Yesterday the LA Times reported that Sarah Palin has enlisted the help of a high profile attorney to broker a book deal for her. The astounding number accompanying the story is the rumor of her demand for an $11 million advance. Yes. Eleventy hundred thousand smackeroons for just the promise to sit down to work.
It seems a bit outrageous amount for someone who embarrassed her party, her state, and her campaign time and time again during three short months. I for one hope she gets the advance. In fact, I hope she gets a $20 million advance.
Why? It's all the expectations game. In many ways Palin got a free pass from voters and the media because expectations of her were so low in the first place.
A ridiculous multi-million dollar advance will only serve to hype her upcoming book to insane levels that the book won't possibly live up to.
Will her eventual book become a total flop? Probably not. I'm sure she'll sell a lot, but a publisher will have to sell way more than "a lot" to make up for an $11 million advance.
It's like a blockbuster movie that costs $200 million to make and only brings in $150 million. It's seen (rightfully) as a major disappointment. An indie made for $5 million that brings in $25 million is a big hit! Go figure.
Palin will stick around in national politics for a while. She might make a run for the White House in 2012. But fear not. She's not going anywhere. Many people who initially liked her in early September got turned off over the course of campaign. They're not likely to return to her ever. Palin has hit the high water mark and has no place to go except down.
So let's have her book help her on her irreversable decline in the court of public opinion. Give her the biggest advance of all time and then deliver an adequate book that doesn't bowl people over. We can get this unhealthy interest in her over with.
It's like the public at large is a kid who really likes Skittles. He eats them every chance he gets. Eventually, something turns. He's eaten so much he gets sick of them and never wants to see them again.
A better example might be tequila. You go through a tequila phase and then hit the wall. You don't want to see another bottle of tequila ever in your life. Hopefully the national post-Palin hangover won't be too bad.
Should I not want Sarah Palin, a person of questionable ethics and knowledge, to get rich?
Like it or not, she's going to have many avenues to make lots of money, book or no book. I'm not too worried about her getting rich, as her family seems to have a habit of burning through money the minute they get their hands on it.
Once she gets that advance, it will be real hard to pull off that soccer mom image.
Publishing firms seem to be easily overawed by celebrities. I recall that one paid 8 million to Hillary and got burned over the deal. No way can one book gross that much, but they were hoping it would help them make money on their other titles. Somehow.
We should have a contest to see who could be her ghostwriter. Readers Digest format.
Depends on who the ghostwriter is, probably. Because that woman is not going to be writing one damned word.
I really just want her to go away. And stay away.
I think people are underestimating the group who purchase Ann Coulter books and Bill O'Reilly books and who will undoubtedly purchase lipstick pig book. It is big. This book should do well. My $ won't go in her pocket, but she has a following. I feel stupider just thinking about it.
There is definitely a market for her book. When I was canvassing for Obama in southwestern Virginia, I found many women, all in their 40s, who made a point that they were voting for "Sarah"--not McCain. She will need a very talented ghost writer. You can contrast Palin with Obama who wrote both of his books.
I always thought an advance was that--an advance against royalties. So, if her book doesn't sell, she may have to give some of the money back. I guess that's why she's getting a lawyer.
and a pair of the newest Skidoo's and some mink lined snow boots
( with matching undies ) , among other things .
"sit down to work" - I guess it beats her usual lying down...(In my best Bill Maher voice, "I kid the Governor.")
That's stupefying. Stephen King, John Grisham, hell Bill Clinton didn't get that much I don't believe. It's just ridiculous. I personally hope the Publisher loses their ass on this one. But all the people who buy Ann Coulter's swill, or Bill O, or Rush Limpdog will line up in droves...A great Tuesday to avoid the bookstores...
(rated)
Greg
A big welcome back. You were missed!
I'm so fucking sick of opportunists in this country and the stupid large book publishers who hand out multi-million dollar advances to assholes and then have no money for people who actually know how to write.
Wow. I don't sound bitter or anything do I?
PALINDROME: Forward or Backward, it's all the same.
I know I'm being flippant in this post, but yes, the idea of Palin getting anything, much less millions of dollars does sicken me. Let's "make lemons into lemonade" or some stupid shit like that and look on the bright side though.
It'd be great if she could disappear from the limelight tomorrow. Not realistic. But the book provides a vehicle for the public and the media to see that she's been overexposed and no one wants to hear from her anymore.
And I'll repeat myself. I don't doubt a book by her (presumably ghost written) will sell well and get lots of exposure. She still has millions of people who "admire" her some reason. Will the book's aggressive sales meet it's over-the-type expectations fueled in party by an outrageous multi-million dollar advance? I'm thinking not.
Palin's 15 minutes aren't up yet. But mark my words, they'll be up eventually.
My hope with this potential book is that it will give lots for people to gather from when she tries this crap again. In my eyes, she's not done much of anything of real worth so you know the book will end up being a galvanizing point for the core reactionary right-wing. I don't think there will be anything of political note though so no damage done.
What a great country!
SARAH PALIN: SHIT FLOATS
As I've said here many times before, there's a hundred really talented writers on OS that can't get published, but hacks like Anne Coulter and Jerome Corsi do - and now Palin, who like bush doesn't read let alone write, is gonna get $11 million for drivel coughed up by a ghostwriter?
And they dare to call me a whore for publishing myself?
Am I angry, you get your ass, this is EXACTLY what's wrong with Free-Market Fucking Economics!
Excellent post, man. Rated.
In the end, what will happen is that she will be savagely attacked in the press of the Left, who will not actually read the book really when they review it (my experience with the George Tenet CIA book wass instructive here, as I read it thinking that he was going to be very critical of the Vice President, because that is what the reviewers said, when in fact he merely put the Vice President at the center of things, and warned of the DIA and other bureaucratic obfuscations/ac actions), and then those who are inclined to like her anyway will want to read the book that much more, and there are really very few alternatives to Palin in the party in terms of name recogntion already, and a book that actually has anything to say exceeds low expectations, which is a law of power, Always Seem Dumber than You Mark.
Even more obscene, it's really Eleven THOUSAND-thousand.
High school, when my drug of choice was marijuana. Had a cold. My cousin showed up with rum + coke (yuck) and cherry vodka. I opted for the cherry vodka, thought it might complement the cherry cough drops.
To this day, I can consume neither cherry cough drops or cherry Nyquil, much less cherry vodka. Bile threatens the base of my throat at the mere thought.
Kinda like what happens when I see, read or hear anything about the present Governor of the Great State of Alaska.
Um - maybe Palin could also write an alternate history - one where a plucky VP shoots Putin down as he flies over her house in Wasilla...? >:)
She has no substance and has shown very little critical thinking ability.
And here are publishing companies laying off editors left and right, not to mention how hard it is for amazing writers of both fiction and nonfiction finding it harder and harder to scare up even 50,000 as an advance, which would be a godsend to most of us who write our hearts and souls out. I don't care if she had God herself as her ghostwriter there is not possible way she could make that kind of advance back. This is a travesty of the highest order and is on par with the Wall Street and banking bailouts. What is shows is that we really haven't woken up at all yet. This and those weird defenders of John Thain's decorating habits still don't get it. Money for nothing is still money for nothing.
I wish this kind of news didn't make me sick at my stomach but it still does--not out of jealousy but out of a grave sense of injustice.
This whole thing gets me down.
When the Republicans are giving Obama a hard time about his economy kickstart plan because it includes things they think are "pork" like school snacks programs and money for the refurbishment of the Washington Mall, idiots like Sarah Palin are making deals for not even writing their own books and becoming "celebrities" by some stupid crook of fate--and we are supposed to actually buy the fact that things in this country are actually going to change.
I wonder.
Maybe another time I'll post further why I don't think she has much of a chance in 2012. We'll have plenty of time for those discussions though. Frankly, if I was to give Palin career advice, I'd tell her to go the Mike Huckabee route. Be a personality who gets paid to give speeches and appear on Fox News. She has an audience and knows how to speak to them. She just doesn't know how to appeal to a broader set of (thinking) Americans. Palin can't win a national election (nor the nomination of her party). But I'm sure she could make lots of money on cable news programs.
Palin's oversized ambition is unlikely to allow her to be satisfied short of a run for national office. That's one thing we learned about her last fall. She has a high regard for her abilities that don't quite match up with reality. I mean, even for a politician.
Gabe Kaplan would get signed before me.
I, by the way, loathe Sarah Palin and won't buy her book. So what.
I agree with the spirit of your post. But that 11 million dollars burns right now at a time when people in the publishing indusry are being laid off, senior editors are being told their career is over, and mid list writers who've worked their ass off in isolation for years are being cut adrift. So what if her book turns out to be better than expected? I still think she should get money she deserves (and my empathy for the misleading headline. I couldn't bring myself to click on this post all weekend, even though I knew it was probably meant ironically. )
Having said that, seeing her collect bushel baskets of money in the process is pretty galling.
On topic comment: You are right that getting plenty of exposure is likely to show Palin for what she is. On the other hand, I'm not sure it would do any good. Bush the Second was pretty much right up there for all to see and he was elected (once).
::doing Snoopy dance in my living room::
AND a good post. :)
http://klogtheblog.blogspot.com/2009/01/beautiful-lie.html
Am I allowed to post links in comments? I guess I'll find out.
But, I have finally came to a place of peace and understanding. Actually I should have come to it much sooner if I would have trusted my own knowing and read the essay that I wrote in 1999 that is currently posted on my blog.
I've come to understand that if it weren't for the total destruction that was caused by not only the last eight years by Bush and his administration, but decades of abuse that have been going on for generations, then the events and the outcome of the last election would never would have never been possible.
We are involved in a great paradigm shift that unfortunately only occurs through great adversity... So here we have it... billions of people from all around the world have come together in unison with a strong and powerful voice demanding, cheering, celebrating and being the change.
Susan Randazzo