When I worked for the Writers Guild of Alberta, one of my main jobs each year was to organize their annual book awards program. One of my most memorable experiences during this time was when of our members submitted her book in both the fiction and non-fiction categories.
I looked at the book and saw that it was indeed part fiction and part non-fiction so I called her up to see if she was willing to just put the book in one category or the other since this could obviously lead to some confusion at the minimum should she be shortlisted in both categories and embarrassment if she won both!
“No. This book is half fiction and half non-fiction. Each chapter alternates from one to the other so those are the categories I want to be entered in.”
“Okay, I'll let it go.” I told her. “But if you win in both categories, you're explaining it to the media, not me!”
That was the thought that crossed my mind the other day as I was working through our patron request “show pile”. A couple patrons had requested the OJ Simpson book. So I did the assessment we have to do for every requested book. But this one provided some interesting twists and turns.
If you don't know the story, OJ Simpson was offered a huge contract to write a fictionalized version of how he *might* have killed his ex-wife and her acquaintance. There was a huge public outcry so the book was canceled, editors were fired and a small dash of civility prevailed for once in our celebrity-obsessed, anything-goes society.
The reprieve lasted a month or so. Then the rights to the book were assigned to the family of one of the murder victims who decided to go ahead and publish it to try and recoup some of the $38 million they were awarded in civil suit against OJ after he was found innocent in the criminal trial.
Although the book was originally going to be marketed as a “fictionalized” account of how the murders may have occurred, I found that it was now classed as a “True Crime” book and the cover still had the original “If I Did It” title but the word “if” was in really small letters so it would appear to read “I Did It”. A new sub-title was added “Confessions of the Killer” and the author was listed as The Goldman Family rather than OJ Simpson.
All I can say is “ouch!” The family aren't likely to recoup much of what they're owed by publishing this book. But they definitely got back at OJ with how they pulled a bit of a switcheroo. Also makes for some interesting questions for the cataloguers out there – how do you treat a book where the line between fiction and non-fiction is so blurry? (If I could remember the title, I could look up that WGA half and half book to see how various libraries dealt with it.)
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