5. James Frey

James Frey is the author of A Million Little Pieces. Approximately one year after the book came out Frey appeared on the Oprah Winfrey show because she had chosen his book as one of her official book club picks. After Frey admitted that parts of his non-fiction book were made up Oprah publically spoke out against him. The publicity he received from doing so skyrocketed him to celebrity status. After the publicity died down a bit Frey was offered a seven figure deal with a major book publishing company.