Joe The Plumber's Writing Deal???

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Sunnyside

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Anyone catch the reference to Joe The Plumber's search for a book deal, as reported on last night's Countdown with Keith Olbermann? In case you missed it, here's a bit from Keith Olbermann's related blog entry over on Daily Kos:


I just managed to drop this in to tonight's "Campaign Comment" and there aren't a lot more details to be had, but I learned during Countdown tonight that Joe "The Plumber" Wurzelbacher is now seeking a deal to write a book about his campaign experience.​


This is from an unimpeachable source in the publishing industry, past whom very little in the field, gets. Good old all-American Joe, who has no motive whatsoever but keeping the electorate informed, who is the salt of the earth and the definition of America (now that Governor Palin isn't, any more) is hoping to cash in.​
So, my fellow writers . . . most of whom have been writing for years, working hard to secure representation, and striving to perfect your craft to persuade an agent to take you on and/or a publisher to invest in your work . . . politics aside, how ya feelin' now?

Me, I'll be putting a sign up in my yard offering my services as a plumber. It's only fair -- because, after all, anyone can do that, too, right?
 

Seaclusion

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Makes me realize we're in the entertainment business, not the writing business.

Richard
 

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It just reinforces my opinion...

that it's all about the timing and being at the right place at the right time. You read countless stories of bestsellers being discovered by all kinds of accidents.

The bottom line is you write what you write and then send it out. God will do the rest, whatever his will is about your work.

Thanks,

ED
 

BenPanced

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Tell Joe there's a publisher who'll give his manuscript the chance it deserves and it'll resonate like a glove from sea to shining fruited plain. Or something like that.
 

Darzian

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What would be the market for such a book, after the election?
 

kuwisdelu

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Me, I'll be putting a sign up in my yard offering my services as a plumber. It's only fair -- because, after all, anyone can do that, too, right?

But you, much like Samuel Wurzelbacher, don't have a plumbing license.
 

Phaeal

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This just reinforces my cheerfully paranoid belief that Joe W. is so obvious a plant that if he stood still too long, he'd put down roots.
 

willietheshakes

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My thought: Who cares?

Publishing is a business, it's an entertainment business, and it survives, in large measure, by appealing to the lowest common denominator. Paris Hilton, OJ Simpson, Joe the Plumber -- it's all the same. It doesn't impact actual writing in the slightest.

"same as it ever was --- same as it ever was"
 

donroc

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We are affected by publishers' budgets for purchasing books and how much $$$ they put into marketing -- Joe who has a platform or the "1st" novel of an unknown, especially one who is not telegenic.
 

willietheshakes

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We are affected by publishers' budgets for purchasing books and how much $$$ they put into marketing -- Joe who has a platform or the "1st" novel of an unknown, especially one who is not telegenic.

(shrug) Maybe.

But those big, meaningless, bullshit, pandering books are built into the system. They come out every season, and so do lots of first novels. It's a wash, and, IMNSHO, nothing that bears the least amount of worrying about.
 

Claudia Gray

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His campaign experience? He was semi-big news for approximately one week. What is this book going to look like?

"Chapter 7: The Evening of Day Two."
 

beautiation

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He should have top notch blurbs anyway, everyone at Washington seems at great pains to make out they're his best pal at the moment.

Barack Obama:"First plumbing, now writing...Joe spreads his talents like we spread the wealth!"

John McCain: "My old friend Joe's book deserves to be a bestseller (and we won't even tax him for it!)."

Sarah Palin: "Slightly too intellectual in places, but overall a great read. I couldn't put it down, not even to look out my window at Russia!"
 

Don

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I shook hands with LBJ when I was a cub scout, and my brother worked on Air Force One during the Nixon and Ford regimes. Think that'll get me a book deal?
 

maestrowork

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You don't need a license to be a writer, that's for sure.

Maybe he'll finally make this $250,000 so he can pay more taxes.

That's a thought.
 

Kasey Mackenzie

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It actually doesn't bother me in the slightest little bit. As others have mentioned, publishing is a business, and businesses need to turn profits in order to STAY in business. Every book deal that goes to somebody like "Joe the Plumber" and becomes a bestseller that earns the publishing house a lot of money means that the publishing house will then be able to afford to turn around and take chances on more debut writers than they might otherwise be able to do. While I do sometimes roll my eyes at these deals, I look at them for what they are. Good business for both the publisher AND debut writers like a lot of us.
 

Cybernaught

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:ROFL: The sad thing is, he could probably pull a personal profit from it.

The last thing Publish America needs is another "celebrity" author to insert into their email solicitations in order to help promote their schemes for them. Like that Pulitzer Prize winner they bragged about once, failing to mention it was for Public Service and it was an entire newspaper that won it.
 

LaurieD

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Anyone can write. Just not everyone should.

What campaign is being referred to as his "experience"?

The media latched onto him and is carrying him on their shoulders for the moment, but like all crowd surfing, this too shall come crashing down to the floor.
 
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