Would you sell out for a six-figure book deal?
I work in advertising. I write for clients on a daily basis. I spin words that make them look good, that make people want to buy whatever it is they’re hawking.
But even I have to draw the line somewhere.
Unlike these people, who were offered a six-figure sum by Big Pharma to write a fictional thriller — The Karasik Conspiracy — in which a group of shadowy terrorists conspires to murder thousands of Americans by poisoning the medicine they’re importing from Canada to beat U.S. drug prices. (If this plot sounds familiar, it’s because Big Pharma has tried to scare state legislatures and Congress out of giving Americans access to cheap Canadian drugs by warning that terrorists might poison the imports.)
Oh, and the book also had to contain lots of “frilly female stuff.”
The authors apparently produced the novel in 45 days, at which point Big Pharma decided maybe the book wasn’t such a good idea and tried to buy off the authors to keep quiet. To which the authors promptly replied, “Suck it, Big Pharma.”
I’m not sure what troubles me more about this:
- Writers selling their creative souls to Big Pharma
- Actually completing a novel in 45 days
- The tired, cliche plot and characters
Regardless, I can be sure about one thing: thoughts of a serious writing career are pretty much over for those two writers. They’ll forever be known as “those Pharma writers.”
I guess the six-figure advance helps soften that blow.
