Everybody’s making such a fuss over Dennis Kucinich throwing some support behind Barack Obama in Iowa, but, based on dramatically dismal sales for Kucinich’s new autobiography, The Courage to Survive, it would appear that it’s all much ado about nothing. Almost literally.

“I’ve been exceptionally disappointed in the man,” Michael Viner, chief executive of Phoenix Books, tells the Washington Post. After printing 20,000 copies and spending over $100,000 on promotion, he told the publication, the book has only sold 500 copies in two months.

“It’s like we made a campaign contribution,” Viner is quoted as saying. “He left us holding a very large bag.” Viner complained that Kucinich has refused to promote the book, and also shared that Kucinich submitted a cover designed by his wife, Elizabeth, with a tabloid typeface that was not of publishable quality.

Kucinich blames the situation on a contract dispute. He believes he isn’t getting a fair financial deal, but he also says he believes the book could still be a bestseller.

................................................................................................................................................................................................
comments (6) | digg this | reddit | facebook | del.icio.us | stumble | permalink

Yesterday we shared the shocking news that Gawker Media’s recent book on conquering the media had sold only 242 books since its Oct. 2 release date, a bit of gossip that was too good for even Matt Drudge to pass up. Well, proving the old adage that any publicity is good publicity, Portfolio follows up with this bit of news, however limp it may be: Read more…

................................................................................................................................................................................................
comments (8) | digg this | reddit | facebook | del.icio.us | stumble | permalink

Wonkette publisher and Gawker Media owner Nick Denton is “pleading ignorance” over why his book The Gawker Guide to Conquering All Media has sold a pathetic 242 copies since it went on sale Oct. 2, according to Nielsen BookScan (maybe not the best way to prove you’re conquering this whole media thing, Nick). The number, of course, would be shockingly low for any book, but consider that it has been heavily promoted on all of the blogs in the Gawker Media network, including Wonkette. Perhaps this means that the number of people Denton says read the blogs has been dramatically overhyped? Or maybe editorial affairs have helped sink the ship? Or maybe, just maybe, the book was seen for what it really is: worthless.

Earlier: Hell Froze Over: Accountability from Wonkette

................................................................................................................................................................................................
comments (2) | digg this | reddit | facebook | del.icio.us | stumble | permalink

Jeff Gannon’s recent book, “The Great Media War: A Battlefield Report” will be among those featured at the 2007 National Press Club Book Fair on Nov. 1.

“Gannon, the first exclusively online reporter to cover the White House on a regular basis is considered a new media pioneer,” according to a release announcing the development. ”He notes that his daily readership of more than half a million topped the circulation of most newspapers, despite reporting for a small news outlet.”

He’s expected to be available to sign copies on the day of the event.

Earlier: Examiner Promotes Gannon’s Book Again

................................................................................................................................................................................................
comment | digg this | reddit | facebook | del.icio.us | stumble | permalink

As we told you in “Life Does Go On After Sex With Chelsea Clinton” in August, the former first daughter’s ex-very serious bf Ian Klaus has written a new book called Elvis is Titanic. Now, WWD reports, Chelsea is supporting the tome, and has even asked daddy Bill to host a book party this week to help Klaus out with sales. ”[A]lthough the notion of ex-girlfriend’s father as book party host certainly isn’t customary, a spokeswoman for Knopf, the book’s publisher, added that Chelsea and her friends will be in attendance,” according to the magazine. ”In fact, Klaus dedicated the book to Chelsea.” What a guy!

................................................................................................................................................................................................
comments (1) | digg this | reddit | facebook | del.icio.us | stumble | permalink

Scott Den Herder is getting a lot of attention in publishing circles right now due to a recent book proposal he sent out. He’s worked for the Post’s ”Loudon Extra,” but we haven’t been able to dig up much more dirt on the guy. And definitely not because we don’t want to. His proposal, which follows, is a real doozy! Read more…

................................................................................................................................................................................................
comment | digg this | reddit | facebook | del.icio.us | stumble | permalink

Presumably the title will not be “My Pet Goat.”

Related: From Two Bushes, One for the Books

................................................................................................................................................................................................
comment | digg this | reddit | facebook | del.icio.us | stumble | permalink

Remember back when the Globe tabloid ran the headline “Chelsea Clinton Collapses: Lover [Ian Klaus] Caught in Iraq Bomb Blast”? Well - surprise! - turns out the tattle rag more than likely got the story wrong. She’s never been known to be a fainter, according to a couple of sources Big Head DC has interviewed who know her.

What is true is that since the couple broke up, Klaus has been doing just fine for himself. In fact, later this month Random House will release his first non-fiction book, Elvis Is Titanic, which centers on his life in the spring of 2005, when the Rhodes Scholar traveled eight hours from Turkey, via broken-down taxi and armed convoy, to reach Salahaddin University in Iraq.

“Elvis Is Titanic is the poignant, funny, and eye-opening story of the semester he spent there teaching U.S. history and English in the thick of the war for hearts and minds,” according to a press release. “His story, as full of hope and discovery as he finds his students, offers a slice of life behind the headlines.”

Fun fact: Even though the Globe story was likely hogwash, the time frame headlined in Elvis Is Titanic does intersect with its publication date. It was during the early ‘05 period when Klaus was traveling that reports of friction between he and Chelsea first surfaced. The long distance, we can only posit, was just too much to bear.

................................................................................................................................................................................................
comments (1) | digg this | reddit | facebook | del.icio.us | stumble | permalink

A scheming vice president of the United States, tired of being #2, sets a devious plan into motion to get rid of the president, making him look like a bumbling idiot. Congress is filled with creatures whose tiny minds stand in inverse proportion to their wide, spreading butts. Journalists are in bed with politicians, literally. Oh, and hookers are everywhere.

But enough about last week’s headlines.

Jamie Malanowski, the managing editor of Playboy, has written his second novel, The Coup (Doubleday), a satirical tour de force of Washington, in which he masterfully rips most of his plot points (see first paragraph) from the contemporary political palette (again, sadly, see first graph).

The names therein have been changed, we presume, to protect the not-so-innocent. But why? At many points during our reading of his 240-page tome, we wished, probably quite naively we admit, that Malanowski had done away with that perfunctory pleasantry. Tell your readers, Jamie, which politician we all know has been having an affair. Use his real name. Highlight the journalist who’s sexed and is still sexing her way to the top of the DC journo-world. Use her real name. Let it all hang out, and face the consequences. Get sued, Jamie. For the sake of humanity, get sued. Forget about selling a book via the traditional route. Burn bridges for the simple sake of telling the truth.

The book is good and will be an especially fun and funny read for those far removed from the insidious world of Beltway politics and journalism. Anyone with a conscience who still chooses to live within the milieu, however, will probably have to stop reading by page 11 to reconsider his or her life’s journey. No doubt, the masochists among us, like Ana Marie Cox, for instance, will get her kicks (and quips) without really examining, or explaining to her readers, why the book “manages to excavate an ugly and hilarious truth about Washington.” Explaining how, after all, is the easy part. The why, perhaps, could get her in trouble.

But Jamie went the traditional route, visiting DC late last week to attend a party hosted by The Washington Monthly in his honor. He saw old pals who’ve published his work; he met young journalists who gushed about Playboy’s articles (hoping all the while to see their bylines in its pages sooner rather than later); yes, he danced within our milieu for a few short hours.

And then he left — leaving us and others like us to ponder the whys of this specific universe, the hub that happens to lead the free world. After the party Big Head DC caught up with Malanowski in an effort to help you, dear readers, to piece together your own whys, whatever they may be: Read more…

................................................................................................................................................................................................
comments (4) | digg this | reddit | facebook | del.icio.us | stumble | permalink

Remember the flap over Lee Siegel last fall? He wrote for The New Republic Web site and got himself in a heap of trouble after using a sockpuppet moniker to post comments about what a brilliant guy Lee Siegel was. Well, he’s got a new book out about teevee, which his sockpuppet is sure to love. But everyone else just doesn’t feel the same.

................................................................................................................................................................................................
comments (1) | digg this | reddit | facebook | del.icio.us | stumble | permalink