From Queen Victoria’s imagined love children to Princess Margaret’s speculative diagnoses, modern biographies are increasingly blurring the line between storytelling and speculation. But why are journalists letting them?

It’s almost poetic: a trauma memoir that ends up traumatising the publisher. Because when a story like The Salt Path begins to wobble, it’s not just the author who falls. The editors, the marketers, the readers—all are caught in the collapse of a narrative sold as unflinching truth. This is the soft lie of emotional truth—and publishing has been complicit in making it a genre.

Learn how to write a children’s publishing press release that sounds human, not hysterical. Practical tips, common pitfalls, and why "thrilled" is the biggest giveaway of all.