Not the kind of fake book you’re asking about, but your question reminded me of I, Libertine, which started off as a prank by Jean Shepherd where he and his late-night radio audience created such demand for a nonexistent book that it made the New York Times Best Seller list. (Theodore Sturgeon was later commissioned to write the formerly fake book, so it now exists.)

It’s perhaps worth noting that there’s a huge difference between the 1988 book The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho and the 1600s play The Alchemist by Ben Jonson. I’d be down with someone who rated the Jonson script 5/5. :)

Per Gallup as of two years ago, the average is 12.6.