Pat Oliphant for September 30, 2009
September 29, 2009
October 05, 2009
Transcript:
Woman: Says here your hero, Sarah Palin, has written a book about herself. Man: No kiddin'! My heero wrote a book?! My, my. Woman: Says here she got herself a multi-million-dollar deal for it. Man: Good for her! I worship that woman for her mind - she orta be President! Woman: Says here it's gonna be in the bookstores real soon. Man: Dang! That's a book I must get! Woman: Might help if you learned to read first. Man: Couldn't you read it to me? Punk: Vairrry slowly.
That Palin’s impending non-book is already a pre-sold bestseller on Amazon suggests something fishy is going on.
When I worked at B.Dalton our paperback bestseller list always included DIANECTICS, the Scientology tract, yet none of us could ever recall actually selling a copy. Then we got in a supply of more copies fresh from the Scientology printer. A lot of them already had B.Dalton inventory stickers on them! This proved the Scientologists were buying copies enmasse in order to inflate their book’s sales figures.
Also, consider Newt Gingrich’s pathetic debut as an SF author, 1942. He was given a huge advance, far greater than a newcomer merited, even a celebrity newcomer. Then a very simple investigation showed the generous publisher was a Rupert Murdoch operation. Murdoch was using the excuse of the book’s impending existence as a means to funnel millions to his lackey.
So will Palin’s non-book have many real buyers? or rather, any real READERS? I wouldn’t bet on it.