Embargo-a-go-go

More fallout from the massive retail failure of Hillary Clinton's book Living History. You probably haven't heard about this recently released public policy tome, whose author is said to be an obscure elected official from a remote state in the east, but apparently its publisher (a boutique house called Simon & Schuster) is blaming the Associated Press for queering the publicity deal. In The Washington Post, Paul Hellman offers first-time author Clinton some tips on how to avoid this kind of marketing fiasco in the future.

Comments

[Croesus]

Perhaps the book simply sucks?

[Brian]

Perhaps the pre-release publicity backfired, and people are already sick of hearing about it. I know I am. Also, everyone who cares is bound to know that there won't be anything juicy in it.

I'm sure it sucks, too, though.

[junyo]

Sarcasm is sometimes elusive.

[Phillip Winn]

Apparently some people are too busy to click on links. And I can envision Croesus and Brian (or people who similarly didn't bother to click the link) going on and on to someone about how badly the book is selling. And the target of the invective just nods and back away, slowly...

[Michael Geary]

Um, Tim, that's two in a row. My head is spinning.

War is Peace. Something like that, right?

[Brian]

I know they can track me down if they really want...but I do enjoy the thought of marketing peons sifting through their data and finding me registered as a female infant living in Antarctica. 😉

[Madog]

I usually combine my grandfather's demographic info with my own personal tastes. I like messing up their data so it looks like 91 year old web designers read their stuff.

[Jim]

I think all the cookie does is tell them the IP address... which changes every time you long onto your ISP. They'd have to ask the ISP who was using what IP address at what time to really find out who you are, and I don't think ISPs are spending their time fielding calls from marketers looking to get names and email addresses (except of course for the ones that sell them in bulk but that's another story).

Anyhow, if you delete their damn cookies I don't think they can do anything anyway. Anybody more technically savvy out there that can confirm or deny this?

[Brian]

But if you delete your cookies, you also have to register every damn time you want to look at the WP, LAT, or other fine publications.

Still, it beats paying for it.

[Russ]

Brian, you don't have to re-register, you just have to log in again. I delete my cookies all the time, and I never re-register.

BTW, thanks to whomever posted the laexaminer/laexmainer login. Works almost everywhere!

[Anonymous]

Notice how we all strayed away from your main topic, Tim Cavanaugh? There's good reason: She's such a boring twit.

[Madog]

Nice work Tim. 🙂 I might have gone along without checking the links if I hadn't already heard it was the best selling non-fiction book of the past decade or so.

[joe]

Maybe the lawsuit was part of the pre-publicity too.

[twistedmerkin]

I think we'll have to wait for a Lewinsky book to see one that truly sucks.

[James Merritt]

What some fail to appreciate is that, when major consumer industries think that they have grabbed onto a "live one," they devote MASSIVE resources to its promotion, which, in turn, requires massive return on investment. By the standards of the world, Hillary's book may be the biggest best-seller ever, just as a movie may be the biggest blockbuster ever. But relative to the number of parasites and leeches that typically attach themsevles to a "can't fail" project like this (not to mention all the honest artists and tradesmen, whose work is being put to promotional purposes), the profit, while big in absolute terms, may still seem skimpy, once all the bills are paid. So you may very well have a situation where a very profitable project disappoints -- or even gets the reputation for being a financial flop -- because it fails to meet overly inflated expectations. This seems to happen in Hollywood with great frequency, especially given the weird accounting systems used by the entertainment industries. Speaking of weird accounting systems, a similar mindset exists in the Washington Beltway, and at state capitols, where a reduction in planned spending growth is described as a "cut." Thus are politicians and their consituents who had hoped to spend more disappointed, prompting them to rail with great bitterness against the "cuts" made necessary by those who would take a "meat axe to our essential social safety net."

It seems that politics is show business and show business is politics. Also bear in mind that one of the earliest reasons for traveling road shows was to distract the population while their pockets were being picked or their homes were being burgled. What has changed, down through the centuries?

[Brian]

Damn...that's what I get for replying to a comment, not the original post...

(Insert usual bitching about registration for stories here...I know I can use fake info, I just didn't want to take the time for yet _another_ Hillary story...)

[tonio-k]

brian- you can't really give fake info. the cookie nails yer computer, so they can get where youre dialing in from. does anybody know if their cookies track other cookies for general internet usage? are three stewed prunes enough?

[Timon]

You can access just about any major newspaper with:
login - bigsoccer
pw - bigsoccer

Or, if they require an email addy:
[e-mail]