The 93 year-old and the big advance....

We had a couple of emails expressing doubts about the story of 93 year-old author Lorna Page which was all over the media a few days ago.

Indeed Lorna herself appeared on PM:

Some of you thought elements of the story didn't stand-up:

Sarah Frost-Mellor wrote to us saying, "I do wonder still at the accuracy of the story regarding the "considerable advance" for the novel which, according to several reports, paid for the house in which she plans to live with her friends. Author House [her publishers] do not pay advances, that is clearly stated on their website."

Bloggers were equally suspicious of the "big advance" part of the story. And Lorna Page has gone online to respond to the speculation.

Hi everyone. Glad to know some people understand what reporters can do to a perfectly average story about a grandmother who writes novels. Here are the facts; I wrote A Dangerous Weakness on the backs of envelopes and scraps of paper, and put them away in a suitcase which my daughter-in-law found about 8 months ago, and encouraged me to publish a book. It would all still be on scraps of paper if she hadn't found it. That's it. But, through it all, I think it is a good book. In fact, now I'm working on my second. The really wonderful part of my story is my son who left his home in America to come back to England to take care of me when I needed a little help. Lorna Page

Earlier, I emailed Lorna's publicist and daughter-in-law, Cate Allen, pointing her to the blog posts questioning the "big advance". I asked Cate to clarify some of the facts. In particular bloggers had expressed surprise that AuthorHouse a self-publishing company had paid a significant advance, enough to help buy a house. Here's what Cate, who is also published by AuthorHouse, told me:

Yes, we too, would like to clear up some of the questions. Following is my original press release, which the media turned into the articles you've been reading. Seems to me they ought to stick to the facts, but then I'm not a reporter. There was no advance, don't know who cooked that up

If you look at the original press releases ( here and here) put out by Cate there was no mention of an advance. But by the time Lorna appeared on PM the "big advance" had become an established part of the tale, and everyone, including us, believed the purchase of a new house had come out of the proceeds from the book.

Cate tells me that instead of receiving an advance, they paid a small sum to have the novel published, as is usually the case with self-publishing. They chose AuthorHouse because Cate is herself published there. They are hopeful that the book will make money, and that this will enable Lorna to help her elderly friends, but it is early days.

Cate also told me that some media reports "just made up facts".

As for what she has been doing to correct errors in coverage, Cate says she now makes it clear to journalists how the story has been misreported, and she's encouraged Lorna to go online herself to set the record straight.

UPDATE: Just noticed this, there's a correction on the Guardian's website, which wryly concludes:

Aspiring writers (and housebuyers) should note that her publisher, AuthorHouse, is a self-publishing company whose website states: "For a modest financial investment you can choose what you want for your book."

• Bookmark with:
• del.icio.us |
• Digg |
• Newsvine |
• NowPublic |
• Reddit
• - What's this?