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Tuesday, September 27, 2005

And the Author Wants to Thank ...

Actress Diane Keaton has no idea why she is included in the acknowledgments of Jonathan Santlofer's book, The Killing Art. The Wall Street Journal takes a look at the ever growing page of thank yous that now even grace novels.

“Across the publishing world, acknowledgments sections are exploding, as authors cite the names -- particularly famous names -- of anyone who had a passing interest in the work or, in some cases, didn't even know about it. One new 248-page novel lists 96 people in the acknowledgments, roughly the equivalent of one name for every 2½ pages of text.”

Frankly, acknowledgements are the first things I turn to.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

First thing you turn to? I totally relate. Thanks, your post inspired me to confess my own experience of strange things that made it into my acknowledgments. (genre: computer how-to books, written under pressing deadline).

Anonymous said...

This is funny! I do the same thing, but I always thought it wierd. I even try to be discreet about reading that page in bookstores...as if anyone cares.

Anonymous said...

Wow. I sooooo don't do that. In the first book I "wrote" (actually I edited an anthology, but I was responsible for the acknowledgments page), I had a hard time coming up with a respectable number of names to acknowledge. I believe I came up with 7 or 8 people, most of whom had nothing to do with the book at all.