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Brainless: The Lies and Lunacy of Ann Coulter Tuesday, October 03, 2006 Woodward ho! I'm really looking forward to reading Bob Woodward's new book, State of Denial. Agree with him or not, the guy can write -- and this one promises to be an eye-opener. But what has intrigued me most about the whole thing is the way in which copies of the book found their way to the media before its official release. And we're not talking advance copies here -- those sent out to create buzz ahead of time. We're talking about final-print copies being leaked to the media. It seems that excerpts from the book were going to be published in the Washington Post -- Woodward's employer, of course -- and that the book would be on store shelves after that. In the meantime, though, the New York Times procured a copy of State of Denial and, on Friday, Sept. 29, gave a detailed account of what is to be expected from it. The Times said the book had been "bought by a reporter ... at retail price in advance of its official release." What that means is about as clear as mud. I may be new to this whole book publishing thing (Brainless is my first), but if I was confused before, now I'm baffled. How did the Times find a copy, and does paying "retail price in advance of its official release" lend a legitimacy to the endeavour that wouldn't exist if the Times had been simply handed a free copy? A question for the ages, undoubtedly. In any case, now that publication of Woodward's tome has been moved up, I'll just take a walk down to my local bookshop. 3 Comments:Previous Posts
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They did the same thing -- with the same explanation -- with Carly Fiorina's book (http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/05/technology/05leak.html?_r=1&oref=slogin).
New books are in the stores well before they go on the shelves, off course, so it's likely they can be sold by accident (ahem) to a regular customer who by chance is the book critic of a major metropolitan newspaper (ahem) and who asks a clerk for it by name when he doesn't see it (ahem).
What John said.
I'm an independent Left Coast Bookseller and would add that in the East there is a dearth of independents. Out here there are still enough indies to voice complaints when the chains sell Harry Potter or Janet Evanovitch ahead of time. The boxes are clearly labelled with the on-sale date. Indies end up toeing the line but the chains are well staffed and sloppy.
Oh, but don't get me started!
What John said.
I'm an independent Left Coast Bookseller and would add that in the East there is a dearth of independents. Out here there are still enough indies to voice complaints when the chains sell Harry Potter or Janet Evanovitch ahead of time. The boxes are clearly labelled with the on-sale date. Indies end up toeing the line but the chains are well staffed and sloppy.
Oh, but don't get me started!