Advance copy of Stewart's book on ebay

[Maud138]

I'm in.

[Dietmar]

great, now I'll have to bid against you all...

[Mrs. Gradenko]

great, now I'll have to bid against you all...

This is going to get expensive.

[empty]

dietmar darling, that is EXACTLY what I was thinking!

[policerule]

We don't have to do it obviously. I'm not really sure why we should bid against you guys and I don't want to.

There are 2 ways to do this. You guys can bid against each other and we step out or you guys could let us bid and then buy the one that we planned to auction for charity. It is kind of dumb for all of us to give this person more money because we're bidding against each other.

Whoever is bidding now is just jacking the price up anyway;)

[DirtyMartini]

What the smart lady above me said.^ Whether the relevant parties want to work out a deal or just outright rumble, that's up to you folks; I have no stake here, so whatever the decision, I'm happy to give my crappy little $[redacted] donation to whomever will keep that puppy offline and in the family (or whatever way of phrasing it doesn't sound quite so cultish).

[giovanni]

One of the rules to keep the price affordable is to avoid bidding, and wait the last few hours, or minutes to place your bid; bidding days before makes the price rise up and up....

[empty]

*hasn't bid*

[bella]

Are you kidding me? I'd sit with a nice cup of coffee and read that thing from front to back, right this minute, if I had it in my hands.

And who cares about spoilers? Any press is good press, isn't it? I say the more leaks the better. Get the freaking word out about this book. I would think any juicy leak helps sell a book!

[njperry]

[quote="bella"]Are you kidding me? I'd sit with a nice cup of coffee and read that thing from front to back, right this minute, if I had it in my hands.

And who cares about spoilers? Any press is good press, isn't it? I say the more leaks the better. Get the freaking word out about this book. I would think any juicy leak helps sell a book![/quote]

Agreed. Hopefully the publisher will see the demand for the proofs of the book and print more copies.

The only bad things that could ocme out of this is criticisms of it based on the non-final statge of the book. Typos and formattring issues at this stage should be held against it.

And if people don't like the book, it really doesn't matter much when word gets out. Of course, we will love the book.

[DirtyMartini]

[quote="bella"]Any press is good press, isn't it?[/quote]

Any well-timed press is good press, even when it's bad press. But press in July three months before launch for a book from a fairly obscure author? IMO, that gap is too long (and too full of summer) to generate useful buzz.

Think of it this way: you hear about some cool book by some vaguely familiar (or possibly not familiar at all) guy, but it doesn't come out until October. You don't really know him; you're not on his forum; you remember his old band from the radio. Maybe. You could hop onto Amazon right now and preorder his book, and you very well might; but how pro-active is the average person, especially over something that they know only a little about? You might maybe put the book on a wishlist, but even that involves effort, minimal though it may be. It takes opening a new tab, typing in Amazon, typing in the book name, clicking once, clicking twice. Bah. You're busy right now; you're tired; you've got other stuff to take care of; you'll just remind yourself to do it later. So you determine that when the book comes out, you'll look into it. Maybe you'll bookmark it. Three months and the span of two seasons go by: July, August, September, work, beach, life. October rolls around, and hey, maybe you remember that there was something that you might have wanted to buy. It might be on your wishlist, but since then, you've already added how many other books? That's assuming that come October, you remember about the book at all.

On the flip side, however, it takes less than 60 seconds to decide that you just don't like something. You read one review or comment online in July -- and there are no other reviews or comments to compare them to since the book is not out yet -- and in it you read that [the following is me making shit up:] Stewart Copeland calls Sting a petulant pansy, or you read that he *doesn't* call Sting a petulant pansy. You read that he voted for Reagan or that he hates broccoli or that according to the one reviewer available, he's just not all that funny or interesting or there isn't anything juicy or that here, this is the juiciest tidbit there is, or that he's an arrogant twat or he uses the word "buddy" too often or he must be a dope for not remembering "i before e." Whatever the hangup, right then and there, you get to decide that you don't want the book or you're just not interested enough to add it to your wishlist or memory, and you dismiss it. Done. Case closed. The race is over before it starts, and there's no conflicting information to counter your pre-judgment. You don't even bat an eye.

Like I said, whether or not an early leak is good or bad depends on who you ask. This^ is my opinion. Just keep in mind that neither you nor I nor anyone reading this thread right now qualifies as the average audience. We're already converted. We seek out that which is preached. We wouldn't be here otherwise.

I figure that folks at this website are guaranteed to scoop up an effortless 200 copies; I can name about 150 of them personally. Add lurkers, collectors, some TP.com regulars, known Police die-hards, that's certainly an easy 400; let's even say 500. Taking into consideration people who buy multiple and gift copies (I personally am good for an easy 6), TP.com- and related Police-website non-regulars and lurkers, the immense size of the Copeland clan, etc., and I'd even double that to an easy 1000 copies. This is just me tossing numbers off the top of my head. But after you get past the collectors, die-hards, friends and family, and the folks who'd buy the book if it were Stewart's childhood math homework, there's the real world to contend with. Most of them wouldn't notice a typo if it bit them in the ass, but they are much harder to find, reach, grab, and win over. Reading a book involves more effort than attending a concert, and losing a sale is much easier and faster than winning one.

Were a galley out in mid-September, I would only be irritated on principle because then I think it could have some positive value; that's timing and buzz that can be used. But right now STH is still a work in progress, and this early in the game, there are a lot of rogue factors that neither Stewart nor the publisher might be ready for. I don't know; only they can decide that. Considering the eBay sale seems to have been pulled, it's possible that they just might have.

[luddite lady]

Amen, DM. Once again, you seemed to have read my mind, filled in all the vast empty areas with a bunch of way smart ideas of your own, and put the whole shabang into intelligible words. The only part in the peice that I would disagree with is when you called somebody a dope for forgetting the "i before e" rule.

[Divemistress of the Dark]

I'm an awful person for mentioning this, but...www.esnipe.com

I've been known to use it since I have an awful time remembering things in general...not that that's an excuse necessarily...

Kudos to all the DM, above, there. And I'm forced to note, upon reading Bella's comments...that's partly what makes this place so fun. It'd be boring were we all 100% of the same opinion.

[elle]

Came into this late - in many cases, sales of these ARCs is forbidden. But most publishers don't go after those people selling them on eBay.

I've only heard of people going after reviewers and college profs who receive comps and then resell them. Now that's pretty crappy if you ask me.