a "Hey, I've got a great idea for a novel and I could use some insight from a former president to help flesh it out" type of story.

This sounds like the agent, who represents both, said, "I wonder if I can con a publisher into using both clients to write a novel?" When he found out he could, he then got together with the two to say, "Look, come up with some sort of story you two can collaborate on and we'll sell a ton of these."

Both 'writers' (neither likely will put many words on paper themselves) then came up with a plot and handed it off to someone else to work on.

In the real world, novels typically start with an idea that gets fleshed out and refined. A few draft chapters get written, edited, sent back and forth a few times and then more is written, and more and finally as the book nears completion things like cover design start to take place. Very often the original idea behind the book gets tweaked, if not completely tossed out, along the way. In this case, we've got the title and the book cover all done and the story is apparently being written to fit them.

Will it be good? Maybe, but I wouldn't count on it. This type of 'writing' often reminds me of the painting factories you see in places like China where "original handpainted works of art"  are created by workers who sit at an easel all day copying a sample painting. While it's true they're an original hand painted work of art, it's not really art that has any real world value. As a decoration they're good, but if you're counting on it ever appreciating in value, you'll be sadly disappointed.

I suspect this book won't be a work of art, but a pure money grab capitalizing on th names of two famous people. (Much like Kim Kardashian's novel was. And Kanye West's, and countless others.) Hey, it's working for them. A lot of you are already lining up to read it so it's a clever marketing move and kudos to them for that. Just don't expect too much from it.

[LoriLori]

James Patterson is the Andy Warhol/Thomas Kinkead of publishing.  He does not write his own things, he only puts his name to them just as Warhol and Kinkead paid others to produce "their" art.

Former President Bill Clinton was a Rhodes Scholar and he can write, so I wonder if they're friends, otherwise why would he be messing around with such an inferior mind.

[pommom]

Did I miss the release date?

[BornToShop]

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@pommom wrote:

Did I miss the release date?

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@pommom, so far it looks like June 2018.  

[Colinka]

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@gardenman wrote:

As a general rule, when there's a book cover with a title before there's a book, it's a bad sign.

The press release sounds more like a pure money grab than a "Hey, I've got a great idea for a novel and I could use some insight from a former president to help flesh it out" type of story.

This sounds like the agent, who represents both, said, "I wonder if I can con a publisher into using both clients to write a novel?" When he found out he could, he then got together with the two to say, "Look, come up with some sort of story you two can collaborate on and we'll sell a ton of these."

Both 'writers' (neither likely will put many words on paper themselves) then came up with a plot and handed it off to someone else to work on.

In the real world, novels typically start with an idea that gets fleshed out and refined. A few draft chapters get written, edited, sent back and forth a few times and then more is written, and more and finally as the book nears completion things like cover design start to take place. Very often the original idea behind the book gets tweaked, if not completely tossed out, along the way. In this case, we've got the title and the book cover all done and the story is apparently being written to fit them.

Will it be good? Maybe, but I wouldn't count on it. This type of 'writing' often reminds me of the painting factories you see in places like China where "original handpainted works of art"  are created by workers who sit at an easel all day copying a sample painting. While it's true they're an original hand painted work of art, it's not really art that has any real world value. As a decoration they're good, but if you're counting on it ever appreciating in value, you'll be sadly disappointed.

I suspect this book won't be a work of art, but a pure money grab capitalizing on th names of two famous people. (Much like Kim Kardashian's novel was. And Kanye West's, and countless others.) Hey, it's working for them. A lot of you are already lining up to read it so it's a clever marketing move and kudos to them for that. Just don't expect too much from it.

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Oh, my! You said everything I wanted to say, but ten times better! As a librarian, I am secretly heartbroken when patrons come in to excitedly check out the latest "James Patterson" or "fill in another hack writer's name."  I feel like a chef must feel when she's created healthy, delicious food in abundance, but the customer requests a "Twinkie."

[CLEM]

I have already preordered it.  Hope it will be good.  Just has to be.  Unless it's not.

[Oznell]

Wow, Colinka, I did not know that about James Patterson.  Of course I know his name, but have not read him...

It's great to get the inside dope from a librarian.   Please don't tell me that my favorite detective fiction writer, Sue Grafton, is some sort of "writing assembly line" too!

Somehow, I doubt that she is-- her voice seems so distinctively hers, and her fabled ear for dialogue is so consistently high from book to book, that I surmise she's a one-woman shop.  Do tell.