Beware writers of memoirs who LIE, you can be sued for actually writing fiction!

Look at former multi-awarded biking champion Lance Armstrong and his memoirs of alleged lies, now he's rightfully being sued!

If we want to buy fiction, we'd buy China's Mo Yan or Colombia's Gabriel Garcia Marquez or USA's Ernest Hemingway plus many other literary talents, not bad fiction from an alleged liar and cheater!

I had also bought this book thinking it was non-fiction, I'm seriously (this is no joke!) thinking I should also file a lawsuit... but first I have to look for my copy of this book in my library.   :)


(Two images below sourced from nydailynews.com)










Here's the news report:

Lance Armstrong Sued for Peddling ‘Fiction’ as Memoir

By Edvard Pettersson - Jan 24, 2013 1:01 PM GMT+0800 Bloomberg News

Lance Armstrong, who admitted he used performance-enhancing drugs to win a record seven Tour de France titles, was sued by two California book buyers over claims he sold fiction as autobiography.

Rob Stutzman, a former communications adviser for Arnold Schwarzenegger, said in a complaint filed Jan. 22 in federal court in Sacramento that he wouldn’t have bought “It’s Not About the Bike: My Journey Back to Life” had he known the truth about Armstrong’s misconduct and involvement with doping.

Lance Armstrong Sued for Selling Autobiography That’s ‘Fiction’

Aman Sharma/AP Photo

A cycling fan holds a book, “It’s Not About the Bike”, with cover photograph of Lance Armstrong.

Photographer:Aman Sharma/AP Photo

In the 2000 book and the 2003 follow-up, “Every Second Counts,” Armstrong denied ever having used banned substances and attributed his successes to “superior physical training, proper diet and an extraordinary spirit and drive to succeed,” Stutzman and co-plaintiff Jonathan Wheeler, a chef, said in the complaint.

The 41-year-old Armstrong, whose survival from testicular cancer helped create the largest athlete-founded charity in the U.S., was banned from competing in Olympic-level sports for life in October after the U.S.

Anti-Doping Agency published a report that said it found proof he engaged in serial cheating though the use, administration and trafficking of testosterone, erythropoietin and blood transfusions.

Armstrong admitted to cheating in an interview with  Oprah Winfrey broadcast last week.

Books ‘Exposed’

“Both books have now been exposed as frauds,” the plaintiffs said. “Armstrong now admits that without his use of banned performance enhancing drugs beginning in the mid-1990’s, he would not have won and continued to win cycling races, including seven consecutive Tour de France races.”

Mark Fabiani, a spokesman for Armstrong, had no immediate comment on the lawsuit.

Stutzman met Armstrong privately in 2005 and told him “It’s Not About the Bike” was inspiring and that he had recommended the book to friends who were fighting cancer, according to the complaint.

The two plaintiffs seek to represent other California buyers of Armstrong’s books to recover unspecified damages against Armstrong and Penguin Group (USA) Inc., the publisher of “It’s Not About the Bike,” and against Random House Inc., the publisher of “Every Second Counts.”

They accuse Armstrong and the publishers of marketing the books as “true and honest” works of nonfiction and allege they violated California laws against unfair competition and false advertising, among other allegations.

Stuart Applebaum, a spokesman for Random House in New York, declined to comment on the allegations. Erica Glass, a Penguin spokeswoman, didn’t immediately return a call to her office.

The case is Stutzman v. Armstrong, 13-00116, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of California (Sacramento.)


(This image below sourced from guardian.co.uk)

Promote reading novels, short stories, fiction, as well as poetry too! I believe reading literature enriches our experiences, our intellect, our imaginations and our over-all personality. It is also great fun!

Writing and reading stories very important! For people wondering why people should read fiction---novels and short stories once in a while, please read this article below.


(Image below sourced from nationalinterest.org)




(This image below of great Russian novelist Anton Chekov sourced from my-chekov.com)



(Image below sourced from hjackson.org)






(Image below sourced from blog.jtimothyking.com)

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Reading fiction makes us better copywriters. Anton Chekhov explains why…

Author | Chris West copywriting | verbal identity | 28-11-2012 14:31

Is fiction anything more than a distraction? More importantly, can we start billing clients for ‘reading days’?....

A paper called “In the Minds of Others” in Scientific American (Mind) gives scientific backing to what we’ve suspected all along:  writing narrative-based, interesting copy with a distinctive verbal identity is more effective than dry, fact-led product descriptions.

Researchers at Washington University performed MRI scans on people as they read fiction. The picture below shows that when we’re immersed in a good story, our brains respond as if we are feeling or acting just as the character in the story is.

Scientific American (Mind) September 2011.

No surprise. Humans have succeeded because we live in societies, and successful co-living depends on empathy. We must have a mechanism for feeling the emotions of others.

But then, the report shows there’s something in narrative structure that does more than just let us empathise with the situation and the key actors. A narrative provides the basis for lasting emotional change.

Cognitive psychologists at the University of Toronto performed a neat little experiment. They took Anton Chekov’s short story, “The Lady with the Little Dog”. It tells how a banker named Gomov meets a young woman called Anna, as she is walking her dog. They begin an affair. They return to their spouses but continue to meet from time to time.

The researchers rewrote the story as the proceedings of a divorce court. Dry, fact-led.

Two groups were studied, before and after reading either the original narrative or the court report. They were measured for how intensely they felt 10 different emotions. The participants who’d read the story version underwent small but measurable personality changes. Some of those changes included becoming more open to new experiences. The readers of the court report did not show changes.

The consequence for copywriters? If you can write a narrative arc for your product description, placing the reader in the position of a product user, then you have a chance of creating empathy in them and leading them to be open to new experiences.

Dry, fact-led copy can’t do this. However good the product is.
Chris

PS When I was a copywriter at  Leagas Delaney, a bemused client walked in. It was Andrew Neil, ex-editor of the Sunday Times. He couldn’t understand why it took us a day to write 8 words, when his lads could do a thousand before breakfast.Finally, we have an answer.

Newspapers, like court reports and bullet point descriptions, are for product facts, instantly understood.

Good copy is for a reader’s emotions, instantly changed.

Although, I wish I’d just said, ‘Fifty million people know my headline, “You never actually own a Patek Philippe. You merely look after it for the next generation.” How many people can remember the Times’ headline from this morning