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Michchamp
Well-known member
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- Aug 4, 2011
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I just read this.
So... this Church paid a marketing firm $250K to game the NYT Bestseller list so that the Pastor's book "Real Marriage" would be on it... and this is okay because their book has an important message everyone needs to read, so a deception is justified here. leaving aside a few minor questions, like "Does this book REALLY have an important message for everyone to read?" or "Why did they cite the fact that gaming the NYT list netted them $200K if they just wanted more people to read it? Couldn't they have just given away $250K worth of copies for free?" this seems perfectly reasonable.
I'm surprised at just how easy it is to game the NYT Bestseller list. I had heard Conservative groups bulk-ordered certain books to ensure they could place that self-justifying marketing blurb "A New York Times Bestseller" on the cover, or on amazon, but I didn't know the details; I figured they just looked at the sales figures of the books on the current list, and cut a check to the publisher for whatever amount of books it would take to get on there:
So... this Church paid a marketing firm $250K to game the NYT Bestseller list so that the Pastor's book "Real Marriage" would be on it... and this is okay because their book has an important message everyone needs to read, so a deception is justified here. leaving aside a few minor questions, like "Does this book REALLY have an important message for everyone to read?" or "Why did they cite the fact that gaming the NYT list netted them $200K if they just wanted more people to read it? Couldn't they have just given away $250K worth of copies for free?" this seems perfectly reasonable.
I'm surprised at just how easy it is to game the NYT Bestseller list. I had heard Conservative groups bulk-ordered certain books to ensure they could place that self-justifying marketing blurb "A New York Times Bestseller" on the cover, or on amazon, but I didn't know the details; I figured they just looked at the sales figures of the books on the current list, and cut a check to the publisher for whatever amount of books it would take to get on there:
The contract signed by church elder Turner ? obtained by Warren Throckmorton ? states that RSI needed the church ?to provide a minimum of 90 different addresses for shipping the books to the author?s clients for the bulk purchases. The addresses need to be spread around the country with no more than 3 addresses per state [because] the NYT bestseller list requires a minimum of 90 geographically disperse addresses.?
The article cites a claim that ?[a]ll the major bestseller lists discourage the practice and they put safeguards in place to prevent people buying their way onto the New York Times bestseller list.? ...but it doesn't sound like they try very hard.
