The Bookworld "Hacks"
In the book world, getting your book labeled a "bestseller" and also being nominated for an award are pretty big deals. The bestseller label is basically a reinforcement loop - your book has already sold well, ergo it must be good, so now other people who like to read bestselling books will buy your book. And so on.
The award nomination process can also add some prestige to the author's name and give some post-publication buzz and press to the book. This can help that book itself sell a bit more, but also help the author land future work.
Yet to achieve these labels of distinction requires talent and luck and hardwork. Still, as hard as the gatekeepers work to filter out the good from the bad, sometimes something sinister happens. Things slip thru cracks. And the Guardian Books published two stories about folks that gamed the system.
The first story dealt with the NYT bestseller label. A YA book, Handbook for Morals, attained this title in odd circumstances. First, the book had very few reviews from either large or small book sites. Second, after some digging, the indie stores that report to the NYT noted very odd "bulk purchases" by consumers.
Normally, bulk purchases are done directly with the book's publisher and at a discount. Nobody pays the full price for each individual book when buying, say, ten or more copies.
Interestingly enough, the author and book soon had a movie page with the label 'NYT bestseller" and the author was going to play a big role in the film. Thus, it looks like the author used third parties to buy a ton of books to then hope to recoup that money by selling the film rights to a NYT bestseller.
The irony, of course, is that often film rights getting sold (like say at auction) can create enough buzz to propel a book to bestseller status.
The second odd case is PEN's decision to drop a John Smelcer novel from a list of award nominees. Smelcer self-identifies as a Native American and his YA book "Stealing Indians" was nominated for an award.
And here's where things get kinda creepy. First, Smelcer has a pattern of getting blurbs for his books from recently deceased (famous) authors. He often lacks proof to substantiate his relationship with the author, and at least once the author's estate has asked for clarification.
Blurbing of course is an artform (both asking and giving) and an odd part of the bookworld. The Big English Language publishers believe wholeheartedly in the power of the blurb and often cover the backjacket with nice comments from fellow authors.
So, if you accept the power of the blurb, then the shady and possibly fictional blurbs are a big deal.
The other issue for Smelcer is that some people claim his book dwells too often in stereotypes of Native Americans also cast doubt on his claim to Native American heritage. This a super important topic and kinda beyond my own purvey of knowledge.
I have written about race and ethnicity in the LatinX community, and I pointed out the oddness of how America (the US) still likes to look at blood quantums as the ultimate test of identity. Smelcer at his site has claimed to have the necessary blood lineage to be Native American.
Yet, genetics aside, there's a concept of a racialized identity. For example, if you grew up in an affluent WASP suburb, went to private schools, and nobody ever perceived you as Native American and thus you did not feel the sting of those prejudices, then really how much of your identity is tied, formed, and shaped by that lineage?
Some big figures in the Native American community and book world are not convinced that Smelcer's is drawing from his own experiences in telling the tales of Native Americans. They smell insincerity and detect fraud. Or, at the least, somebody is overselling a tenuous link to a family heritage that has been neglected.
So, young & new authors, if you are keeping score at home, when publishing a book, you should (1) Invent a blurb from a recently deceased famous author, (2) Send lots of $ to intermediaries to buy copies at indies that first month after publication, and lastly (3) check out your ancestry to see if you have any grandparents or greatgrandparents that may have been historically discriminated against.
Then, don't try to give back to that community or be an active member. Instead, write stereotype-laden fiction.
The award nomination process can also add some prestige to the author's name and give some post-publication buzz and press to the book. This can help that book itself sell a bit more, but also help the author land future work.
Yet to achieve these labels of distinction requires talent and luck and hardwork. Still, as hard as the gatekeepers work to filter out the good from the bad, sometimes something sinister happens. Things slip thru cracks. And the Guardian Books published two stories about folks that gamed the system.
The first story dealt with the NYT bestseller label. A YA book, Handbook for Morals, attained this title in odd circumstances. First, the book had very few reviews from either large or small book sites. Second, after some digging, the indie stores that report to the NYT noted very odd "bulk purchases" by consumers.
Normally, bulk purchases are done directly with the book's publisher and at a discount. Nobody pays the full price for each individual book when buying, say, ten or more copies.
Interestingly enough, the author and book soon had a movie page with the label 'NYT bestseller" and the author was going to play a big role in the film. Thus, it looks like the author used third parties to buy a ton of books to then hope to recoup that money by selling the film rights to a NYT bestseller.
The irony, of course, is that often film rights getting sold (like say at auction) can create enough buzz to propel a book to bestseller status.
The second odd case is PEN's decision to drop a John Smelcer novel from a list of award nominees. Smelcer self-identifies as a Native American and his YA book "Stealing Indians" was nominated for an award.
And here's where things get kinda creepy. First, Smelcer has a pattern of getting blurbs for his books from recently deceased (famous) authors. He often lacks proof to substantiate his relationship with the author, and at least once the author's estate has asked for clarification.
Blurbing of course is an artform (both asking and giving) and an odd part of the bookworld. The Big English Language publishers believe wholeheartedly in the power of the blurb and often cover the backjacket with nice comments from fellow authors.
So, if you accept the power of the blurb, then the shady and possibly fictional blurbs are a big deal.
The other issue for Smelcer is that some people claim his book dwells too often in stereotypes of Native Americans also cast doubt on his claim to Native American heritage. This a super important topic and kinda beyond my own purvey of knowledge.
I have written about race and ethnicity in the LatinX community, and I pointed out the oddness of how America (the US) still likes to look at blood quantums as the ultimate test of identity. Smelcer at his site has claimed to have the necessary blood lineage to be Native American.
Yet, genetics aside, there's a concept of a racialized identity. For example, if you grew up in an affluent WASP suburb, went to private schools, and nobody ever perceived you as Native American and thus you did not feel the sting of those prejudices, then really how much of your identity is tied, formed, and shaped by that lineage?
Some big figures in the Native American community and book world are not convinced that Smelcer's is drawing from his own experiences in telling the tales of Native Americans. They smell insincerity and detect fraud. Or, at the least, somebody is overselling a tenuous link to a family heritage that has been neglected.
So, young & new authors, if you are keeping score at home, when publishing a book, you should (1) Invent a blurb from a recently deceased famous author, (2) Send lots of $ to intermediaries to buy copies at indies that first month after publication, and lastly (3) check out your ancestry to see if you have any grandparents or greatgrandparents that may have been historically discriminated against.
Then, don't try to give back to that community or be an active member. Instead, write stereotype-laden fiction.
No comments have been added yet.
