Did Redbook’s Editor-In-Chief Ever Hear of Innocent Until Proven Guilty?
Along with the release of a new book come press on the book. Authors and publishers rely on the media to help spread the word about a book and its subject.
So I was THRILLED to hear that Redbook was going to run recipes from The Love Diet in their August issue. Actually, an editor originally contacted me because they were interested in a story on foods for a woman’s libido and I offered to give them recipes from my upcoming book. (Yes, I was trying to sneak in some publicity for the book–can you blame me? I mean, REDBOOK! What a great audience for The Love Diet.)
Now with any article there’s a chance that the story will be “killed” before publication. (Often there isn’t room for everything planned for the issue and sometimes stories are killed because of an error in accuracy. That’s life in publishing.) So when I was contacted by an editorial assistant for a final fact check last week, I was elated. That means the story is in! (Remember, a monthly magazine usually has to go to print weeks in advance of its publication date.)
Or maybe it doesn’t. Apparently, the final fact check is not the last word. It seems that the Editor-in-Chief didn’t review the issue until it had been fully fact checked and put to bed.
And when this Editor-in-Chief spotted the book that she’d seen in the media (she’s probably a secret TMZ junkie) she threw up her wildly conservative red flag. “Redbook will not allow itself to be associated with someone like this.” is how it was conveyed to me, (I probably paraphrased slightly. I doubt an editor would end a sentence on a preposition.)
As far as I was aware, the article was about my advice to women on food and libido, not a story on Juan-Carlos Cruz. So, are they saying that I am evil by association and they don’t want my cooties?
Huh. Kind of makes me want to do a background check on the friends and family of all the Redbook staff. If there’s a slew of parking violations or a shoplifting charge, should I be canceling my Redbook subscription? The mere thought of those cooties are creeping me out!
Ok, jokes and snarky jabs aside, Ms. Editor, this is a man’s life we are talking about. Whatever happened to innocent until proven guilty?
Oh the ups and downs of book publishing!