Re: Bush loses Bob Woodward
On Sep 29, 2006, at 8:08 PM, Jerry Monaco wrote:
But the contract between the bookstore and Woodward’s publishers
was probably broken if an agent of a bookstore actually sold the book.
New York Times - September 30, 2006
Woodward Book Debut Not Quite as Planned By KATHARINE Q. SEELYE
Simon & Schuster had an intricate strategy all worked out for rolling
out Bob Woodward’s new book, “State of Denial,” scheduled for
publication on Monday.
Extensive excerpts would appear in The Washington Post, where Mr.
Woodward works, on Sunday and Monday. The book would be featured
Sunday night on “60 Minutes.” And excerpts would appear Monday in
Newsweek, which is also owned by the Washington Post Company.
But that plan was disrupted Friday when The New York Times and The
Daily News published articles with details of the book, which
describes behind-the-scenes disputes within the Bush administration
over the Iraq war.
Now, Simon & Schuster has moved up the release of the book to today,
allowing bookstores, which have had it for days, to put it on their
shelves earlier than the scheduled sale date.
The decision to make the book available earlier than planned
highlights the difficulty that publishers face in trying to execute a
promotional strategy on their own timetable.
It also raises questions about the relationship between The Post and
Mr. Woodward, a prolific author who is by far its most famous
reporter for his role in exposing the Watergate scandal, which
brought down Richard Nixon’s presidency. His books often contain
exclusive material that has not appeared in the newspaper, where he
is an assistant managing editor.
“60 Minutes” began promoting its segment about “State of Denial,”
including details of the book’s content, on its Web site on Thursday.
An internal critique yesterday at The Post, written by a former
reporter, suggested little patience with Mr. Woodward’s special
relationship with his paper.
“The big question of the day is, Why A1 didn’t have Woodward on Bush
before CBS began promoting their interview,” the critique read. “Oh
yeah, I know why, blah, blah, blah.”
Leonard Downie Jr., the executive editor of The Post, said that
during the course of reporting for this book and others, Mr. Woodward
“has been helpful to us from time to time.”
He declined to specify Mr. Woodward’s contributions to the newspaper
from “State of Denial,” but noted that after the articles were
published in The New York Times and The Daily News on Friday, The
Post ran on its Web site “material that originated with us” and said
that it would have excerpts in its Sunday issue, which will be
available today.
“You will still read Woodward’s words first in their entirety in The
Washington Post,” Mr. Downie said. He added that he was not upset
about the turn of events, saying being scooped was part of the ebb
and flow of a competitive business.
“Sometimes you win, and sometimes you lose,” he said.
Simon & Schuster was somewhat less sanguine. Some industry watchers
said that the front-page treatment in The Times could only help lift
sales of the book. But David Rosenthal, publisher of Simon &
Schuster, maintained that the book already had significant buzz and
that it was not clear whether additional publicity would increase it.
Regardless of sales, he said, a principle was violated because it
appeared some booksellers had sold the book to The Times, The Daily
News and other outlets even though they had signed affidavits saying
they would abide by embargoes.
Breaking an embargo, he said, can disrupt a highly structured,
coordinated publicity and sales program.
“You want your sales to start happening at a synchronized time, in a
concentrated period at first, to drive the book” on the best-seller
lists, he said. “And its list position affects the discounting of a
book.”
Mr. Rosenthal said he had moved up the release date to today “because
it’s the soonest we can” and because “we don’t want to penalize
stores that are upholding the embargo.”
Barbara Meade, a co-owner of the Politics and Prose bookstore in
Washington, said that she had received a “frenzy” of calls yesterday
for the book. Even if the publisher had not moved up the sale to
today, she said, she might have started selling it then anyway to
avoid disappointing her customers. “It would be a bad business
decision not to put it out,” she said.
Howard Rubenstein, a public relations executive familiar with roll-
out campaigns like this one by Simon & Schuster, said that
controlling such information “really doesn’t work anymore.”
He said that he advises clients to prepare a strategy for publicity
but also to prepare for leaks. “And if it happens,” he said, “jump on
the bandwagon.”