I don’t think they actually do sell that well. Books by talking heads sell well, but they have a dedicated following. Outside of the big time pundits though you don’t really see that many political books on the best seller list, and even in that group it’s usually one big rush to buy. A year later they’re in the remainder bin.
Why DO people read & post on political discussion boards?
That’s Steyn, I think. Hard to give credibility to any book review where they can’t get the author’s name right.
I sell political books and I can assure you it isn’t a way to get rich. My book on Harry Reid should be a best seller (it is the only bio of Reid and it has all the sleaze you could want), but no one wanted to touch the liability and backlash, so I was forced to self publish. Publishers are very liberal, so unless you are Ann Coulter or a biggie it is impossible to break in from below. In other words, don’t rock the boat, unless you are the boat.
I’ve been in the book business a long time so I’m not naive about what goes on.
Political movies don’t do that well on the other hand, because the audiences already know where it skews, which is left and living under the obama regime is far more horrific than any Stephen King novel.
The author has got it largely right. People want to be able to digest information at a slower speed than is possible when people are just talking all the time, no matter how good it is.
Also, a book is visual. You can see the text, charts, maps, lists, etc. and view them repeatedly as you put thoughts together into a large coherent whole.
Books also allow the author to say things the way they want to say them without censors hanging around to prevent FCC violations. The author has the time, while writing the book, to work and rework thoughts, sentences, whole paragraphs until they are exactly what they what them to be, to say what they want them to say.
It’s a personal thing but an author (I’ve worked on 10-15 books) often wants to express an idea in a very specific, value-word way, without anyone else trying to inject words that are not adequate for what the author is trying to say.
Political books are influential, esp. before an election. The books on Obama, taken collectively, show who he really is, not what his propagandists and publicists try to make him out to be. Having worked on “Unfit for Command”, the book that sank John Kerry’s presidential run, I can tell you that a well-written, documented, and concise book can have a lot of influence on a political race. If you don’t believe me, ask Lerch.
(And by the way, one of his most vicious and vocal Vietnam veteran supporters, Wade Sanders, is doing federal time for child pornography possession, and was recently stripped of his Silver Star for some serious offense, not yet revealed).
Books are also permanent. My 21 bookcases cover the history of mankind and I can access them any time I want. If the power goes out, so does the internet, but a candle will light up a book at any time.
Guttenberg revolutionized knowledge, and books and newspapers became the eyes for humanity to see the world in which they live, and became the carriers of man’s creativity with words and images.
That is why political books sell so well. They have something to say and it is what people want to hear/read.
So far, you’re all wrong.
It’s because they get unlimited free advertising by appearing on each other’s TV shows, pumping their books.
It’s a can’t miss proposition. Hannity writes a book and pushes it on his show and others. In return, he pushes their books and gets them on his show.
Barnes and Noble tends to be liberal. But if you look at their current events section, the selection tends to be more conservative authors and titles. This is a business decision, since this is the product that moves.
Political book sales are a way to launder bribes.
While you can’t write a check to a politician, you can buy a few thousand of their books, no questions asked.
Religion teaches you to control yourself. Government is there when you can’t control yourself.
Politics is a melding of the two - they desire to try to control you even though you are fully capable and do a decent job of controlling yourself.
I dont know anymore. When I first got into politics, I bought one of Hannity’s. It had things on Daschle, Gephart, and some other current leader. A considerable amount of the book was about how bad those guys were. In the next election, they were all swept out on Bush’s 04 win. That made Hannity’s book lose significance for me. Also, it takes a while to write a book. So chances are, we all know about the issue that they use as the “cant miss.” With the internet, why wait for someone to write a book?
Also, I think some of the people who write books have a touch of arrogance in their “this is mine, I came up with it” approach, and that turns me away from reading a long, boring recap of what I already believe.
BTW, everyone check out Tom Daschle’s picture on his wiki page. I think he’s about to sing in Vegas.