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A friend sent me this link. I find the story strangely disturbing and intriguing at the same time. I'm not even sure if this is a true story or not. But it does seem to explain the oddities in the publishing industry, to some degree.
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This really did happen, and according to Wikepedia, it was the first book of a projected trilogy. How you could top the first one, I don't know.
It really does go to show the inconsistencies with critic reviews, which I rarely believe anyway. If bestsellers are really judged on the demand of books rather than actual sales, it just goes to show that half the popularity is based on advertisement rather than merit. In which case, I'd better get a fan base going months before I publish my first novel.
posted
I don't have anything against Wikipedia. It's just that, if you can put a nonexistent book on the New York Times Bestseller list, what else could you pull?
Posts: 453 | Registered: Feb 2006
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posted
Keep in mind, Wikipedia was not the culprit that put "I, Libertine" on the NYT Best Selling list. They merely have recorded that it happened.
As Shep said, the PEOPLE -- the NIGHT people -- were the moving force behind this fiction fiasco. This reminds me a great deal of the story about the Emperor's New Clothes.
I confess, I am a DAY person. Now. Years ago I was more of a night person. But I've forced myself into an early morning routine and now I enjoy it.
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I have something against Wikipedia. I should probably shorten that in to a username for myself to shorten online conversations.
Posts: 334 | Registered: Sep 2003
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posted
It's a true story. Jean Shepard came up with the idea on his late-night radio show, people did ask for it, Theodore Sturgeon ghost-wrote it after that, Ballantine Books published it...and that was more-or-less the end of it.
I've never seen a copy---I doubt it was a bestseller, even if Shepard's audience asked for it---but I don't have access to the era's bestseller lists. There's an account of the writing of it in one of the Theodore Sturgeon "Collected Short Stories" volumes.
The late (I'm pretty sure) Jean Shepard is probably better known these days at the writer of the story on which the movie "A Chirstmas Story" was based...
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I think you can wake up early and still be a night person. From what I gathered from the article it was more a mentality thing. Do you read the reviews before you go to the theater and only see the ones that the reviewers liked or do you go see what interests you? When you buy a book do you check out the NYT bestseller list or actually thumb through books at the bookstore until you find one that looks interesting? I have to wake up early, but I have never looked at the NYT bestsellers list and I think Ebert is on drugs most of the time so I’m guessing I’m a night kind of person, but that’s just my take on the article.
[This message has been edited by Neoindra (edited June 10, 2006).]
posted
Oh, yeah, that reminds me. I'm a night person---but not by choice. I have to get up at nine to be at work by eleven to work to seven-thirty the next morning. And I find it nearly impossible to get to bed (or to sleep, even if I've gotten to bed) at any time before three, and often before sundown at about eight. I'm always tired and I think it's killing me.
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