Several thousand copies of Jonathan Franzen‘s Freedom will be pulped in Britain following a printing error. Instead of printing the finalized manuscript, the printing company mistakenly used an older copy. UPDATE: HaperCollins UK has issued an apology about the printing mistakes.

According to The Guardian, Franzen urged fans at a London appearance to wait for the true version which will be released today. According to Franzen, the printers had opened and copied the wrong draft of the manuscript instead of the finalized one. The printing company maintains the errors were not their fault.

The Guardian reports: “The book was released in the UK earlier this week by HarperCollins; it is not yet known how many copies will have to be pulped. Franzen told the audience that all copies would be exchanged or refunded, including postage and packaging. He did not say whether copies printed in the US – originally published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux in August – were affected.”

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Author Kitty Kelley has reportedly sold the movie rights to her unauthorized Oprah Winfrey biography for a “TV movie or miniseries.”

E! Online has the scoop: “Kelley finalized a six-figure deal with Larry Thompson, a veteran producer behind biopics on Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, Sonny and Cher, and the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. Thompson says that the plan is to develop the project to coincide with Winfrey’s final syndicated episode in September 2011, with an unknown actress in the lead role.”

In the Media Beat show, Kelley (pictured)explained her work: “This book is not a takedown of Oprah by any means. There are many, many people on the record talking about her in a most admirable fashion.”

Novelist Jacquelyn Mitchard scored a writers’ dream: her novel The Deep End of the Ocean scored the inaugural spot on Oprah Winfrey‘s book club. Now, Mitchard is competing to start her own show on Winfrey’s brand new OWN cable network.

As Mitchard (pictured, via) explains in her audition video, she recently lost her savings in an investment scheme. She hopes to rebuild her life with a television show. Currently, more than 8,700 aspiring television stars are vying for a spot on the new network. Mitchard has collected 2,206 votes so far.

Here’s more from the post: “I was a young widow, with no money and no hope, I tapped away at night on my novel when the children were asleep, and became the first Oprah Winfrey author! Then, just a year ago, I lost all the rewards of all that hard work, overnight, to a hometown investment thief. I wanted to give up, but what would that have taught my nine children, including two daughters from Ethiopia orphaned by AIDS? I had to regroup, restore, and reinvent myself, just as I had before, just like millions of others. We are the people this show is about — people who’ve won, lost and fought back — and those who need the courage to try.” (Via Sarah Weinman)

According to an AP report this morning, Oprah Winfrey and American Beauty co-producer Alan Ball will team up to produce an adaptation of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks for HBO. The article had no additional details about the release schedule.

The nonfiction book by Rebecca Skloot became a bestseller this year, telling the fascinating story of an African American woman who died of cancer and how her cells were used by generations of scientists. Follow this link to read GalleyCat Reviews’ take on the novel.

Here’s an excerpt from the AP report: “The network said Wednesday that Ball, creator and executive producer of HBO’s drama series True Blood, will develop the project with Winfrey and her Harpo Films studio.”

After documenting the lives of iconic figures like Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, the Bushes, and Britain’s royal family, author Kitty Kelley says she doesn’t see much of a future for the genre of biographies and her style of in-depth writing.

“Well, I just think it’s a huge investment of a writer’s time and a publisher’s commitment. This represents four years of my life. This was college,” she says of her latest release, Oprah: A Biography. “You know, we’re in a 24/7 information era…I don’t think you’ll be able to write this kind of book 10 years from now.”

Watch the final installment of our Media Beat interview to find out what Kelley says has been the biggest piece of feedback she’s gotten on the book, plus the answer to the million dollar question: How would she feel if there was a bio about her?

Part 1: Kitty Kelley Says Bio is Not ‘A Takedown’ of Oprah

Part 2: Kitty Kelley Calls Oprah Herself ‘The Biggest Source’ for Bio

RELATED: Attend Mediabistro Circus to hear from visionary women in media and tech.

Few remember that Oprah Winfrey wasn’t always the beacon of “best life” she is today. Once upon a time, the rising talk show host covered topics like KKK members, Mexican satanic cult murderers, and women who were allergic to their husbands (true story). Unfortunately for the now media mogul, educator, and activist, all of her not so enlightened moments are back in the spotlight thanks to infamous biographer Kitty Kelley.

For Oprah: A Biography, Kelley says she combed through a mountain of information on the icon and spoke to 850 people who either worked with or knew her. “Oprah turns out to be the biggest source of information in this book — THE biggest source. Because I got all the interviews that she’s given over a period of 25 years to radio and television, to newspapers, and to magazines.”

Sidebar: How happy are you that Twitter and Facebook didn’t exist back then?

Part 1: Kitty Kelley Says Bio is Not ‘A Takedown’ of Oprah

Part 3: Kitty Kelley Predicts the End of the Unauthorized Biography

RELATED: Attend Mediabistro Circus to hear from visionary women in media and tech.

Unless you’re just getting back from a vacation on Neptune, you should know by now that Kitty Kelley (best known previously for upsetting Frank Sinatra‘s number one fan) has a new biography out about Oprah Winfrey.

But, at just 196 pages in, I felt like Kelley was editorializing a bit too much. So, I called her on it. Without interviewing Oprah herself, how do you know that your sources aren’t fudging the facts out of jealousy?

“Everybody has a motive. Everybody does. You have to give it to the reader honestly. You have to put it in context, and that’s really what I’ve tried to do,” said Kelley during our Media Beat interview. “This book is not a takedown of Oprah by any means. There are many, many people on the record talking about her in a most admirable fashion.”

Watch the video to find out what Kelley says she uncovered about Oprah’s now distant relationships with her family and several co-workers from The Color Purple, including Steven Spielberg, Alice Walker, and Whoopi Goldberg.

Part 2: Kitty Kelley Calls Oprah Herself ‘The Biggest Source’ for Bio

Part 3: Kitty Kelley Predicts the End of the Unauthorized Biography

RELATED: Attend Mediabistro Circus to hear from visionary women in media and tech.

Everybody is talking about Kitty Kelley‘s unauthorized Oprah Winfrey biography. Google racked up more than 500 news stories on it in the last 24 hours alone and it is currently ranked number two on Amazon. We thought it’d be refreshing to take a step back to December 2008, when Kelley was just two years deep in her research.

In a remarkable display of prescience, Chicago Magazine’s Josh Schollmeyer set out to chronicle the making of a future hit. Schollmeyer was rejected by Kelley, but he went ahead with it anyway. Because really, why not? By talking to a number of people she interviewed (a tactic we fully support), Schollmeyer was just giving Kitty Kelley the Kitty Kelley treatment.

There are a few good encounters, but this one seems to sum it all up. It’s from Chris Clark, one of Oprah’s early mentors: “For nearly two hours, he sat with Kelley and recounted all of this. ‘[Kelley] puts you at ease immediately,’ Clark recalls. ‘She makes you feel like a long-lost friend, someone you can really confide in … Then she asked about sex, drugs, and boyfriends. The interview ended shortly after I told her that I didn’t know anything about sex, drugs, and boyfriends when it came to Oprah.’”

Read the rest here: Chicago magazine: Bagging the Media Queen

As rumors swirled last week that Oprah Winfrey may start a book club on her new cable network, Kitty Kelley (pictured) revealed some behind-the-scenes drama at the book club in her unauthorized biography of Winfrey.

Kelley’s 544-page biography comes out tomorrow. GalleyCat picked out a few choice passages about the book club so you can know what to expect. For instance, the book spends pages analyzing James Frey‘s appearance on Winfrey’s show.

Frey had been a book club pick, but once he was exposed for fabricating portions of his memoir, Winfrey roasted him on national television. According to the biography, Winfrey apologized to the author in the green room after her televised rebuke. Here’s a quote: “The New York Times and The Washington Post wouldn’t let it go. We had to stop it. I’m so sorry, but they were investigating us. And we just couldn’t have that,” Winfrey reportedly told Frey.

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As you reflect on publishing’s busy week, check out the video embedded above–we interviewed Kindle users in the iPad line last Saturday. If you want more weekend reading, here are our favorite headlines from the week.

Oprah Winfrey hinted at starting a “book-club show” on her new network.

We found out how to get a degree in Vampire Literature.

The Huffington Post named GalleyCat and eBookNewser on a Book People To Follow On Twitter list.

The voice of Tiger Woods‘ late father (and author) appeared in a new and controversial Nike ad.

Elizabeth Gilbert‘s memoir Eat, Pray, Love hits theaters soon, and one company will manufacture as special line of “jewelry, books and travel-related items” for the book.

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