A parody of Sarah Palin‘s book “Going Rogue: An American Life” has been causing huge confusion — forcing Palin’s publishers HarperCollins to take out ads to direct buyers to the official version.
The rival book, “Going Rouge: An American Nightmare,” was released on the same day as Palin’s memoir and features an almost identical cover.
Colin Robinson, co-publisher of the book, compiled by Nation magazine staffers Betsy Reed and Richard Kim, told Page Six: “We have been contacted by numerous media outlets across the country asking for interviews with Sarah Palin, or companies offering security for her while on tour.
“One Web site not only thought we were Ms. Palin’s publishers but called the book ‘Going Rough.’
“We’ve noticed that someone, presumably HarperCollins, has been buying ads on Google redirecting people looking for ‘Going Rouge’ to ‘Going Rogue,’ which seems very unsporting of them.”
Victims of the “Rogue”/”Rouge” saga include CNN’s Political Ticker, which quoted Obama adviser David Axelrod saying he’d be borrowing Obama campaign manager David Plouffe‘s copy of “Going Rouge.”
USA Today’s section The Oval wrongly posted the cover of “Going Rouge” with a review of Palin’s book. It has since corrected the confusion with the statement: “Erratum: An earlier posting featured the photo of a different Sarah Palin book. The Oval regrets the error.” Last week, Fox News Channel apologized for showing the cover of the takedown book while discussing Palin’s memoir.
Robinson added: “We are sure that many people who mistakenly bought our book will have been pleasantly surprised. You learn more about the real Palin in our version.”
HarperCollins did not respond to calls and e-mails for comment.