A fellow writer reminded me today that we need to check Wikipedia now and then, to see if what’s being reported about us is true. I’ve done this occasionally in the past, and usually found errors. Today was no exception. The current bio on me states that my first book, I’m Not Who You Think I Am, was published in 1979. Wrong. That’s the right year, but not the correct title. My first book was Vows of Love and Marriage. I’m Not Who You Think I Am was my 32nd book, published in 1999.
For years, Amazon has incorrectly listed a co-author for some of my books. At first I tried to correct these errors but nothing ever happened. Now I ignore the mistakes. Unfortunately, Amazon is frequently used as a source of information about authors, so I often see these mistakes reported elsewhere as facts. Sometimes the “co-author” who’s named was actually the book’s editor. A publisher’s former publicist is listed as co-author of one title; another lists the man who painted the cover art. One book lists as my co-author someone I’ve never heard of.
Not all of my books are included in Amazon’s list of my titles, but they do give me credit for being the author of Humans, a book I did not write and have never read.
I’m not trying to pick on Amazon here. Possibly the wrong information was given to them by the publishers. I use them as an example only because they are well known, widely used, and most readers assume their information is accurate.
My dad used to tell me, “Just because you read it in the newspaper, doesn’t mean it’s true.” He was right, and same goes for anything you read on line.