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CHICAGO - Deborah Schoeneman played the bold-face name game, dishing gossip for the New York Observer, New York magazine and the New York Post. But unlike Post gossip Jared Paul Stern - who made news recently for allegedly demanding protection money to keep businessman Ron Burkle's name out of the Page Six gossip column - Schoeneman couldn't stomach the secretive, seamy underbelly of the gossip industry.
Instead, she wrote about it - in her first novel, "4% Famous," about the high jinks of three ambitious young columnists.
Question: Where does the book's title come from?
Answer: One of the columnists in the book has a theory that (a person) can maintain 4 percent fame. So, if you're only trying to get a little bit famous (i.e., 4 percent), that's something you can hold onto. But if you're trying for 100 percent, you're going to implode, or your ego is going to bring you down or the columnists are going to bring you down. I guess the moral of the story is moderation.
Q: Is the phrase used in real life?
A: No, I made it up. But there is always a level of taking someone down. You're not purposely trying to bring people down, but once somebody is really famous ... the tendency is to try to find fault with them.
Q: Who is being brought down now?
A: For example, Denise Richards and Charlie Sheen, in their custody battle. I think she was pretty well-liked, and she was really trying to use the press in her custody battle, and I think it's beginning to turn on her.
Q: Why are we so fascinated by gossip?
A: It's voyeuristic. You want to hear about the downfalls, or the rough side, of the rich and famous so you don't feel bad about not being rich and famous.
Also, you begin to think of these people as a sitcom series. You begin to think that you know Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan, and you're following their lives, and it just becomes a sport where everyone knows the same players - even though we don't actually know any of these people.
Q: What are some tricks of the trade?
A: If you call someone attractive in print, they forgive anything you say about them. Or, you compare their looks to a certain movie star's. Page Six does it a lot - they'll write "the woman with Angelina Jolie lips. ... "
Q: Juiciest item you ever ran?
A: The one that got a lot of attention was when Condoleezza Rice was at a dinner party and she said, "My husband" instead of, "The president."
Q: Let us live vicariously: Were you offered free trips and goodies, like the characters in the book?
A: Oh, yes. First-class tickets to the Oscars and getting put up at the Four Seasons. A lot of junkets. There was some trip to Dubai a lot of people went on, for instance, because some shopping mall was opening there. Media discounts - say, 30 percent off - at designer stores places like Marc Jacobs.
Q: Why is gift-taking often acceptable in gossip journalism, unlike in most other areas of journalism?
A: At the Post, a blind eye is often turned to Page Six because it is so powerful and helpful to the Post. It brings in so much ad revenue, and it brings in a high-profile reader who might not otherwise be reading the Post.
Q: What makes a great gossip item?
A: The three main ingredients are wealth, fame and controversy - and you have to have two out of three.
Q: Your must-read gossip columns?
A: The first thing I read is Gawker.com ... it doesn't break ... it picks up the best news of the day. That's No. 1 for me.
Q: What was the worst thing about the job?
A: That people would be mad at you. They'd call up screaming. I remember one of the Beastie Boys called me up screaming when he bought a townhouse. It was just awful. You write about something as a journalist, but then on a personal level, when someone gets upset with you, saying they're going to have to move, and you ruined things for them and they have a stalker and they could get hurt - it made me crumble every time. I just didn't have the stomach for it.
Q: The columnists for Page Six have lambasted you since you began promoting your book. Is that helpful, learning what it's like on the other side of the pen?
A: It would be nice if I could think of it that way. But it's not a good feeling knowing there's someone out there trying to get you.
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(c) 2006, Chicago Tribune. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service.
