How Corsi's rant became a "bestseller" but really isn't--and shame on Simon & Schuster

[blondeatlast]

This is a repost of something I wrote in reponse to the last RW nutjob screed, but it applies to all of them. Where you read Crown/Regnery/Thomas J Nelson, simply substitute Simon & Schuster, for Ann Coulter/Sean Hannity, et al, simply substitute the lying, vile, Jerome Corsi.

Crown/Regnery/Nelson, etc. will NEVER drop their RW hacks because there will ALWAYS be a market for their work, or SO IT APPEARS.

(I need to copy and save what I'm about to write here--note to self)

Here's how it works. Crown/Regnery/Nelson etc. manufacture the demand for their books and it's vitally important you realize how it is done. Let me try to explain...

Precious, precious few nonfiction books have print runs in excess of even 100,000. Most of these RW books have INITIAL print runs of 1 million or more, though--and the publisher KNOWS that they will sell--it's guaranteed.

How is that possible? It's a bit complicated, stay with me. It also explains how these titles reach Number 1 the very week they are released.

As soon as the titles are announced, the market gears up and pre orders are made in mass quantities--but traditional retailers (B&N, Border's, etc) aren't buying in those mass quantities. They buy enough stock to cover a modest demand only.

But distributors (who drive the bestseller lists; bestseller lists are NOT derived from retail sales, but by distributor sales) will buy in massive quantities knowing full well they will sell out and possible need to backorder. So who's buying these pre-pubs in mass quantities?

The RNC, the Heritage Foundation, the College Republicans, etc--that's who. They buy in enough quantity that they can qualify as a retailer but THEY NEVER SELL A SINGLE BOOK.

They give them away by the handful. Donate to the RNC? Get the new Coulter book. Attend a Bill O'Reilly speaking engagement? Get his latest. Here, have another dozen for your friends who don't attend.

There's a reason that the NYT (the bible of the bestseller lists, the only one that retailers know really matters) puts a star by these books--they know that the market for them is artificailly generated--and now the retailers have caught up.

These books "sell" indeed. but the retailers sell precious few of them--and most are NEVER actually read.

Addendum: Libraries get dozens of these titles donated, most in pristine condition. I know, I used to determine which donations would actually end up on our library shelves. Those that aren't selected go to our "Friends of the Library" store--and end up on the .25 hardcover table, where people buy hardcovers, take the dustjackets off, and fill their bookshelves for appearance only! :rofl:

[blondeatlast]

1. Gimme a K! (I've got two rRs) LOL! nt

[KAZ]

2. K&R!

[Zodiak]

3. It's true

Go to any half-priced bookstore, and the right-wing books dot the shelves in droves. Try to find a good liberal book like "Crossing the Rubicon" or "The Shock Doctrine", and you will be disappointed.

I always thought it was because liberals actually READ their books, but bulk sales may have something to do with it, as well.

[Got WMD]

4. Why?

Why aren't Obama surrogates blasting this point in every appearance they make??? I've heard many times the last couple of days on CNN, MSNBC and even from Obama surrogates... "well, it IS #1 so we/you HAVE to cover it"... Do you think if George Soros was bulk buying anti-McCain books the Reps wouldn't be all over it and have their talking points all over the place in about 2 hrs??? The response, or lack their of, of Democrats drives me nuts some times!

[Overseas]

5. I'd assume news-chat media know this and yet they gave Corsi lots of coverage.

Even though we know he wrote a trash book on Kerry that was bulk bought as well.

At least Larry King had Media Matters on for instant debunking.

[Got WMD]

7. The MSM is saying....

The talking point I've heard is "people don't know enough about Obama, so they're going out to buy this book".... The response from our side should not be... "well it is #1 so you have to cover it".... it should be "this book is full of shit and NOBODY is reading it because they're in one of Scaife's warehouses in PA!!!!!!"... Why can't we point out that nobody is reading this book!!!!!!!!

[janet118]

13. Then why aren't the media covering . . .

this book "Barack Obama For Beginners" by Bob Neer of Blue Mass Group. It's much more accurate way to find out about Obama.

Oh, I get it. They don't really believe that actual people buy the book. They just want to cover the right wing smear book so they can have on-air slug fests of lies vs. truth and call it a draw. The added benefit of supporting the right-wing smear campaign against a liberal Democrat is just gravy.

And, where do Repugs get all the money for their "stink" tanks? How come liberal institutions like Rockridge go belly up? Did you know that a lot of these "institutes" and "foundations" are tax exempt and considered a "charitable" donation for tax purposes? No wonder these tanks are so well funded. Corporations can further their agendas AND get a tax write off. Who writes these laws, eh?

[Overseas]

14. I enjoyed hearing that many of the footnotes are Corsi referring to his own writings !!

Corsi knows footnotes are impressive, so he adds tons that refer right back to his own earlier lies.

[harun]

8. Good for Larry, that is encouraging (n/t)

[glitch]

12. And Bugliosi none.

Their bias is blatant, we know they are propagandists and collaborators and they know we know.
But the money is good.

[formercia]

6. I use them for a backstop in my shooting range.

I used to use sets of encyclopedias because they were free, but pulverizing one of their books seems satisfying somehow.

[eshfemme]

9. Yeah, no one ever mentions that there's an asterisk next to his bestseller title.

Which is why I'm glad that Waldman pointed that out on Larry King. It's just too bad that people don't realize that the book industry, although older, is just as prone to manipulation as other MSM is.

People who aren't trained in even the basics of scholarship such as the credibility of a source (Corsi cites HIMSELF, unsubstantiated RW sites/blogs), proper citation (Corsi wrongfully attributes false information to Obama himself in a willful demonstration of his lack of literacy), the difference between primary, secondary and tertiary sources as well as general argument of a thesis that is well formulated. These used to be the basics taught in schools and I think I'm lucky in not having had that part of my education stinted on in what was a happy coincidence.

[blondeatlast]

10. Can you imagine using Corsi's cites in a Master's thesis?

Your academic career would culminate in nothing but shame, dishonesty, and humiliation.

[eshfemme]

11. More than that, he'd probably be made an example of and be put on display FOREVER as what not to do.

[mitchum]

17. You could use them in a dissertation at Liberty , Bob Jones, and Pepperdine

[Berry Cool]

15. Here's a good use for Corsi's book. Besides as a doorstop, I mean.

You know how some people take actual books and glue the pages together and hollow the middle out so that they can be used as "safes" that hide valuables so burglars can't find them, yet they're right in plain sight if you happen to know which book on the shelf is not really a book?

Corsi's book would be ideal for this treatment. After all, it's hollow and without substance to begin with.

[1Hippiechick]

20. LOL. I thought you were going to recommend them as toilet tissue substitute. n/t

[mitchum]

16. Kicking for the truth

[davidpdx]

18. A good explanation of how it works

It's sad that this kind of manipulation exists in terms of book sales.

K and R

[1Hippiechick]

19. THIS tidbit needs to make it to the national news.....Corsi absolutely refuted this (of course) n/t

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

21. On a more practical level...

Drop by your local Barnes and Noble today and look at the display for "Breaking Dawn," the latest Stephanie Meyer vampire novel. You'll find a big display with dozens of copies. Now look for the display for Corsi's book.

Don't spend too much time on that, because you're not going to find it. There is no display, and chances are the store doesn't have more than a half dozen copies on the shelves. There's a reason for that. It's because the store knows they're not going to sell.