Response to banned book column

Cynthia Parkhill's column on banned books brought several thoughts to my mind. I will delve into the banned books story.

[Adrian Vance]

The real banning of books does not happen after they are published, but before. The publishers now are only interested in books with recognizable names on them or those with "politically correct" subject matter, titles and cover art. This has been the case for 30 years, if not more, but hopefully it will change with small and POD, Print On Demand, publishing as well as the ease of putting up websites and blogs.

I do a daily emailing to lists that total up to 1,000 depending on subject and these are resent to other people, spreading like an electronic tree world-wide. In a matter of minutes, every morning, more people will see and read my piece than do the New York Times. The pieces are short and provocative, timely and rich in content. You can see 1,000 pages of them in a searchable system at http://adrianvance.blogspot.com The search input box is in the upper left corner, input any subject and see something interesting about it.

[Clint Fitzgerald]

Without a doubt AV is the most active and tallented journalist in the county.

Yet he knows who the media masters are and writes gently where he must.

[Donna Christopher]

Clint - buy a dictionary, then you and AV need to get a room where you can practice spell check and sentence diagram. Or whatever suits your fancy.

The only thing worse than 'banning' a book by not publishing it is the practice of the groups buying mass amounts of books to make the book a #1 best seller before it's even been released, such as mooseshooter's book she had to have help (oh you betcha - wink) writing. These books are then 'given' away with a donation to that group. So I guess mooseshooters book must be politically correct if you follow AV's contention.

[Clint Fitzgerald]

Donna Christopher-
Your vicarious menstruations within these forums are getting rather tiresome.

I think you should get some exercise.

[Adrian Vance]

Donna Christopher wrote:

Clint - buy a dictionary, then you and AV need to get a room where you can practice spell check and sentence diagram. Or whatever suits your fancy.
The only thing worse than 'banning' a book by not publishing it is the practice of the groups buying mass amounts of books to make the book a #1 best seller before it's even been released, such as mooseshooter's book she had to have help (oh you betcha - wink) writing. These books are then 'given' away with a donation to that group. So I guess mooseshooters book must be politically correct if you follow AV's contention.

You have actually touched on a problem in the business. For a long time the New York Times only logged the sales of a few bookstores in Manhattan to come up with their list. When NYC publishers found out about it they would go and buy a couple dozen books and "Bingo!" they make the NY Times Best Seller's list. That has supposed to have been cured by the Times checking sales in five or six "secret" stores around the country, but knowing the publishing business as I do have the suspicion the stores are known and the boosting practice continues.

The other avenue for phony book promotion has been to get reviews in Publishers Weekly and Booklist. There have been times when corrupt employees have sold reviews, but when caught they are fired. It is a standing battle to keep those outfits clean, but they try.

[Donna Christopher]

Hey AV - that's at least twice where we've agreed!

Clint - grow up or you're never gonna find someone to 'bare' those babies you have referenced.