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Some hilarious internet pranksters have released a fake romance novel on iTunes, managing to get the erotic fiction up to #4 in the iTunes chart simply by it looking a bit like senior citizen wank read of choice 50 Shades of Grey.
The crowdsourced book, which calls itself The Diamond Club: A Novel and is written by the non-existent Patricia Harkins-Bradley, costs 99p to purchase, with proceeds going to fund some sort of nerd gathering by joke organisers NSFW Show. The iTunes description promises hormone-crazed readers “an exotic gathering of the Bay Area’s most attractive and interesting people, from angel investors and airline pilots to worldfamous chefs and dubstep artists.”
It would appear to be a roaring success already, as the fake novel, complete with five-star reviews from punters in on the joke and happy to blow a quid on infuriating 50 Shades fans, is already at #4 in the Top Romance Books category on iTunes. [iTunes via TNW]
How can it be a fake novel? If it’s a pastiche, or just not very good, it’s still a novel, and if it’s not what it says then it’s a case of fraud.
Can’t be fraud, any description of a book doesn’t have to be accurate, it’s fully open to interpretation of the material within. You buy a book, not its contents. What you make of the contents is up to you, but books aren’t considered fraudulent if they don’t live up to your expectations, if you base your initial impulse to buy on the word of others.
The description on iTunes is of a romantic novel. If it’s not a romantic novel, then the iTunes store would be in contravention of the trade descriptions act.
In any case, for apps at least, Apple have a similar certification requirement for descriptions.
As such, and from what I have just read about this elsewhere, it’s not “fake”, it’s just a cash-in and a parody.
While what you say is theoretically correct, practically speaking, how would you ever be able to prove something isn’t a romance novel? Anyone with enough argumentative skill and time on their hands could present a case for deeply subtle and passionate romance between any two characters. It’s one of the most pain in the ass genres ever.