Woo HOO!!! You think DU'ers can't make an instant difference!?

[A_Possum]

Last night as I went to bed, after posting links to Bob Graham's upcoming attack on Bush's lies about Iraq, INTELLIGENCE MATTERS, it had a sales rank in the 7000's, having dropped from the 5000's. We had a splurge of threads about it here at DU, and people pre-ordering.

THIS MORNING IT'S at 49!!!

Get it up there! Amazon

If we want to push this into the media, like Clarke's book, hitting the bestseller ranks is crucial, and IT CAN BE DONE. Sales ranks on Amazon and other site can be easily moved (as you can see in the last 12 hours). Once the book is firmly in the top 10-15, it gets automatic pitches on the site, etc.

GO DU'ers!

More red meat from the book:

"The administration and CIA also insisted that the details about the Saudi support network that benefited two hijackers be left out of the final congressional report, Graham complained.

Bush had concluded that ''a nation-state that had aided the terrorists should not be held publicly to account,'' Graham wrote. ``It was as if the president's loyalty lay more with Saudi Arabia than with America's safety.'"

Miami Herald

What's it called when someone's loyalty lies with another country? Hmmm?

[NMDemDist2]

1. great job DUer's

way to go!

[DoYouEverWonder]

2. So the president put the interests of a foreign country

ahead of the interests of the American people.

Didn't they use to call that treason?

[topanga]

3. I would prefer if it were free.

Available online maybe, there are many of us who cna not affrd to buy every book that comes out.

It doesn't seem fair that we are disenfranchised in such a way.

[TransitJohn]

5. Library.

I know my local one has put books on the shelf I've requested.

[Morning Dew]

6. the library is a good resource - or chip in on it with a friend.

eom

[A_Possum]

7. Other ways to push the book

I understand if you can't afford a hardcover book (though as a person who makes a living as an author I also understand why books cost money). When the book's out I'm sure you can get it from the library.

But in the meantime, the point right now is to create buzz for the book, to get it some media exposure. Check out the Miami Herald article, and perhaps do some media blasting to your local media. Often local media will cover a book when national won't. Many many times a book "gets legs" from interest at a local level. So, letters to the editor, or alerts to your (probably print) media that this is a book you very much want to see reviewed are all helpful.

For those of us who CAN afford it, pre-ordering a copy now will have a push effect on the print run and orders.

[Kimber Scott]

8. It's still called capitalism. Books are free at the library.

You just have to give them back when you're done.

[topanga]

16. My library has no copy

But I am sure they have a copy of the SwiftLiers book.

It just make smy blood boil!

[Kimber Scott]

19. Ask for one. They'll order it.

nt

[bklyncowgirl]

24. Ask and you shall receive

I'm a librarian. Most libraries are short on funds and don't order every book upfront. Because often our funding is driven by circulation, we are very hesitent to order something that we fear will sit on the shelf.

I buy books in advance that look like they're going to be big in my area. As far as political books go, we get the obvious best sellers and then wait and see what either gets the press attention or what our people ask for--usually they are related. Personally, I'll buy books some books by major political figures like Senator Graham on their reputation alone, but I have some flexibility in my budget--your library may not be so lucky.

Librarians like requests. We like it even better when the book circulates. Once they have it, tell all your friends to take it out. It will make it easier next time you want them to buy something.

[DemBones DemBones]

9. I doubt *any* of us can afford to buy every book that comes out. eom

[seventhson]

4. Same with Kitty Kelley's book!!!

We CAN make a difference!

[Name removed]

10. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[alcuno]

13. I don't understand the book wars.

It's ironic that in a nation of non-readers, we war over books that tell us what we want to hear. "Unfit for Command" is a perfect example of cheerleading via book sales. Nary a grain of truth in the entire thing and yet people will buy it to support *. We are one, weird country.

[Name removed]

15. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[A_Possum]

17. There's lots of evidence they are either lying or misrepresenting

and it's been in the press, though not as much as it should be. Their own medals contradict their stories, and several of them defended Kerry's medals from attack several years ago. So they were either lying then or they're lying now.

As to why they did it--well, who can say? Spite will make a person do amazing things, such as cut off their own nose. ;-)

Some of the 250 on the site are very upset because their names were used without their permission and they can't get the smear vets to take them off.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

18. A ton of material...

is out there, regarding the lies of the Not-So-Swifties and their manifold ethical challenges. It is not hard to find, if you look for it.

[A_Possum]

14. The NYT list....

The whole bestseller list thing is a can of worms. It's even more smoke and mirrors than the polls. The NYT list is particularly notorious because they weight their sampling to make sure they don't get embarrassing things like romance novels as #1 on the fiction list(and I write romance novels, so I'm saying that with a wry smile) when in fact those books outsell most others by far.

NYT also goes on the pre-orders by booksellers, which can be affected by many things like how hard the publisher has pushed the book, what kind of discounts they gave the chains, etc. (The situation in which the smearvet book was in big demand and the chains had no copies because the initial print run was small is an example of how the lists don't track actual copies sold. If it had been only copies sold, the whole initial print run selling out wouldn't have gotten the smearvets on the list.)

The lists that track real sales are the USATODAY list, and to some extent the online sales rankings like Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

However, if a book makes a strong showing on the real sales lists (and there are also proprietary sales lists that are generated by the cash-register sales at independent and smaller chains, which the publishers see but the public never does)...then it will make it to the NYT. That's why it's CRITICAL to get pre-orders into places for INTELLIGENCE MATTERS. Active pre-orders are a signal that passes quickly up the chain, publishers are looking at this kind of thing every day, judging whether they'll have enough books out there and whether they should print more. Booksellers are looking at how much shelf space to give the copies.

It's very much a momentum issue. Books live or die on having momentum. Groundswell can accomplish this, word of mouth, talk it up, ask your paper if they're going to review it, ask if it'll be on Booktalk on Cspan, etc. Show interest. The publisher is listening, I can assure you.

INTELLIGENCE MATTERS is published by Random House, a legitimate and respected publishing house unlike the smear vet small publisher. They'll be able to get the copies out, and they will if they see the interest build.

[wryter2000]

11. I love Bob Graham

Now, he's costing me $$$. Still, it's worth it.

[stray cat]

12. Looks like a good book - just ordered it from Amazon. Thanks.

nt

[A_Possum]

20. Kick

Check it out.

[A_Possum]

21. Don't let the freepers keep that piece of "unfit" trash at #1

Kerry's using the book to hit Bush, he's issued a press release about it. We can grab the top of the list away from the enemy.

[John_H]

22. Great owrk, and don't forget helping force CNN to balance it's post speech

coverage on Wed and thurs night.

[A_Possum]

23. keep on kickin

:kick: