Oprah's Questions for James

Oprah: What did you do as the publisher of this book to make sure that what you were printing was true?

Nan Talese: As the publisher of the book, I read the manuscript. I thought this was an absolutely—I would say there was an authenticity in the book. That experience that I responded to, and people have different levels of pain, and I thought, excruciating as the dentistry was, it was not impossible.

Secondly, I shared it with my colleagues. There were no questions. Then what happens with a book is the editor goes over a manuscript with an author and if there's anything that does not seem true, we question the author. Then it goes to a copy editor. All along in the process of this book, in retrospect it might seem, you know, how could everybody be that stupid and that dumb? But in fact, all the way through in the first nine months of the book...

Oprah: That book is so fantastical, I will say, that, really, that's not washing with me. But I just want to know because [this show is] live. So what did you do legally to make sure? Did you vet it?

Nan Talese: The book was vetted legally. It would seem that no one was libeled. But it was not...you do not bring an author...an author brings his book in, says it is true, it is accurate, it's its own.

Oprah: But if you're publishing it as a memoir, I think the publisher has a responsibility because as the consumer, the reader, I am trusting you. I'm trusting you, the publisher, to categorize this book whether as fiction or autobiographical or memoir. I'm trusting you.