Monday, November 16, 2009

If I only had her publisher

There is a self titled memoir fixing to hit the book stands tomorrow that is penned by a certain former vice presidential candidate. Promotional advertising for this book has been fierce and frequent appearing on google ads on the web, news media outlets, book websites and more. The publisher pulled out all the stops in hopes that the book would be a run away best seller. Apparently the plan is working because the book is already a best seller on some lists and it hasn't even been released to readers yet..

The true test will be when people actually read the book of a woman who rose from obscurity to sudden national fame.  However fame didn't seem to equate popularity and the republican party's choice for a VP proved to be as problematic as their choice for president. It didn't help that it looked like this new famous person's life was of the sort that editors at The National Enquirer dream longingly for. Even a year later the tabloids lap up stories about her and her family. Will this book give better insight to the woman and her thoughts? Is it well written, and something that initial readers would want to recommend to a friend? Or is this book a curiosity being taken advantage of by a shrewd publishing company that recognized a way to make some money?

Granted the author and the book company will sell copies and both will go home a bit richer. After all people write books to sell them and publishers work to ensure sellable books get onto store shelves. It must be nice to have your first attempt at mass marketing something, have such a lucrative start before anyone really gets a chance to read your work.

Yeah I admit I am a bit jealous. I will just have to work harder to actually sit down to write my book, edit it, and try to sell it.  But I really shouldn't be. I have a small but loyal fan base with my column and here with my itty bitty blog. I also on occasion get sent free things to test market and write about. I will keep that and let others deal with all that media feeding frenzy. I get the feeling that I make lousy fish bait.

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