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Are you a writer who’d rather not perform? Just hire an actor—that’s what Canadian writer Russell Brooks did
September 28, 2009 | 9:20 am
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By David Rothman
Over the weekend some TeleRead folks replied to my post headlined “Should authors have to be talkers? Is multimedia a threat at times to the best lit?” Most disagreed with my concerns.
Well, here’s some handy ammo for the folks who say, “No threat to lit.”
Russell Brooks, a Canadian writer, paid an actor to read Pandora’s Succession, Brooks’ thriller, to help woo agents and editors. Enjoy the recording here.
Yes, this was before Brooks, aka Russell Parkway, sold his book, reports Jeff Rivera at GalleyCat.
Brooks still hasn’t made a sale. But at least the right people may be noticing him now (disclosure: Brooks got promo help from GumboWriters, Jeff’s firm, and of course Cat is among our fave blogs).
Presumably the same idea could have worked after publication, just so Brooks controlled the audio rights. And as I recall, that’s exactly what I do with The Solomon Scandals.
So what’s next? Hire an actor not just for the reading Scandals but also to go on TV for me without people knowing the full story? Who should the performer should be? Woody Allen in his actor’s incarnation. Hell no, I’ll hold out for George Clooney.
Meanwhile I’m already thinking of a Cyrano de Bergerac-style plot for my next novel. I’m not talking about love letters of hidden origin—rather, a different twist.
A beautiful female fan, a Kate Winslet lookalike, falls in love with this resonantly voice hunk performing on YouTube and in a multimedia e-book.
Trouble is, he isn’t a real writer. He’s merely paid to act like one on TV and elsewhere.
Actually, as I recall, a French actor did go on TV to promote a sexy romance he hadn’t written—unknown to the world. “So,” a cynic would say, “what’s wrong here? Aren’t most celebrity books like that already?”
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Comments:
The hero of “The Good Thief’s Guide to Paris” by Charlie Ewan doesn’t go as far as hiring an actor, but he does use a catalogue model for his publicity photograph – which makes things quite tricky when his agent falls in love with him and travels to Paris to meet him…
What a hoot, Martin! Thanks for sharing that example. Oh, well, I can always use the multimedia angle to update the plot. And perhaps even try this in Real Life.
Gotta go now and take a call on Line 2. Clooney’s people turned me down, but maybe DiCaprio’s agent will be more open minded.
David
Stephen King used a false name, Richard Bachman, and issued a fake author photo for his 1984 novel ”Thinner.” King was already famous, but he was trying to direct the stream of his prodigious production into multiple channels. Perhaps King feared a putdown such as the one directed at Beat writers whose output “isn’t writing at all – it’s typing” according to razor-tongued Truman Capote.
More recently the author and New York Times food critic Frank Bruni “revealed the horrifying truth about the author photo for “Ambling into History” … it was digitally stretched out to lengthen his face and make him look less fat” according to Gawker.
Usually people know when performers are not performing their own work (does Clooney write his movies?). I don’t consider it honest to pretend you created another person’s work, but if it is prearranged with the creator, I guess the only thing you have to worry about is the possible backlash if your public finds out…
Maybe the answer is to be up-front, and present people as the representatives, spokespeople, or “the person the author wishes he looked like.” Sort of real-life Avatars to represent us in public!