How To Create A Best Seller (when no on cares about your book)

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2010_10/026173.php

HOW TO CREATE A BEST SELLER (WHEN NO ONE CARES ABOUT YOUR BOOK).... Former Gov. Mitt Romney (R) recognizes the expectation facing all presidential candidates -- he needs another book. Just as importantly, he needs it to look like a successful book.

In 2007, in advance of his first national campaign, Romney published Turnaround: Crisis, Leadership, and the Olympic Games. This year, he released No Apology: The Case for American Greatness, which actually managed to reach #1 on the New York Times best-seller list.

Who are these mysterious people, rushing out to purchase Romney's silly text? Well, it's a funny story, actually.



You don't say.

It's a reminder that the appearance of conservative books on the best-seller list should generally be taken with a grain of salt. One might see a book like Romney's atop the list and assume he has a real base of support -- which is precisely the appearance his team hopes to create. But in reality, Romney forced institutions to buy thousands of copies, inflating sales totals to almost comical heights.

By most accounts the book is, as a substantive matter, rather ridiculous. Worse, it was probably ghost-written. But forcing bookstores, universities, conferences, and private groups to make it a best-seller, whether the public wanted to buy it or not, is kind of sad.

—Steve Benen

of what kind of paper the book is printed on. I suggest, rolls of soft, strong and thoroughly absorbent material with an attractive wrapper design.

At the end of the event the doctor said out loud aimed at Romney "you're the phoniest son-of-a-bitch I've ever seen."
Bingo.

I always think of a used-car salesman. Now, would anyone buy a book from him? I guess not, unless forced to! :P

I wonder how many more rabid right wing authors/politicians do this as well? I'm betting Romney is not the only one.

routinely "buy" these books in bulk, and "offer" them at their "meetings & symposiums".

Since many (most?) of these "authors" use Regnery (think FOX/Murdoch) as their publisher, and then go ON Fox tv to advertise the books, it's a completed circuit.

Republicans are not stupid.. They have spent decades thinking this all out.. They set it all in motion, in a very stratified way.. The radio venue hypes the people and create a buzz about them, the speakers-services send them out to give their speeches which create more buzz...media picks up on their wackiness and talks about them even more... they write a dumbass book which gets published by their in-hoouse publishing company, who then "markets" it to their own "organizations" who then often give the damned things away, but in the meantime, the "sales" generated, pushes it onto the NTY bestseller list..

The NYT shoudl just stop including bulk-sale books & the nonsense would stop.

It seems to me it is different in that, instead of having right wing organizations buy up the books and then offer them as 'prizes' etc, this tactic is not using the usual right wing organizations and is, instead, much more direct in that the author is, in essence, buying his/her own book by trading off the lecture fee for the purchase of their books.

these fools are all in bed with each other..

with their own money, shows desperation on their part, even their buddies, the rabid right organizations, aren't forking out enough and that is delicious, imo.

:thumbsup:

Go to any right-wing website and what do you see? "Sign up and get a FREE copy of Sarah Failin's new book, 'I Quit!!!'" Why are they giving the books away? Because they bought the books in bulk in order to make it look like people are lining up in droves at their local bookstores just to own a copy of it. They're not. And that's why the New York Times Best-Sellers List has a special designation for books that appear on the list, but whose main buyers were bulk buyers. And EVERY right-wing book on the list has the little sword/cross thingy next to it. Everyone knows right-wingers don't read.

To see some enterprising journalist interview one of these phonies, and ask them a question about something written in their "book." The blank "did I really write that" stare would be quite precious.

I mean, I'm sure as hell not going to actually read anything these bozos have "written." My brain would undoubted flee my cranium and sue me for intentional infliction of psychological distress.

Thanks for the thread, babylonsister.

............You should pick up a copy of (insert Right-Winger's name here--Letterman was talking about Sarah Failin's book)'s book. Not to read it, but to stand on so you can reach up to a high shelf and select a better book.