A Platform Of Lies Is Still A Platform

Non-ficiton writers must have credentials to be taken seriously by publishers. Not just anyone can write on a given topic and expect to get published unless they have some solid standing, a platform from which to display their expertise.

A history professor at a large university, for example, could write a book about some historical incident and publishers would consider how large that writer's position is in terms of platform. Does said professor speak outside of the classroom, yielding an opportunity to hawk the book? Is this writer well-known in the academic community, enough to entice buyers to lay down cash?

You could be incredibly intelligent, gifted in wordcraft, and have your manuscript utterly ignored if you do not have the sort of platform that publishers require.

As disgraced author Jonah Lehrer has demonstrated, you can build your platform of lies and plagiarism and still be taken seriously as an author.

After HMH pulled his biography of Bob Dylan under a cloud of accusations, Mr. Lehrer has now convinced Simon and Schuster that he's capable of making money for them. The plagiarist who cost HMH a bundle on printing and pulping costs has sold a book idea to some other sucker who is satisfied that his platform is strong enough to support a tarnished reputation.

There are suckers born every minute, as we all know, and the publishers know that too. S&S is banking on people who know nothing of the Jonah Lehrer plagiarism scandal to snap up his next offering. They are counting on the outraged public to buy the book just to see what is in it, even if it means blog posts and news articles that resurrect the plagiarism charges. Sure someone, or a few someones, will buy the book for the sake of culling it for examples of plagiarism to prove that Jonah Lehrer never should have been given another publishing contract.

The only thing that will influence publishers is money. It wasn't HMH buying up the manuscript about the power of love and something about redemption. Having been burned, they didn't go back to the flames. Let the book-buying public ignore Mr. Lehrer's newest offering, and as sales fail to meet expectations, the rest of the publishing industry will feel the heat as S&S gets singed.

At the base of every author platform is a financial footing. Should that foundation wash out, the platform tumbles and the author is left to find another profession, a pen name, or a small niche publisher who is satisfied with the smaller sales figures to be had in selling to those who are fans of the author and don't know a thing about plagiarism.