How Do Some People Get Published?

I was reading a 2014 book, "The Greatest Chess Kings" by Sylvia Lovina Chidi (who also wrote "The Greastest Chess Queens" in 2013). She is apparently a poetess. She is also superficial when it comes to chess.

On page 23 she boldly states, "Many people consider Ruy Lopez to be the first unofficial World chess champion.  The reason for this is because Ruy Lopez won the first modern chess tounament in Madrid.  There is also an opening in chess that is named after him."

No $35 book called "The Kings of Chess" should contain such a gross error. Inaccuracies in minor details are one thing, but this isn't just an inaccuracy.   Then she gives two wins by R.L. over Giovanni Leonardo di Bona, whom she calls simply G. da Cutri, oblivious to the fact (according to Salvio) that Leonardo threw his first two games to R.L. to make an impression on Philip II to better his stakes. 

I didn't bother reading any further.

Modern?!  No way the modern era starts at the industrial revolution at the earliest and when the Internet was founded at the latest. 

Hilarious but sad too.  Can't convince you to go back, read some more, and share a few more gems with us?

        Ghost writer. OR she slept with the publisher....

I thought King Gambit was the first whirled champion.

It's published by Lulu.com.  Amazon sells it for $44.95.

I self published my two chess books but would love to find a real publisher.

Yes I wish to find an old fashion publisher. Not many around these  days.

But doesn't the author prudently write ''MANY people consider Ruy Lopez to be the first unofficial World chess champion'' implying that they could be wrong? That's the way I read it.

http://www.writersdigest.com/writing-articles/by-writing-goal/get-published-sell-my-work

Speaking of that, have you considered writing a book on chess history, batgirl?

Those three sentences made me feel like I was reading a highschool essay.

Maybe junior highschool.

Two words ... "vanity press"

Her chess history might be better than her poems, some are about chess:

"Chess is life Kasporov said
Thats what l thought off when l went to bed"

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/life-is-chess/

Some about football:

"World Cup two thousand and six
I assure you was no fix"

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/world-cup-2006/

And some about... the Eurovision Song Contest!:

"Greece and its five guys displayed masculine domination
This was one moment to share for an unforgettable duration"

"And the German winner was really a nice likeable person"

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/songs-of-eurovision/

Is english her first language? When people learn to speak another language, a lot of the times they talk like kids. 

Indeed, it is.

What this means in most cases is that the book will not have gone through any kind of editorial process or quality assurance.

While this gives an author complete artistic freedom (which isn't a bad thing although it is less important in a chess book I guess) the quality level of these books varies wildly.

It should also be noted that the % of money from a sale that goes to the author is bigger for a self-published book. Imho this should be considered by an author when she decides on pricing. A price like the one you quoted would make me expect an established author of some reknown, or otherwise I'd consider the book to be severely overpriced.

The varying quality and sometimes unreasonable pricing of self-published books make it very important for the community to have fair reviews available (for example at Amazon). Only then can potential readers find the gems among the vast sea of mediocre or sometimes outright bad self-published books.

tl;dr: Be sure to write a review of that book at Amazon batgirl

Well, the problem is that she claims that Ruy Lopez winning at the Court of Philip II is the reason why many people consider him the "first unofficial World chess champion."  This migt be fine... had R.L won, except that he lost. 

Many people call it a tournament, but that seems too grandiose a term.  Several players arrived, at different times and loosely played each other.  The two Italian players, Paolo Boi and Leonardo da Cutri (he goes by many names), in general,  defeated the Spanish players, Ruy Lopez and  Alfonso Ceron. 

Here J. A. Leon describes the contest between Lopez and Leonardo in the "BCM" in 1895 in his article on Alesandro Salvio in which, in part, he talks about Salvio's "Il Puttino":

     "Philip II. expressed a wish to see the rivals play, and offered a prize of 1,000 scudi to whomever should win the first three games. This match took place in the palace, and Lopez won the first two games. The King, seeing the Italian so easily beaten, was about to leave the chamber in disgust, when Leonardo threw himself on his knees before him and exclaimed, "I do beseech your Majesty to remain. I have purposely lost these two games the better to prove my real strength, and your Majesty shall now see me win the next three games. It was for this I came to Madrid, to have my revenge on Ruy Lopez for the taunts and insults which he flung at me when he vanquished me at Rome." 
     Much astonished, the King consented to remain, and Leonardo was equal to his word. On this proof of his skill, the King not only paid him the promised 1,000 scudi, but moreover gave him a costly diamond and an ermine cloak. In addition the King promised to grant any request he might make, and Leonardo entreated that his native town of Cutri might be freed from taxation. This was granted, and the period of dispensation fixed for twenty years. Leonardo now reigned the undisputed king of chess players throughout Madrid. . ."

Thanks. That explains the lack of editing, I guess. 

Every book probably contain errors in facts for one reason or another.  As with most things, there must be an acceptable level of accuracy. I just thought that when publishing a book, the author is claiming that he/she knows the subject and is a reliable source.  The statement I quoted reveals just the opposite, at least to me... that the author read something carelessly, something important considering the topic, got it wrong and inserted it in her book.  That makes the entire book suspect.

Yes, I remember what batgirl says (not so detailed) in an article from the chess "enciclopedy" Leontxo García published in the late 90's. I don't know about this particular book, but you can find inaccuracies in divulgative books about many themes. Evolution is one of them, for example; there are cliches that are perpetuated for decades.

To boldly state what no one has stated before...