Jack Romanos (Fox News)
Posted on 06/19/2003 12:47:35 AM PDT by JohnHuang2
Radio talk-show giant and best-selling author Rush Limbaugh is making it absolutely clear what he thinks about the purported success of Hillary Clinton's new book, "Living History."
He says reports of record purchases are simply not true.
"The publisher at Simon & Schuster is lying about the sales of this book," Limbaugh said during his nationally broadcast program yesterday, singling out company president and CEO Jack Romanos.
"He's lying about it being the best-selling book of all time, not just the best selling book they've published. He's lying about how many copies they've sold – they don't know yet how many copies they've sold. It takes them six months to do audits to pay their authors royalties."
Jack Romanos (Fox News) |
It was on Tuesday's edition of "Your World with Neal Cavuto" on the Fox News Channel that Romanos proclaimed how well sales of the senator's memoir were doing.
"This is the fastest-selling non-fiction book in the history of our industry," Romanos said. "It remains to be seen – we'll know certainly by the end of the year – whether it is the best-selling non-fiction book.
"But, at this point, we estimate we've sold over 600,000 copies in less than a week. We've printed a million 600,000. We've gone back to press off the initial printing of a million by 600,000 more. It's a truly unique opportunity."
"It's all a crock!" exclaimed Limbaugh, who says he knows Romanos well, since Simon & Schuster is the same company that published both of Limbaugh's own best sellers through its Pocket Books division.
 Rush Limbaugh |
"My second book called 'See I Told You So' had a first printing of two million," said Limbaugh. "Mrs. Clinton's first printing is rumored to be one million. But we've got a source ... an unnamed source at Simon & Schuster saying they made that up, saying 'Where would we put a million books? Where could we hide 'em? And we don't know how many have been sold we're just saying this because it's part of a PR campaign.' ...
"All I know is that Jack Romanos was at Simon & Schuster when my book printed two million original copies. [It was the] first time in non-fiction it had ever been done, it has not been done since ... and those two million books sold in eight weeks. ... I don't know what's happening with Mrs. Clinton's book, but I'll guarantee you it isn't that, and Simon & Schuster knows it, and they're making it all up just because they paid her this $8 million advance. They're a bunch of liberals over there anyway and they're just trying to claim that this is the biggest thing since sliced bread. They've been corrupted by the Clinton mystique just like everybody else that gets involved with the Clintons."
Limbaugh complained that no one is challenging the veracity of the sales claims made by the publisher.
"There are a lot of other authors at Simon & Schuster who've done better than Hillary's doing," he said. "Howard Stern is one."
Repeated calls by WorldNetDaily to Simon & Schuster went unreturned.
Despite some media accounts of initially hot sales, WorldNetDaily reported that bookstores across America's heartland were not seeing any strong demand for "Living History," and a book on prophecy called "Beyond Iraq" had knocked the senator's work out of the No. 2 position on Amazon.com. Clinton's book remains in third position on Amazon's list.
When reports first emerged of people lining up to buy "Living History," WorldNetDaily columnist Ann Coulter documented some irregularities about several customers:
First in line for Hillary's book at Barnes & Noble at Lincoln Center on Sunday night was Charles Greinsky, who told the New York Daily News he rushed out at midnight to get one of the first books because he supported Hillary's health-care plan. A few years ago, the Associated Press identified Greinsky more fully. It turns out he is "a longtime Clinton campaigner" from Staten Island, who has been the Clintons' guest several times both at the White House and at their home in Chappaqua, N.Y. ...
Another average individual eager to get Hillary's book was Greg Packer, who was the centerpiece of the New York Times' "man on the street" interview about Hillary-mania. After being first in line for an autographed book at the Fifth Avenue Barnes & Noble, Packer gushed to the Times: "I'm a big fan of Hillary and Bill's. I want to change her mind about running for president. I want to be part of her campaign."
It was easy for the Times to spell Packer's name right because he is apparently the entire media's designated "man on the street" for all articles ever written. He has appeared in news stories more than 100 times as a random member of the public. Packer was quoted on his reaction to military strikes against Iraq; he was quoted at the St. Patrick's Day Parade, the Thanksgiving Day Parade and the Veterans' Day Parade. He was quoted at not one – but two – New Year's Eve celebrations at Times Square. He was quoted at the opening of a new "Star Wars" movie, at the opening of an H&M clothing store on Fifth Avenue and at the opening of the viewing stand at Ground Zero. He has been quoted at Yankees games, Mets games, Jets games – even getting tickets for the Brooklyn Cyclones. He was quoted at a Clinton fund-raiser at Alec Baldwin's house in the Hamptons and the pope's visit to Giants stadium.
"I like to be a piece of the action," Packer explained to the Associated Press.
Meanwhile, The American Prowler reported that pre-sale leaks regarding Bill Clinton's admission to Hillary of his sexual relationship with Monica Lewinsky were intentional.
"That was really to jump-start the sales," a Simon & Schuster editor told the Prowler. "It's a tried and true technique."
That editor also reportedly admitted there were serious concerns about the book's staying power.
"All the people that really love her and want the book have already gotten it. We know we are not going to be seeing hundred-thousand sales two weeks from now."
If you'd like to sound off on this issue, please take part in the WorldNetDaily poll.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.