Buying your way onto NY Times bestseller list

Jamesaritchie · Mar 11, 2014

Filigree said:
Most of the SEO and 'reputation management' companies are fairly smug and open about what they do, viewing it as just another type of marketing.

In the 'Perception is more important than reality' game, when and how the NY Times bestseller status was achieved is not as important as the buyer's ability to claim that status and use it in further marketing.

That because they view the public as a pool of suckers. They're too often right. I think, however, that many such businesses are slowly learning that the age of the internet is changing this.

Gravity · Mar 14, 2014

My agent weighed in on this today. He NAILED the guy.

Link: http://www.chipmacgregor.com/questions-from-beginners/whats-wrong-buying-way-onto-bestseller-list/

alexaherself · Mar 14, 2014

Gravity said:
My agent weighed in on this today. He NAILED the guy.

Indeed.

"You can find out more information on Mark Driscoll, plagiarism, and buying your way onto a bestseller list by going to World Magazine, Slate, the blaze.com, and the writings of Warren Throckmorton. You could probably also go to Mark Driscoll’s site, but be aware that, even though it has his name on it, he probably didn’t write it, and if there are errors it’s somebody else’s fault."

Filigree · Mar 14, 2014

I wondered what Chip would have to say about it. Ugh. (Mea culpa: I was under the impression that Mars Hill church was somewhere in Texas, not Seattle. Because my Texas relatives always have stories about what each others' megachurches have been up to.)

bearilou · Mar 15, 2014

I finally looked up who this guy is.

Filigree · Mar 15, 2014

Not the first megachuch pastor revealed to have feet of clay, sadly.

Jamesaritchie · Mar 15, 2014

Sadly, in the end, what will probably matter is whether he sells a lot of books and makes a huge profit.

jjdebenedictis · Mar 15, 2014

Jamesaritchie said:
Sadly, in the end, what will probably matter is whether he sells a lot of books and makes a huge profit.

Hard to make a profit against a $200,000 "investment" in promotion. How many authors make that much in royalties on one book?

And I'd like to think most Christians aware of the situation would refuse, on principle, to support that [colourful phrase omitted to preserve RYFW, despite this guy possibly being more a plagiarist than a writer].

Plus, how good could the book be if he had to cheat the system to get noticed? That's the tactic of someone who knows their work doesn't measure up. People who know nothing of the situation will still choose their books depending on what they see between the covers in the bookstore.

Hapax Legomenon · Mar 15, 2014

Alessandra Kelley said:
Back when I was a regular on Goodreads I started a list of forgotten NY Times bestsellers.

The idea was to illuminate some of the once-fashionable titles which had little to no current presence on Goodreads, with the idea that that might generally correspond to how much they were remembered and still read.

Some of them, like the 1925-1950 collection of "New Yorker" cartoons, were absolute gems and it's a crime they aren't more noted.

Others ... not so much.

I don't know how long people have been able to buy their way onto bestseller lists, but now I wonder if buying spots is as responsible as changing fashions are for the sometimes peculiar quality of "bestsellers" from the past.

This, definitely. Also, if I'm not mistaken, a lot of very famous and widely-distributed books never made it onto the bestsellers list.

Jamesaritchie · Mar 15, 2014

jjdebenedictis said:
Hard to make a profit against a $200,000 "investment" in promotion. How many authors make that much in royalties on one book?

And I'd like to think most Christians aware of the situation would refuse, on principle, to support that [colourful phrase omitted to preserve RYFW, despite this guy possibly being more a plagiarist than a writer].

Plus, how good could the book be if he had to cheat the system to get noticed? That's the tactic of someone who knows their work doesn't measure up. People who know nothing of the situation will still choose their books depending on what they see between the covers in the bookstore.

Quite a few make that much, actually, but I suspect his real profit will come from any new converts he draws in.

I haven't read the book, and won't, but it could be wonderfully written. He may believe the mareting people who told him the $200,000 was just a way to speed things up.

And you'd be amazed by how many people read a book just because it is on the NYTBSL, and probably by how many will read it just because of the controversy.

I hope I'm wrong, but sometimes the public at large amazes me by how they think.

Gravity · Mar 20, 2014

Chip's blogging today about Driscoll's plagiarism and his pseudo apology. Very interesting stuff. Link: http://www.chipmacgregor.com/

Buying your way onto NY Times bestseller list

Jamesaritchie

Gravity

Seen 'em come, seen 'em go

alexaherself

Wordsmith and shoechick

Filigree

Mildly Disturbing

bearilou

DenturePunk writer

Filigree

Mildly Disturbing

Jamesaritchie

jjdebenedictis

is watching you via her avatar

Hapax Legomenon

Jamesaritchie

Gravity

Seen 'em come, seen 'em go