Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Publishers scramble to publish on Goody

The fall of human masses was a given. That the publishers have joined them with such a vengeance is also perhaps not a surprise as selling books takes top priority.

Publishers are scrambling to bring out books on Jade Goody, who died on March 22.

Goody's story began to be followed by Indian media after her infamous spat with Shilpa Shetty on the sets of Big Brother.

Sources close to Goody's family said that they were furious with John Blake Publishing, which has renamed the paperback release of Goody's second book, Catch A Falling Star, published in September, as Jade: Fighting to the End. The publisher has also changed the front cover to include her dates of birth and death, despite the book containing no reference to her battle against cancer. “It is being passed off as current, when it isn't,” a friend of Goody said.

The book is being rushed to stores and is expected to be on the shelves by the end of this week, where it will be in direct competition with Forever in My Heart, Goody's official “cancer diary”, published by HarperCollins, which is owned by News Corporation, the parent company of The Times.

A proportion of profits from the HarperCollins book will be donated to Marie Curie Cancer Care. A spokeswoman for the publisher said that it was scheduled for release in late April, but that it may be brought forward.

John Blake, of John Blake Publishing, denied that he was cashing in by renaming his company's book. He said: “The advance has been earned back and all the royalties from ours will go to the boys.”

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