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Dead trees tell no tales

38 comments on Dead trees tell no tales

Dead trees tell no tales

: Can’t find the exact AP story I found in various papers today (I’m on a slow connection at the O’Hare lounge right now) but I find it hilarious that Barnes & Noble and other booksellers say they’re being accused of bias for not having enough copies of the Swifties’ tome when, of course, that is the fault of the Swifties’ right-wing publisher, who clearly didn’t believe in this enough to print enough copies.

See also Amazon’s shift of its review policy on this book, giving into the mudslinging that has become the standard of this campaign:

“We’ve decided to suspend our normal customer review policies and rules for this title,” according to the notice. “For example, we usually prohibit ad hominem attacks. That policy in particular seems to be incompatible with presidential election year politics. Therefore, short of obscenities, reviews on this book are now a free-for-all. We take no responsibility for the following discussion. Aren’t presidential election years great? Have fun!”

Yes, what fun: democracy as a contact sport. Whippee!

: UPDATE: The Reuters story:

Barnes & Noble, the world’s largest bookseller, on Monday issued a statement saying it had sold out of the book and, in effect, held up its hands in surrender to what it called “thousands of complaints” from both supporters and detractors of the book.

Supporters, Barnes & Noble said, are claiming the bookseller has intentionally not stocked the title or is hiding it, while detractors are asking stores to remove it altogether.

“(Complaints) started in the stores, and the home office has been inundated as well,” said a company spokeswoman.

And the AP:

Its publisher, Regnery Publishing Inc., won’t have more books available until later this week, and that order also will not be able to meet demand, Barnes & Noble CEO Steve Riggio said in a release.

Riggio said Barnes & Noble has no political agenda.

“The fact is Regnery has not been able to keep up with customer demand for this title,” he said. “Further, the publisher cut our original order for the book in half. We’ve been put in the difficult position of having to defend ourselves over a title we can’t seem to get enough copies of from the publisher.”

Well, gee, if the Swifties think this is so damned important, maybe they should just put it up on the web… for free.

38 responses to “Dead trees tell no tales”

  1. PJF Avatar
    PJF

    Swifties off.
    Swifties on.
    Swifties off.
    ….
    When it looks bad for your preferred candidate, you don’t want to talk about them.
    When it looks good for your preferred candidate, you want to talk about them.
    In case you hadn’t noticed Jeff, your inability to honestly articulate your election partisanship is making you look disingenuous and, frankly, rather pathetic.
    .

  2. Harry Avatar
    Harry

    “Well, gee, if the Swifties think this is so damned important, maybe they should just put it up on the web… for free.”
    Well, actually — you can get the first two chapters of the book “on the web… for free”. Finding the URL is left as a 5 second exercise for the reader.
    It’s also interesting that your saliva-broadcasting rage is reserved for the “right wing” publisher and the “swifties”, Jeff. Not a word about the hypocritical and dumb-as-bricks lefties who are trying to get the book suppressed and the Bush campaign sanctioned.
    I suppose it just rankles that the “swifties” have been brilliantly successful and are quite clearly imperiling Kerry’s candidacy.

  3. Ted Barlow Avatar
    Ted Barlow

    Lefty blogger and Houston bookseller “yogogurl” has some funny stories along these lines. If I post the URL, will conservative readers please not flood her with nasty comments? Thanks in advance.
    Here’s one:
    http://www.yoyogurl.com/2004/08/swift-boat-fans-for-bugging-crap-out.html

  4. Frank Martin Avatar
    Frank Martin

    It would help B&N and Borders considerably if the staff at these stores would not go to such lengths to hide and suppress titles that are not favorable to their agenda. Borders now has so many George W. Bush books that it has its own section ” Fiction – Non Fiction – Cooking – Computers – George W. Bush ” . Hitler gets a single title in the general history section, George W. Bush gets his own entire section just for himself. How many ways are there to say “I dont like you”?
    Ghengis Khan? No section.
    Stalin? No section.
    Pol Pot? No section.
    Tojo? No Section.
    Mao? No Section.
    George W. Bush? 300 titles on three rows of books to choose from.
    Is there no sanctuary from politics? Can we not just read and buy books based on our choice and at our will without a lecture from some dork with a pin through his cheek or hisses from the hip crowds at the cafe? If we are smart enough to read, arent we smart enough to decide for ourself what to read? Do I really need to “local college street fascist league” to tell me what I aught to read?
    Is the leftist argmuent so weak that it can’t stand up to open scrutiny?

  5. Kat Avatar
    Kat

    I don’t think they expected it to become No. 1 on the Times list–I am still waiting for my copy which is on order. I’m happy for the vets and not complaining. Good things are worth the wait:).:).
    “Unfit for Command,” the scathing critique of John Kerry’s service in Vietnam, will appear on the New York Times best-seller list at No. 1 on Sept. 5.

  6. Kat Avatar
    Kat

    I don’t think they expected it to become No. 1 on the Times list–I am still waiting for my copy which is on order. I’m happy for the vets and not complaining. Good things are worth the wait:).:).
    “Unfit for Command,” the scathing critique of John Kerry’s service in Vietnam, will appear on the New York Times best-seller list at No. 1 on Sept. 5.

  7. Kat Avatar
    Kat

    Who did that?

  8. Harry Avatar
    Harry

    Kat — I’m just waiting for the NYT to change their book-ranking algorithm so they can ensure that no conservative-friendly titles are allowed to reach the top.
    A “harmonization” of the book list with their news department policies is long overdue.

  9. Jeff Jarvis Avatar
    Jeff Jarvis

    PJF: I’ve been quite clear that I’m a likely Kerry voter.
    I’ve also been quite clear that I thought the Bush military story was a nonstory just as this is.
    No gotcha there, fella.

  10. Kalroy Avatar
    Kalroy

    Regnery says that pushing up the release date is the reason they didn’t have enough for the initial release. It was either go with what they could, or publish at the original planned date.
    As to Barnes and Noble, I watched as an employee kept telling a customer that the books he was looking for weren’t out yet. I think I pissed him off when I kept pointing at the lower shelves so that the soldier could get the copies of Sean Hannity and Michelle Malkin that he wanted. The display is in the middle of the store. The front of the store, on the other hand, held several liberal books on prominent display. Maybe all the conservative books in the front sold out. It is the nearest mega-book store to the Aberdeen Proving Grounds, after all.
    Kalroy

  11. Charlie (Colorado) Avatar
    Charlie (Colorado)

    It’s also interesting that your saliva-broadcasting rage is reserved for the “right wing” publisher and the “swifties”, Jeff. Not a word about the hypocritical and dumb-as-bricks lefties who are trying to get the book suppressed and the Bush campaign sanctioned.
    Yah, that’s a good point. When can we expect a “Daily Swities” to correspond with the “censorship” issues you raised with “The Daily Stern”?

  12. onecent Avatar
    onecent

    Sorry, Jeff, I’m not about to award B&N clean hands in this. My local store is a shrine to Bush bashing books presented front and center on prominent tables crafted with care. Conservative best-sellers are far and few between and relegated to the outer sanctum. On my last visit, a few months ago, I noticed a staff book review of some history book with his comments including this memorable statement…..”further evidence of America’s imperialism”……
    Lucianne.com posted this story yesterday and from the comments I’m not alone in my observations.
    If Riggio thinks his stores are neutral book stores, he needs to get out more and get local staffs under control. Funny, Amazon and Borders didn’t have the same stocking problem.

  13. PJF Avatar
    PJF

    I’m not playing gotchas, Jeff; I’m simply imploring you (via sarcasm) to be forthright and forthcoming about your election partisan dealing of the ‘Swift Vets’ vs Kerry.
    If you think this is a non story, why do you keep addressing one side of it?
    .

  14. Mike G Avatar
    Mike G

    I have to echo those who say that B&N and Borders have a de facto policy of favoring anti-Bush books– because they’ve done nothing to counter the blatant tendency of their college-age staffs to set up displays full of the works of Franken, Chomsky, Moore, Ivins, Hightower, Anonymous, etc. while basically denying the existence of even relatively bestselling books like Rise of the Vulcans, the Islam books of Bernard Lewis, Kenneth Pollack’s book on Iraq, etc. You can say that they’re not responsible for the results of letting a bunch of individuals at local stores do their thing, but that’s the same excuse the press uses for monolithic liberalism.

  15. Kalroy Avatar
    Kalroy

    Mike G:
    Yup. The knee-jerk reaction, while wrong, occured because of people’s experience dealing with Barnes & Noble. I’ve been to B&N on both coasts now, and the same thing in both of them. Though I can’t wait to get back to the West Coast. Maryland drivers are friggin’ crazy.
    Kalroy

  16. Andy Avatar
    Andy

    The B&N protest might have merit. The facts are plausible on their own.
    What you seem to miss is that there is a huge portion of the population who feel that they have been denied, marginalized and ridiculed. The reactions to B&N lack of product is but the latest indication of the pent up frustration.
    For one who makes a living sensing trends, detecting future shifts in the marketplace, identifying new ideas and new messengers; you seem to have a blind eye here.
    The Swifty charges resonate with a huge portion of the population. They have the appearance of truth and they release pent up demand for accountability, acknowledgement, recognition on the part of many who feel disenfranchised.
    This volcano is in-part reaction to the anti-war actions; in part to the smarmy way the primaries avoided any true contest; and in large measure to the way M-S-M ignored the story then has rushed to defend Kerry.
    From out here on da left coast, looks like a tdal wave is rising. Will it get quashed or will it be pushed higher? When the wave breaks who will be drowned?
    The media reporting cannot continue to “Carry the Can for Kerry (Good title for a song-no charge) without some long term repercussions.
    Time to short media stocks

  17. Old Grouch Avatar
    Old Grouch

    Bill Quick (published author) has a take on this over here:

    “…I’m not quite sure what to make of this. If Regnery has put 550,000 into print in about three weeks, well, that is just an enormous number. The big chains do run a central buying operation, where their buyers place initial orders for books which they then parcel out to their many individual outlets. But re-orders are the province of the store managers in most cases, based on running sales garnered directly from cash register inventory systems… The store manager might be begging and pleading for more copies, but that doesn’t mean he’ll get them, not until the buyers at the home office realize they have a huge – and unforeseen – phenomenon on their hands…

    “I imagine the… [chain] buyers simply followed the lead of the New York Times… and assumed the book would be crushed by bad publicity coming out of the mainstream liberal media… The only ideological decision involved in all this was on the part of the liberal media who tried to kill the book…”

    But I’ll also have to go along with the others here who report “preferential positioning” for liberal-leaning titles. It’s happening out there.

    .

  18. Bryan C Avatar
    Bryan C

    Oh yes, bookstore employees definitely have agendas of their own, and it’s pretty easy to spot in how they arrange their displays. (Librarians too, but that’s another topic.) The local Waldenbooks has maybe one or two fairly friendly titles tucked behind a swarm of nasty ones. I don’t doubt for a second that some overzealous employees would be sneaky like that. I was pleasantly surprised to see that a local independent bookstore (Locust Books) had a much more balanced selection.
    Then again, I suppose we should be glad bookstores deign to sell it at all, seeing as the authors haven’t taken your suggested vow of poverty. Good thing the Kerry campaign lawyers are there to protect us from such unworthy publications.

  19. Dr. Weevil Avatar
    Dr. Weevil

    The sad thing is that it would be so easy to design a Politics book display that would be fair and would also sell more books. Just line them up from left to right. Put the Chomsky books all the way on the left, the Pat Buchanan books all the way on the right, and spread the rest in between at their appropriate places on the spectrum. Libertarians might be a little hard to place, and I don’t assume that the two ends would be equally densely populated, but if a bookstore arranged their Politics books this way, customers could easily find what they wanted, and also find what they didn’t know they wanted until they saw it in the store. And yet I’ve never seen a bookstore arrange its books this way.

  20. John Avatar
    John

    From what I’ve seen over the years, B&N tends to stock their political books in stores on something of a Blue State/Red State strategy. Go to a store in the northeast or costal sections of California, and the Bush bashing books are impossible to avoid as you enter the store (along with pro-Democratic books — when Clinton’s autobiography came out, the B%N at Rockefeller Center was almost wallpapered with the thing, and I received an e-mail offer to buy the book in advance. No such offer with the Swifties’ tome). But if you go out into flyover country, the book displays are, if not skewered in the exact opposite direction, at the very least far more balanced in the ratio of pro- to anti-Bush books on display.
    My guess on “Unfit” is that to a great extent, what B&N ordered it targeted regionally, into Red State areas where they thought the book would most likely have the best sales. They didn’t count on the book’s huge nationwide impact, meaning there would even be strong demand in Blue State territory, and as a result are suffering the wrath of some of their customers.

  21. Kalroy Avatar
    Kalroy

    Dunno John. Bakersfield isn’t exactly San Francisco on the political spectrum and the B&N there does the same thing. Now Maryland may be a big Democrat state, but the B&N I went to the other day is nearer the Aberdeen Proving Grounds than to Baltimore (which is pretty close) and it was just as bad.
    Mind you, I never went to the one across from the Stinking Rose in L.A., or to any in Seattle, so for all I know the way the more conservative commentary and op-eds are treated in Bakersfield and Abingdon may actually be pro-conservative from a very left point of view. Certainly not from my pro-military, pro-gay adoption, pro-choice, anti-late term abortion, pro-Arnie, anti-Teddy, pro-gun, pro-Free Tibet, anti-communist point of view. But then that probably makes me a rabid right-winger according to the Kerry/Moveon/Kevin Bacon crowd.
    Kalroy

  22. John Avatar
    John

    Kalroy —
    Store employee prefrences also are no doubt a factor. I remember being in an El Paso B&N about a decade ago when they had a display of Rush Limbaugh’s book that was in a fairly prominent location, but someone at the store had taken the time to put the “30 percent off” sticker over his face on the cover of every single book in the display area (something I had to check out after I saw the first one). You can agree or disagree with Limbaugh, but that approach to displaying the cover seems a little self-defeating if your goal is actually to sell books for Mr. Riggio.
    Anyway, I’m basing my speculation mainly on visits to B&N stores in the southwest, and obviously, in the case listed above, the El Paso manager may have been ordered to give Limbaugh a prominent location, but he or one of his workers was not a happy camper about it. I would think that “Unfit for Command” probably is getting the same treatment — stores in more conservative areas are more likely to be urged by the home office to play up the book, but if the branch manager is a Kerry support, compliance may come grudgingly (and the same could be true for a store manager in a Blue State who’s a Bush backer and is told to give stuff like Michael Moore’s book promanent shelf space but balks in some way, though I haven’t heard about that happening).

  23. Kate Avatar
    Kate

    You know, for all the contraversy surrounding Janet Jackson’s runaway wardrobe, I had no interest in the story. None. Not from any angle.
    If you visit my blog you’ll see:
    1. Zero posts on Janet Jackson’s boob
    2. Zero posts complaining about the coverage of Janet Jacksons boob
    3. Zero posts explaining why I don’t care about Janet Jackson’s boob
    Do you detect a pattern here?
    As a media analyst, this Swift Boat contraversy should be topic number one on this blog – not from the perspective of who is lying and who is truthtelling, who you want elected, who you plan to vote for, how interesting Vietnam is to you – but how it is being covered by the guardians of our democratic society – the established press.
    Right now, they are not guarding anything but their own partisan interests. That is a fact that cannot be disputed by any reasonably fair observer.
    And that, Jeff, should trouble you enough to keep you up at night.

  24. HH Avatar
    HH

    The Swifties are the real Howard Stern of the election year. Everyone wants them shut down, etc.

  25. Harry in Atlanta Avatar
    Harry in Atlanta

    One has to wonder, however, despite Riggio’s protestations to the contrary how Barnes and Noble has gotten itself the reputation of being a lefty book store. Riggio has to know that it isn’t just one or two disgruntled conservatives complaining but thousands of customers and worse potential customers. It must be worrying him something fierce to have come out and make a public statement defending his company’s marketing practices. Many on the left make it sound like this is some kind of a weird smear campaign by Republicans and conservatives. But why would conservatives complain about poor service and constant product unavailability if there is not some truth to the matter? What would there be to gain from smearing B&N? What would be the point? A thrill smearing perhaps?
    I believe Riggio and B&N have mostly left-wing academics and academic types who vigorously support the Democratic party and a leftist social agenda doing most of their buying and marketing. Admit it. It fits the lifestyle. Like most journalists these people tend to live in reinforcing social and information sharing bubbles and have absolutely no idea that there are people in the world who have opinions and philosphies differing from their own. To them these people would be vulgar or worse nazis. By paying closer attention to customer complaints and keeping an eye on the behavior of his buyers, store managers, and service Riggio could have avoided the stigmatism of bias that’s now affecting B&N. All it took was one really big conservative blockbuster and B&N was caught with their pants down having to blame someone else for their poor showing. If nothing else tells you of their bias its believing the NY Times assessment of the book knowing the Times’ agenda or better yet the Times’ record when it comes to coverage concerning Kerry detractors. My guess is until very recently Riggio lived in the same lefty social bubble until some deep-pocketed stock holders popped the shit out of it in a big way.

  26. Peg C. Avatar
    Peg C.

    Jeff,
    I like your blog (more before you went off the Stern), but I’m not buying what you’re selling. First of all, I support the Swifties’ apparent decision not to give the book away free on the web: O’Neill has made it very clear that all his royalties are going to a charity that benefits families of slain military personnel. I’m very happy my $$ for the book went to that cause. In addition, there are dozens of displays of Bush-hating books in all the bookstores in my area, with Bush-friendly books hidden or non-existent. When challenged, store staff are defensive in an aggressive way, indicating mine is far from the first complaint.
    The screaming over the dirtiness of the campaigns is disingenuous. Yes, I admit to being a partisan conservative, but I also have eyes and ears to see that the vast majority of the dirt and lies are flowing much more from the Kerry camp and their 527s. I understand why W takes the high road to stay above the fray, but one of my constant complaints is that he doesn’t slam them back for all they’re worth. That would play into their hands, however, as satisfying as it would be to us on the right, and he’s way too smart for that.
    When you call for “clean campaigns,” are you not demanding that dissenters on both sides shut up? This is anti-free speech, as indeed all of campaign finance reform itself is. You present yourself as pro-free speech. The Swifties have every right to try to get their objections to Kerry out to the voters. I never saw any Dems asking can’tmoveon.org or the rest of the anti-American 527s to cease and desist, but the entire lefty world is demanding the Swifties do so. Why?? My guess is all the lefty 527s and their tens of million$ are not getting the traction that the Swifties and their book and 2 cheap ads are getting.
    I don’t mean to sound overly harsh although I know I do. I’m that angry about all of this. I came of age in the Vietnam era and was an anti-war protestor, and a very lefty Dem. We live in a different era now and serious, adult demeanors are called for. There is no seriousness or maturity in the Dems as far as I can see. Republicans are far from perfect and I’m far from happy with them, but I’m a one-issue voter now and Kerry is a big, fat ZERO on that issue. The very thought of him in charge of our armed forces scares the living daylights out of me. And nothing will change that.

  27. Angus Jung Avatar
    Angus Jung

    “Lefty blogger and Houston bookseller ‘yogogurl’ has some funny stories along these lines. If I post the URL, will conservative readers please not flood her with nasty comments?”
    Yeah, that might lower the tone.

  28. Angus Jung Avatar
    Angus Jung

    “Lefty blogger and Houston bookseller ‘yogogurl’ has some funny stories along these lines. If I post the URL, will conservative readers please not flood her with nasty comments?”
    Yeah, that might lower the tone.

  29. BC Monkey Avatar
    BC Monkey

    A month and a half ago, there was a similar discussion about bookstores and their possible bias on Jane Galt’s blog. In the comments, I posted the following,
    “Well, easy enough to see what the good people of Barnes and Noble are think, and where they’re donating.
    Searching for “Barnes” as employer at http://www.opensecrets.org, we get the following….
    RIGGIO, LEONARD
    NEW YORK,NY 10021
    BARNES & NOBLE/CHAIRMAN
    6/30/2003
    $2,000
    Gephardt, Richard A
    3/11/2003
    $2,000
    Kerry, John
    11/20/2003
    $2,000
    Davis, Jim
    4/8/2004
    $2,000
    Menendez, Robert
    SMITH, MICHELLE
    WANTAGH,NY 11793
    BARNES & NOBLE/VPHR
    5/27/2004
    $500
    Kerry, John
    5/24/2004
    $200
    DNC Services Corp
    KAPLAN, GLENN MR
    NEW YORK,NY 10024
    BARNES & NOBLE INC./CREATIVE DIRECT
    3/6/2003
    $700
    Women’s Campaign Fund
    3/26/2004
    $1,500
    Women’s Campaign Fund
    RONNINGEN, JUDITH A
    BELLEVUE,WA 98008
    BARNES & NOBLE/LEAD BOOK SELLER
    4/23/2004
    $2,000
    Kerry, John
    MORAN, JOSALYN L
    NEW YORK,NY 10038
    BARNES & NOBLE/MERCHANDISE DIRECTOR
    4/29/2004
    $2,000
    Kerry, John
    ERCOLANO, A
    NEW YORK,NY 10001
    BARNES & NOBLE INC./VP TRADE BUYING
    4/26/2004
    $500
    EMILY’s List
    FULLER, THOMAS
    NEW YORK,NY 10009
    BARNES AND NOBLES/BOOKBUYER
    5/13/2004
    $200
    Kerry, John
    5/17/2004
    $200
    Kerry, John
    MORRIS, LAURA N
    BROOKLYN,NY 11201
    BARNES & NOBLE INC/EDITOR
    5/27/2004
    $250
    Kerry, John
    RENWICK, SUZETTE
    LA CROSSE,WI 54601
    BARNES AND NOBLE
    1/31/2003
    $1,000
    Feingold, Russell D
    5/14/2004
    $1,000
    Democratic Party of Wisconsin
    KING, STEPHEN
    TRYON,NC 28782
    BARNES & NOBLE/RETAIL
    6/20/2003
    $1,000
    Edwards, John
    9/29/2003
    $250
    Miller, Brad
    MCMURRAY, HEATHER
    EL PASO,TX 79912
    BARNES AND NOBLE/BOOKSELLER
    8/15/2003
    $300
    Dean, Howard
    MCMURRAY, HEATHER
    EL PASO,TX 79912
    BARNES AND NOBLE/BOOKSELLER
    2/5/2004
    $200
    Dean, Howard
    4/9/2004
    $1,000
    Kerry, John
    WRIGHT, ALBERT
    SYRACUSE,NY 13207
    BARNES AND NOBLE/BOOKSELLER
    1/8/2004
    $200
    Dean, Howard
    5/14/2004
    $200
    Kerry, John
    SEIFERT, EVAN
    CHARLOTTESVILLE,VA 22902
    BARNES AND NOBLE/BOOKSELLER
    5/24/2004
    $1,950
    Kerry, John
    CAMPBELL, JOAN MS
    LINCOLN,NE 68502
    BARNES & NOBLE/PART-TIME
    4/9/2004
    $1,000
    Fortenberry, Jeffrey Lane
    HUTCHISON, JUDITH MRS
    KIRKWOOD,MO 63122
    BARNES & NOBLE/BOOKSELLER
    12/31/2003
    $1,000
    Bush, George W
    Draw your own conclusions about who Barnes and Noble staff and executive want to win the election.
    Posted by BC Monkey at July 12, 2004 04:54 PM”

  30. pianoman Avatar
    pianoman

    Just like Michael Moore and Miramax let people see Fahrenheit 9/11 for free. Just like Paul O’Neill gave away copies of “The Price Of Loyalty” for free. Just like Richard Clarke gave away copies of “Against All Enemies” for free. After all, if those three guys thought their point of view was “so damned important, they should have just put it up on the web for free”.
    Right, Jeff?
    Charlie (Colorado) weighed in with:
    When can we expect a “Daily Swities” to correspond with the “censorship” issues you raised with “The Daily Stern”?
    Don’t hold your breath, Charlie. When lawsuit threats originate from the Left, there’s no outrage. But perceived connections between the Bush Administration and Clear Channel dropping Stern from six markets is met with howls of outrage and spittle.
    Tuned in 97.1 this morning, and found Howard still broadcasting. How can that be? Didn’t he say that the FCC, controlled by the Bush Administration, was conspiring to kick him off the air? Isn’t the Bush Administration powerful enough to accomplish such a minor task?
    Nine out of the top ten 527s have been pounding Bush for a year to the tune of $60 million. Moore’s movie made over $100 million spreading conspiracy theories that basically accuse the President of impeachable offenses. The Bush Administration did nothing.
    But the SBVT scrape up $200K to run a couple ads to plug their book, and the Kerry campaign threatens lawsuits against stations that run the ads, file collusion complaints with the FEC, and scream like little babies for the Bush Administration to “do something”.
    So who is more of an enemy to free speech? The Right or the Left?

  31. Charlie (Colorado) Avatar
    Charlie (Colorado)

    Charlie (Colorado) weighed in with:
    When can we expect a “Daily Swities” to correspond with the “censorship” issues you raised with “The Daily Stern”?
    Don’t hold your breath, Charlie.
    I did actually think it was a rhetorical question.

  32. shark Avatar
    shark

    I’ve stopped going to bookstores, especially B&N. I simply cannot take being bombarded with 1001 Anti-Bush books the minute I walk in the door, and being made to scavenger hunt for the 1 Laura Ingraham book I want to buy for my father.
    Maybe B&N really isn’t a liberal chain. But there are sure lots of potential customers who feel that way and happily use Amazon.com
    They have a bad PR problem here.

  33. Mike Silverman Avatar
    Mike Silverman

    FWIW, the Borders is my (quite liberal) college town location has always been very balanced with liberal and conservative books, and had the SBVT book prominently displayed when it came out (it quickly sold out). For a while they had the Clinton book right next to that new (pro-Bush) book on Bush and God.
    They have given prominent space to Pat Buchanan’s new book, and whenever Chomsky barfs out a new tome, they highlight it also, so pretty equal.
    I have a feeling that individual bookstores, even in a big chain, have a lot of flexibility with what they promote on the “new books” table.

  34. Joe Sims Avatar
    Joe Sims

    By a show of hands, who here has worked for a Barnes&Noble/B Dalton, a BGI, or a Books-a-Million? Corporate bookstores are in it to make money, not influence public policy with their merchandising standards!
    When I was working in the bookseller industry (1991-1996 with BGI — Borders Group, Inc., for those who aren’t in the know, which is comprised of Borders, Waldenbooks and Brentano’s), it was common for the home office to send down weekly edicts on endcap and cashwrap displays, and of course the front of the store was usually overtaken by bestsellers and books with huge advertising budgets. These books were where they were on purpose (usually because Oprah mentioned them, but that’s a topic for another time).
    The primary reason certain books got better placement was simple — the publisher paid to get the attention. The more they paid, the better the book was publicized in the store. Sure, the staff and the management might put their own ‘personal touches’ on titles that they weren’t fond of (the person who mentioned the discount sticker over Limbaugh’s head brought back memories of OUR store doing that, too), but by and large we had no real say as to the merchandising of titles that the home office deemed noteworthy.
    Political factions aside, B&N and BGI are huge, pubicly traded corporations, whose primary purpose is to enrich their shareholders. If they think that a title is going to do well, they put it in the front of their stores. If the publisher gives them a better margin in exchange for higher visibility, they put it on the endcaps or on the tables. But sometimes a book will just sneak up on a buyer who just doesn’t think the book is going to sell, and the store has to eat the loss (Robert James Waller’s “Bridges of Madison County” was an example when I was in the business of a book that came out of nowhere, that NOBODY could get their hands on). I can’t be convinced that, just because the CEO and the VP of B&N gave money to Kerry, that they would risk potential sales (and profits) by understocking their stores. If that’s the case, the corporate boards would be calling for their resignations. It was just a case of human error and being unconvinced that anyone would care about this book at the time the buyers were placing their orders, and also a publisher that didn’t have the foresight to realize that this book would go through the roof. Books like this usually have a short shelf-life before the publisher has to buy them back and turn them around for pennies on the dollar to the remainders, so I can understand why the publisher didn’t think to print 40 million copies. Even “All The President’s Men” had a small initial publication run!!

  35. Joe Sims Avatar
    Joe Sims

    …Oh, and in defense of the trick of putting the discount sticker over Limbaugh’s head, I recall that cover to be absolutely FILLED by the man’s visage — there wasn’t a lot of blank space on that cover that could accomodate the 2 inch diameter sticker mandated by the home office for ALL bestsellers. Bookjacket designers and egomaniacal celebrities that insist on displaying their faces rendered gigantic as a selling point for their book should know better… It’s not like BGI invented those 30% off stickers JUST FOR THE RELEASE OF THOSE BOOKS!! They should leave the upper right hand corner of the bookjacket essentially featureless, otherwise some smart-aleck bookseller is going to place the sticker where they see fit…

  36. onecent Avatar
    onecent

    Joe, I think you’re points have validity, but I am stuck on this comments of yours….Sure, the staff and the management might put their own ‘personal touches’ on titles that they weren’t fond of (the person who mentioned the discount sticker over Limbaugh’s head brought back memories of OUR store doing that, too)…the personal political touches that should not exist in retail book selling. Part of the 9/11 wake-up call has been an assessment of the MSM and its bias. I’m still not taking B&N off the hook.

  37. Karl Gallagher Avatar
    Karl Gallagher

    I figure they’re not going to give it away free because 100,000,000 web hits mean nothing to most people, but being #1 on the NYT bestseller list and Amazon list means you’re for real.

  38. Roulette Avatar
    Roulette

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