Fallen star is now a cash cow

Short, sharp guidance and observations from a journalist with attitude. All books available from Exclusives

IF YOU READ ONE BOOK THIS WEEK

Scoop, by Evelyn Waugh, with an introduction by Christopher Hitchens (Penguin Modern Classics, 2000 edition), R115

HARDLY new, I know, but Murdochgate and the News of the World phone hacking scandal prompted a return to this 1938 comic masterpiece.

A satire on Fleet Street, the novel was partly based on Waugh's experiences as a war correspondent covering the Italian invasion of Abyssinia. He once even telegraphed one of his stories in Latin for secrecy, but his editors discarded it. Times may have changed, but not the ways of the media barons.

THE ISSUE

Well, that did not take too long, did it? Within days of her death on July 23, a number of e-books on Amy Winehouse have appeared in Amazon Kindle stores on both sides of the Atlantic. Incredibly, one of them, Amy Winehouse: The Life and Death, by Andrew D Rose, was available for download on the day the singer died, which is remarkably fast work, even for a cut-and-paste job.

Further hackwork on the Camden caner is coming our way. Chas Newkey-Burden is furiously updating his 2009 biography, and a quick search on Amazon.co.uk, reveals his Amy Winehouse: The Biography 1983-2011 (John Blake Publishing) will be available later this month. It will be about 90 pages longer than the first edition.

CRASH COURSE

Here is a lesson for publishers on how to create a buzz about a forthcoming title: say nothing - sort of.

Among the titles on Little, Brown and Company's autumn line-up was the following: Untitled, by "Anonymous".

No other information was offered other than the book was non-fiction, 320 pages long, would be released in November and was "the inside story of life with one of the most controversial figures of our time".

Unusually for an industry that would welcome any opportunity to hype a product, inquiries from the trade and media have been met with a firm "no comment".

A maddening ploy, but it seems to have piqued the interest of American booksellers, many of whom are convinced it is about Bernie Madoff, now serving a 150-year prison sentence for operating what has been described as the largest Ponzi scheme ever.

THE BOTTOM LINE

“(Freud) also demonstrates a loquacious, if not reckless, style of writing he adopted when under the influence during this period: ‘Woe to you, my Princess, when I come, I will kiss you quite red and feed you till you are plump. And if you are forward you shall see who is the stronger, a gentle little girl who doesn’t eat enough or a big wild man who has cocaine in his body.’” -- An Anatomy of Addiction: Sigmund Freud, William Halsted, and the Miracle Drug Cocaine, by Howard Markel (Pantheon)

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