I was right. And often when I am these days in which all the rules have changed, my being right involves pain for someone else, along with insight that can no longer be ducked.
In this case that person is attorney author Lloyd Constantine. When his promising book, which was reviewed by many of the BigGuns, came out I was one of the LittleGuns who deconstructed it on my four syndicated blogs. At that time the book - JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE YEAR - had a good strong entrance to the glutted marketplace. But Constantine was in India on business. That meant he was not on the all-important talk shows.
The numbers were quickly going south. I sent him an email that he had to act quickly or there would be no recovery. Always a hustler, I indicated I had some ideas to keep the book high profile. I was not invited into the loop.
It's 1:52 AM New York time and the book is at a low, at least for it. On Amazon.com it's at number 271,339. Along the way, JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE YEAR has had its ups. But its downs have become lower.
This is sad. A publicity campaign that was innovative and sustained could have made this book embedded in the collective unconscious. It provides a peek on how state politics operates, along with an analysis of friendship among alpha males and speculation about why and how careers get derailed, unnecessarily.
Reflection: Given all the new rules being made and then broken and then reconfigured in the book marketplace, authors might have to begin listening more. They don't have to take the advice. Just at least be aware of it.
Comments