If I sold it
Some lucky booksellers must have made a bundle by getting their hands on a few copies of the orphaned O.J. Simpson book, If I Did It. According to this GalleyCat article, about 100 copies were sold last week, many of them on Amazon.Looks like they're all gone now, and Amazon even deleted the cover image.
Someone has a copy on ABE for $4,200. Give me a break!
I have a prediction, though: In two years this book will be selling for 1 cent on Marketplace. This inventory is going to be sold to another publisher who's not afraid of a PR backlash. I'm not defending it, I'm just predicting that these books will be sold eventually, and once the public gets their fill, the books will be worth about as much as the other O.J. trial books, like this one and this one.
Here's a fascinating article about how they got bookstores to order the new O.J. book in the first place, it's called "blind" selling.
posted by Steve Weber at 12/07/2006
5 Comments:
Wouldn't this be considered an illegal item? As Regan books decided against releasing this book to the public, how could Amazon let someone sell it?
i don't think it's illegal to sell a recalled book. it may be illegal to sell a recalled toaster oven, but i bought there is a law for recalled books.
It's an interesting question, whether it's illegal or unethical to sell a recalled book. I'm sure you wouldn't go to jail for it, but you might get in trouble with the wholesaler or publisher. I figure most of the O.J. book sales resulted from an "accident" or outright theft -- so it probably wasn't an ethical dilemma for whoever made these sales.
This will be a penny book? Nonsense. The books are being pulped. They are not being stored and hence will not be resold to another publisher.
And can you imagine the uproar created if HarperCollins resold the rights to the book? They've lost enough credibility with this book. They're going to eat the loss and bury the book.
As for your comment about the $4200 copy listed, "Give me a break!" Well, I am the one who had it for sale. And guess what? Sold at the asking price.
Well bully for you, anonymous, I'm glad you got your $4,200.
I'll stand by my prediction that the book will be selling on Marketplace two years from now for a penny. It my be restickered with another imprint, or it might even be pulped (as you suggest) and reprinted by another publisher.
Anyway, that's my prediction, which is worth precisely what you paid for it. In any case, if I'm wrong, I won't take it personally ;-)
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