Book News: Only 1700 Takers for Frey Refund

by Michael Rogers -- Library Journal, 11/6/2007 5:20:00 AM

The AP reports that only 1,729 buyers of James Frey’s A Million Little Pieces have applied for the refund offered by publisher Random House. The AP says that “although Random House set aside $2.35 million in a fund to cover costs related to the lawsuits” the reimbursements will set the publisher back a mere $27,348. Legal fees, however, weigh in at $783,000, and Random spent an additional $432,000 “in costs associated with publicizing and carrying out the settlement.” Frey reportedly has earned more than $4 million in royalties from the sale of the book, which surprisingly continued to ride the best seller list (including LJ’s Books Most Borrowed in U.S. Libraries) well after it was discovered that he fabricated parts of the story.