Neophyte said:
Neophyte said:
I’m a member of an online music forum based in the UK – one of the regulars is a fellow that used to work in book publishing…thought some bods here might get a chuckle out of his latest posting…———————
I once asked Norah Smallwood, Iris Murdoch’s editor and boss of Chatto & Windus why her books were getting baggier and baggier and why didn’t someone give her a good edit. “Oh, we would never edit Iris,” came the reply.
Another literary titan who was never edited was Barbara Cartland. Her novels were delivered to her publisher by her chauffeur wrapped in brown paper and string, and went straight into production. Nobody ever read them beforehand.
As for dodgy celebs writing children’s books, there’s no evidence either way as far as I know. I’ve never read any of ’s books, but they were such a huge success that they must work on their own terms, whoever wrote them. Naturally, legit children’s writers did a lot of grumbling about celebs who don’t even write their own books, but it’s not completely unknown for celebs to write their own books. No doubt somebody at HarperCollins will blow the whistle soon.
Talking of dodgy celebs, I have before me a copy of Looking at Pictures with Rolf Harris, published by Phaidon in 1978. I can’t remember how it happened, but the late commissioned the book, wrote the text, sourced the paintings and saw it through to publication. All Harris did, apart from turning up to one meeting right at the beginning, was supply a few of his trademark squiggles. He signed it for her, and reads, in part, “Hope you like the end product, love Rolf.”
“Like it? I fucking wrote it,” was what she said.
Oops – didn’t print the names, but the children’s book author is David Walliams, and the Rolf Harris ghost was the publisher’s late wife.
https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2026/nov/10/david-walliams-accused-preying-on-young-women-for-sex