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Author Emily Schultz's book is mistaken for a Stephen King work – but her wallet is happy about it

After some King fans mistakenly bought Schultz's novel 'Joyland' because it shares a title with one of King's books, Schultz began chronicling just how she's spending that extra royalty money.

'Joyland' is the title of novels by both Stephen King and Emily Schultz.
  • By Molly Driscoll Staff Writer

Writer Emily Schultz published a novel called “Joyland” in 2006 – a title that also happened to be selected by legendary author Stephen King for his 2013 novel.

Some King fans got confused by the fact that King skipped the e-book format for his book and ordered Schultz’s “Joyland” for their e-reader instead. Schultz said she began receiving Amazon reviews from readers who were either baffled by the book they’d gotten or just hadn’t liked her novel.

“I asked Amazon to change their search results to keep people from buying the wrong book but never heard back,” Schultz wrote on her Tumblr. “Apparently there were a lot of confused readers as this week I got a – for me – big royalty check for those mistaken books. I'm not so upset anymore.”

Schultz decided to chronicle how she spent her royalty money by creating that Tumblr, titled "Spending Stephen King's Money," and her blog lists each item or service she bought and how she thinks the author himself would feel about the purchase.

“$180 for four extra (half) days of daycare,” Schultz wrote for one expenditure. “WOULD STEPHEN KING LIKE IT: Nothing is more terrifying than parenthood, and he’s visited that in a few books so, yes, he would like this!”

More funds were used on bumper repair and Schultz wrote that her family wasn’t sure how the damage had happened, but they thought it might have been while their trash was being taken away.

“WOULD STEPHEN KING LIKE IT: Cars, mysterious garbagemen, feelings of vengeance – of course he would!” she wrote.

Entertainment Weekly recently contacted King about the blog, and he seemed completely on board.

“I’m delighted for her, and I’m going to order her book,” the author said. 

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