Fact vs. fiction in the book world

My wife was surprised when I told her that book publishers, like newspapers, do not employ fact checkers to verify the accuracy of non-fiction manuscripts. (Many magazines do.) Here's why.

NY Times: Questions for Others in Frey Scandal.

The questions about how publishers should deal with the truth or falsity of the books they publish are likely to continue to resound through the book business. Yesterday, publishers, literary agents and booksellers said that, in the wake of Ms. Winfrey's condemnation of Mr. Frey and Doubleday, they expected memoirs and other works of nonfiction to come under increasing scrutiny before and after publication.

Some publishers said they would continue to rely on authors and their literary agents to stand behind their works, even as they occasionally press them for details on some of their claims.

Mr. Entrekin said that the economics of publishing would not allow for hiring fact checkers to verify everything in an author's book. "If you sell three and a half million copies, it is an insignificant cost," he said. "But most works of nonfiction sell from 5,000 to 50,000 copies. Then it becomes a prohibitive cost." Because of that, "we have to go into business with people who we trust," he said. ...