From: mark <whitroth at 5-cent.us>
Subject: [WSFA] =?UTF-8?Q?Behind_the_Scam:_What_Does_It_Take_to_Be_a_=e2=80=98Best-?=
 =?UTF-8?Q?Selling_Author=e2=80=99=3f_$3_and_5_Minutes.?=
To: "gt-pfrc at ml.gt.org" <gt-pfrc at ml.gt.org>,
 WSFA Official List <wsfa-forum at yahoogroups.com>,
 WSFA members <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>, bsfsgeneral <bsfsgeneral at bsfs.org>,
 RBoP Yahoo <rbop at yahoogroups.com>
Date: Wed, 24 Feb 2016 20:15:06 -0500
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at KeithLynch.net>

He's *not* joking, unfortunately.

Excerpt:
I would like to tell you about the biggest lie in book publishing. It
appears in the biographies and social media profiles of almost every
working \342\200\234author\342\200\235 today. It\342\200\231s the word \342\200\234best seller.\342\200\235

This isn\342\200\231t about how The New York Times list is biased (though it is).
This isn\342\200\231t about how authors buy their way onto various national
best-seller lists by buying their own books in bulk (though they do). No,
this is about the far more insidious title of \342\200\234Amazon Bestseller\342\200\235\342\200\224and how
it\342\200\231s complete and utter nonsense.

Here\342\200\231s what happened in the book industry over the last few years: As
Amazon has become the big dog in the book world, the \342\200\234Amazon Bestseller\342\200\235
status has come to be synonymous with being an actual bestseller. This is
not true, and I can prove it.

Last week, I put up a fake book on Amazon. I took a photo of my foot,
uploaded to Amazon, and in a matter of hours, had achieved  \342\200\234No. 1 Best
Seller\342\200\235 status, complete with the orange banner and everything.
<...>
I\342\200\231m a partner at a marketing company called Brass Check. Over the years,
we\342\200\231ve helped launch 30 legitimate New York Times best sellers (including
several at the sought-after No. 1 spot). My company has helped sell over 5
million books and advised or managed book launches with every major
publishing house, including Amazon.

We have important rules at my company about the projects we take on. We
don\342\200\231t work with authors whose books we wouldn\342\200\231t read ourselves, and we
don\342\200\231t guarantee best-seller status. We say no to more work than we say yes
to, but these principles help us avoid the gimmicky, one-hit-wonders who
aren\342\200\231t looking to write great books but instead are looking to trick
people into thinking they have.

But it\342\200\231s begun to feel a bit like a losing battle.
--- end excerpt ---

<http://observer.com/2016/02/behind-the-scam-what-does-it-takes-to-be-a-bestselling-author-3-and-5-minutes/>

          mark