Progressives Losing the Book Wars.

[caseymoz]

On The Huffington Post, in A Tale of Two Obama Books: Why Do Progressives Still Not Get It? Jennifer Nix writes about the problems of getting a liberal-progressive book to print ahead of the election, while conservative books like the Obama Nation by Jerome Corsi are generated and brought to the public on the fast-track. I think maybe she is wrong. What can progressives do if we do get it?

For those who don't have time to read two articles right now, she writes about the problem of getting Bob Kuttner's book Obama's Challenge, out to the public prior to the election. Publishing and book companies are moving lethargically, and efforts to run it and give it out free at the Democratic convention through Book-on-Demand have been met with anger by the book industry.

I remember in 2004 when I bought "Unfit for Command" for $3, just to read the opposition's views. I figured that $3 from Barnes & Noble wouldn't help the conservative cause too much. That much probably covered just the stores stocking expenses, with maybe a sweet 10% profit guaranteed to them.

I didn't realize then that the book was one of the conservatives' bulk buys, the purpose of which was to put the book immediately at the top of the Best Seller lists. It had already been counted as sold, pushed to the top of the chart, and was being resold at pamphlet prices. Upon reading the first chapter of the book, I realized that I had overpaid. It was "Unfit" for toilet paper, which sells for 8 rolls at $3. I haven't checked, but I can probably pick it up on Amazon for a quarter, not including shipping. The only way this book possibly made it into the top 1,000 was-- conservative welfare for writers.

But that's beside the point. I read Al Franken's book at the time, and paid full price for it. There was no bulk buying, no push to the top of the charts. No impulse buying price at Barnes & Noble. I had to really decide to make the purchase.

Franken's book is a bad example, though. It's election year books about the candidates that we somehow have to support, promote and sell to the public. Bulk buying to push books to number one probably might not be an option-- progressives just don't have the billionaire-ideologues that conservative Republicans do. Book clubs and such only reach other progressive readers.

The print-on-demand might be one way of getting progressive books out during an election year. But really, I don't have the solution. Without billionaire supporters, we simply can't match what the political right can do in terms of pushing their books. Using donated organization funds, IMHO, wouldn't be competitive. For the price people would have to donate, they might as well buy the books themselves.

I might suggest organizing some kind of "reading tree." People who donate to a progressive cause at a certain level might receive a book with the idea that they'll pass it on to a friend, who promises to pass it on to another friend. Unfortunately, this chain is only as strong as its weakest link. And it's slow. Too slow for an election year.

So, I ask people here to try to think of a solution to this problem. Think of a way ants can defeat an elephant. But at least progressives are ants with a will and an organization, unlike fleas.

[billyoc]

1. Jennifer, you dumbass.

Removing non-political non-fiction from the bestsellers list, and remembering that the bulk sales are marked with a (+), we have:


1 THE OBAMA NATION, by Jerome R. Corsi. (Threshold, $28.) The
Democratic candidate as an extreme leftist, from a co-author of “Unfit
for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry.” (†)

3 THE WAY OF THE WORLD, by Ron Suskind. (Harper, 27.95.) How the
Bush administration ignored evidence about Iraq in its rush to war.

5 THE CASE AGAINST BARACK OBAMA, by David Freddoso. (Regnery,
$27.95.) The Democratic candidate as a calculating extreme
leftist. (†)

7 THE DARK SIDE, by Jane Mayer. (Doubleday, $27.50.) How the
Bush administration embraced the practice of torture.

8 FLEECED, by Dick Morris and Eileen McGann. (Harper, $26.95.)
Americans are fleeced by government, business, labor unions and
lobbyists. (†)


10* THE PROSECUTION OF GEORGE W. BUSH FOR MURDER, by Vincent
Bugliosi. (Vanguard, $26.95.) The Manson prosecutor makes a case for
trying the president for the deaths of 4,000 American soldiers in
Iraq.

11 THE WRECKING CREW, by Thomas Frank. (Metropolitan/­Holt, $25.)
The deliberate mismanagement of Republican rule.


What's the problem?

[liberalmike27]

2. Another

Required reading for liberals, The Shock Doctrine, by Naomi Klein.

But sometimes the whole liberal vs. conservative book contest just seems a bit of a scam. But information is a good thing. Sadly, the books you mention give information, and much of the republican stuff just pass off lies, as the truth. Usually law suits only give publicity to the book being sued, so Obama's situation is lose-lose when books are written about him.

[RainDog]

6. word. Writes for huffpo and doesn't know the bulk purchase icon from the NYT??

worthless article

[caseymoz]

8. Not being her, I would say that the problem is getting Obama's Challenge to press on time.

My reading was: do liberal books have the market penetration we need? I'm not talking about just liberals reading liberal books, I'm talking independents. I'm talking about people who need to be informed, and not the ones already with us. For them, lowering the price to a garage level might be crucial to getting the book to them.

Preaching to the choir is a marvelous thing to keep them fired up and performing , but you have to always gain membership too, and in this case, urgently turn some votes.

[CitizenPatriot]

3. good news!

freepers don't read, as evidenced in their writing errors.

i weap for them daily.

[architect359]

4. "Weap"?

I kid, I kid.

[Karenina]

5. BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

:rofl::rofl::rofl:

[CitizenPatriot]

7. it's hugh, ok?

we weap for you daily in frville.