http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/07/books/07cons.htm

“Five authors have sued the parent company of Regnery Publishing, a Washington imprint of conservative books, charging that the company deprives its writers of royalties by selling their books at a steep discount to book clubs and other organizations owned by the same parent company. . . .”

“In the lawsuit the authors say that Eagle [Regnery's owner] sells or gives away copies of their books to book clubs, newsletters and other organizations owned by Eagle “to avoid or substantially reduce royalty payments to authors.””

“The authors argue that in reducing royalty payments, the publisher is maximizing its profits and the profits of its parent company at their expense.”

““They’ve structured their business essentially as a scam and are defrauding their writers,” . . .”

“In Regnery’s case, according to the lawsuit, the publisher sells books to sister companies, including the Conservative Book Club, which then sells the books to members at discounted prices, “at, below or only marginally above its own cost of publication.” . . .”

At least one conservative author, Dan Flynn, says he knows that Regnery and the Conservative Book Club mass distribute his books at a deep discount, but he’s happy to get the copies out there. He believes it helps drive sales through real book sellers, and he knows he couldn’t sell anywhere near that many copies through real book sellers alone:

http://www.flynnfiles.com/archives/culture2007/conservative_authors_sue_regnery.html

“. . . And how many people bought the book to fulfill annual club quotas on books bought or because they forgot to mail in their monthly cards saying “no book”? Put another way, how many people who would have never purchased the book otherwise did so because simply because they were a member of this club?”

The NY Times article claims these Regnery giveaways do not show up as sale figures on Nielsen BookScan. But in a comment to the Flynn blog entry, right-wing author Buzz Patterson (”Dereliction of Duty”) claims this is not true, and feels cheated of royalties:

“As one of the litigants, let me add to the discussion. There is much more to the suit than was covered in the NYT piece. For example, the book giveaways that Regnery does for its publication Human Events are not left over inventory but, in my case, pre-releases of the book. The giveaways for Dereliction of Duty were 25% of what was scanned through Book Scan. That’s not chump change when you sell 200,000 books…and that was not in my contract.”

Thanks for making me do a little work to back up my claim.

“1 GLENN BECK’S ‘COMMON SENSE’, by Glenn Beck. (Mercury Radio Arts/Threshold Editions, $11.99.) Thomas Paine-inspired thoughts on government. (†)”

“A dagger (†) indicates that some bookstores report receiving bulk orders.”

The NY Times has been marking book sales goosed up by bulk orders on their best seller list for many years. The right-wing best sellers are routinely marked with a dagger during their early weeks on the list. The daggers routinely disappear later on as the book sinks down the list.

In fairness, a dagger sometimes appears next to a left-wing book. I remember seeing a dagger next to right-to-left apostate David Brock’s “Blinded by the Right”.

The National Review hosted a debate between Al Franken and Rich Lowry (I think) in which, among other things, they accused and counter-accused each other of bulk sales. The NY Time web site doesn’t make it easy to find best seller lists from past years, so I have no idea whether Franken’s books ever got flagged with a dagger. It wouldn’t surprise me, although the left doesn’t have nearly as many deep-pocketed sugar daddies that the right has.

It would be wise to treat the “best seller” status of any book flogging a right or left-wing agenda with skepticism.

As for my “personal anecdote” not being proof — it was the first thing that made me realize how book sales figures could be manipulated. When I asked my grandfather about where the piles of unread books were coming from, and asked him how much (or rather how little) he gave per year to the organizations who sent him the books, I’d have to be a dope not to figure out that someone was subsidizing the giveaway of those books.

1. No proof is provided other than an personal anedote. You could definitely get a job working in the MSM.
2. I’m sure this only applies to “right-wing” best sellers, never the left.
3. I suppose nobody should pay any attention to political “best sellers”, eh?

Burger King for hamburgers and grilled chicken .. McDs for breakfest and fried pies .. Wendys for chilly .. TacoBell for tacos and pizza .. local pizza joint for real pizza .. Dollar General for cookies milk hamburger helper and burger and Milky Ways … sugar salt and fat all the way

Food Inc the movie documentary trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqQVll-MP3I

ps – and I am doing research on my documentary or artistic adendum to the world .. I’m not wasting my time in here .. I put on a tie and shave for weddings .. otherwise still free (I think I am therefor I am .. I think)

pss – thought of this one on the trip (was is and is Me)
“union construction workers make conditions for you all to enjoy .. and artists dream of conditions not yet in the realm for you all to ponder”c2009 via TBP

here’s betting that he was looking for a “Torx” bit..

see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torx

wikipedia gets this one correct, as well..

though, to your point, it could be a hex socket( Allen wrench )..

A lot of those right-wing “best sellers” are manufactured. Many well-subsidized right-wing organizations buy up those books in bulk and distribute them for free. My grandfather before his death used to contribute regularly to a number of right-wing groups and was constantly receiving free books from them, books he rarely read and he’d probably never have bought on his own.

The big contributers effectively subsidize buying and distributing books to small contributers. Then these “best sellers” get displayed prominently in place like Target or Barnes and Noble. It’s a very effective way of supporting propagandists and gaining attention for them.

Have you ever seen Beck pretend to weep when he blathers about how much he loves his country? He’s so transparently phony, he looks like he can hardly keep himself from bursting out laughing. His core audience are suckers, chickens waiting to be plucked. Not the audience for Barry’s Bailout Nation.

FWIW, I think must readers/commenters on this blog are libertarian leaning, whether they realize it or not. That goes for most Americans as well. Most have been brainwashed into a two party/binary system and cannot grasp the shades of gray all around them. In the next 20 years, we will get a true “third party” candidate.

I swear I was standing there in the voting booth last November thinking the same thought…

I mean…no offense to the INDIVIDUALS (because I’m sure both are well meaning fathers & family men)…but WHo to lead a nation?

It was like standing in Home Depot knowing I needed a six point drill bit for the deck screws and only finding Phillips Heads & Standards…

I guess I’ll have to twist the damn things in with my thumb & forefinger if that’s what it takes!