Fake Steve Jobs Gets a Book Deal

Posted by: Peter Burrows on May 14

Yes, it’s true. Turns out the Da Capo Press will be publishing a book by FSJ this October. Given the title of this novel — “Options” — my guess is that FSJ has a lot he wants to get off his chest, about all the “frigtards” who have been making his fake life hell, with all this stock options backdating hysteria. You can be sure there will be plenty of rants against the business press, particularly the Wall Street Journal, which led the crusade on backdating coverage and won a Pulitzer Prize for its efforts. (Of course, we at BusinessWeak haven’t escaped his barbs, either).

Unless one of us media types screw it up by figuring out his true identity, FSJ’s publisher hopes to maintain FSJ’s anonymity, even after the book comes out. Lissa Warren is vice president and senior director of publicity with Da Capo, which is based on Cambridge, MA and published the book “Friday Night Lights” and pop culture best-sellers such as Toby Young’s “How to Lose Friends And Alienate People.” She says she has not been told FSJ’s name—she didn’t want to know, for fear of being the one to let the secret slip.

And she says Da Capo and FSJ are happily brainstorming about a range of publicity-generating tricks, to maximize the mileage they can get from the anonymity angle. “We could mask Fake Steve Jobs’ voice, or his appearance, if necessary. Or we could even have a fake Fake Steve show up at author events. We haven’t ruled anything out.”

Good luck to them with keeping the secret alive. As tempting a challenge as it is for a reporter, I don’t necessarily want to be the one to ruin the fun. And yet, one can’t resist wondering about this new nugget of knowledge. So FSJ chose a Boston-based publisher instead of more usual suspects in Manhattan, or, given his British sensibilities, in London. Nobody comes right to mind, but what long-time Mac watchers live up New England way?

UPDATE: I just heard from Evan Hansen, editor-in-chief of Wirednews.com. He tells me that as of now, Wired is no longer a sponsor for The Secret Life of Steve Jobs. “He called on Friday, and said wanted to pull it,” says Hansen. “It’s a drag for us. We really enjoyed the affiliation. But it was his call.” Hansen wouldn’t talk about the reasons, and I agreed not to fish for any clues about FSJ’s identify. All Hansen would say is that “It’s not anybody whose name I’ve seen in the reporting so far, though I haven’t spent much time keeping track (of names that have been suggested).”

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