Reply #21: Yes it is. Publishers put out books to make money. [View All]

[anigbrowl]

Go to a bookstore, there are good books and bad books. For every serious book about politics or history there's a bunch of idiot books alleging the earth is secretly run by space aliens or that some protocol will make you magically lose weight or whatever. there isn't some academic committee that vets everything for credibility, integrity and historical significance, that's ultimately the reader's job.

A big publisher only cares about whether the book will sell or not. Famous people tend to sell lots of books. Why do you think Palin's book is available at big discounts? So they can say they sold out the first print run and make it sound like a must-read. Same reason they pay other writers to write nice stuff to go on the back cover, give out free copies to reviewers, and buy advertising to tell people about it. It's a business, not a public service. The only difference between this and any other book launched with a lot of hype is that you particularly dislike Palin. Fine, so do I, but I don't blame her publisher for trying to exploit the fact that she's famous in order to sell more copies.