Posted on 11/18/2014 10:11:12 AM PST by SeekAndFind
What’s Christian about evangelical authors using shady business tactics in a bid to boost visibility on bestseller lists?
In January 2012, former megachurch pastor Mark Driscoll’s book Real Marriage went to the top spot on the Hardcover Advice section of The New York Times best-seller list. In March 2014, it was disclosed by evangelical magazine, World, that Driscoll’s publishing success was aided by a consulting firm called ResultSource, which purchased books on behalf of Driscoll in a coordinated effort to spike sales and give the impression that the book was popular with thousands of book buyers. Driscoll recently resigned from his church and one factor associated with his departure is the decision to buy his way onto the best-seller list.
Driscoll later admitted that the scheme was wrong and even asked that the designation “New York Times best-selling author” be removed from his bio and book covers. However, Driscoll is not alone among evangelicals wanting to improve their brand and increase sales.
Jeffrey Trachtenberg pulled back the curtain on ResultSource’s operation in a 2013 Wall Street Journal piece. He noted that business and health care books have made the list with the help of ResultSource but didn’t report on any books from Christian publishers. The revelations about Driscoll’s Real Marriage best-seller campaign demonstrated that Christian authors and publishers also use the service. In fact, it appears that ResultSource CEO Kevin Small, as a graduate of Liberty University, is right at home with Christian clients.
Although the ResultSource website is now nothing more than a contact page, at one time the company boasted about its ability to land a best-selling book.
(Excerpt) Read more at thedailybeast.com ...
Whosoever abideth in Him sinneth not; whosoever sinneth hath not seen Him, neither known Him.1 John 3:6 KJV
Mark Driscoll has resigned. He has taken his “lumps” over this and other arrogant behavior. He has lost a huge, prestigious position in a very visible ministry and has been chastised.
Meanwhile, the NYT and Bookstores continue to ignore huge sales of books by Michal Savage, Rush Limbaugh, and other “conservative” authors in favor of memoirs of liberals that sell about 8000 copies.
So the NYT is skewed anyway.
Who bought Hillary’s book?
the comments are depressing
Jesus said it best: “money is the God of this world.”
People who want a place in her administration. The probably order them by the truckload.
Well I personally would not put Driscoll on the Religious Right list. He is too liberal for that. Plus he isn’t really political. Still, sounds like what he did was wrong. I love how a critic of Driscoll wants to insult an entire group of people for one person’s wrong.
I think they probably learned this from Scientology who I read used to, and maybe still, keep L Ron Hubbard on the best seller list. Driscoll and Evangelicals make for an easy target to generate indignation because of the obvious hypocrisy. It would have been nice if the reporter had dug a little deeper to see who else is doing this stuff. I kind of wonder how many Hillary or Obama books are collecting dust in the warehouses of the DNC and various labor unions.
That's total BS!!!. Rush and Savage both have books at the top of the current New York Times Best Seller List. Over the years, so have many other conservative authors including Mark Levin, Sarah Palin, Michelle Malkin, Pat Buchanan, Dick Cheney, etc., etc., etc. In 2009, for example, Mark Levin's book Liberty and Tyranny topped the NYT list for 12 weeks; Michelle Malkin's Culture of Corruption toped the charts for six weeks, and Sarah Palin's Going Rogue was number one for four weeks. In 2013, Mark Levin, Phil Robertson, Si Robertson, and Charles Krauthammer, all had No. 1 best sellers for non-fiction on the NY Times list. And 2014 has had No. 1 best sellers for non-fiction by Ben Carson, Dinesh D'Souza, and Charles Krauthammer.
You don’t think Hillary and a raft of other politicians prepping to run for office haven’t used the exact same strategy to get their books on the NYTimes best seller list, even though you immediately find them at half-price at Costco. It’s all a scam.
Apparently the tactic is popular among those who use it to build a consulting constituency:
http://online.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887323864304578316143623600544
The trick is, the spike in sales is short-lived, but the status of “best selling author” can be played indefinitely. The “secret sauce” is how ResultSource manages to escape the bulk buying flag and make it look like their bulk purchase is actually a large number of individual purchases. If I were guessing, I’d say they’ve got some way to automate the purchases, so they can set the program for a given quantity, then have the automation buy them all individually. But that theory is not too good, because wouldn’t they all have to be different identities to the system they’re buying from? Different names and addresses? Curious.
Anyway, yes, the author of this article is apparently just unloading on Driscoll because of ant-evangelical bias and stereo-type. Other kinds of people do this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ResultSource
It’s not illegal, but it is arguably immoral, assuming the technique for gaming the system is designed to mislead both the list-makers and through them the public.
Having said that, I think there’s some of that’s just built into how publishing works. The author is typically going to try to find some way to prime the pump and then build on that initial excitement. But that’s not the same as buying a spot on the best seller lists. Just good old fashioned sweat equity.
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