Webb's Approval Ratings Up—on Amazon
Oct. 27 2008, Published 7:07 a.m. ET
BESTSELLER? Webb weaves tawdry tales
UPDATE: From the any-press-is-good-press school of publishing ...
James Webb's Something to Die For (a steal at $0.01!) is scaling up the Amazon charts since Virginia Senate rival George Allen tried to Macaca all over it last week. On Friday, the book's Amazon rank was a lowly 43,869. Today it was 21,092.
Webb's other book, Lost Soldiers, was at 79,852 on Friday. Today's Amazon rank: 10,154.
In a masterstroke of publicity, Webb talked to the Washington Post (see: Webb Defends Novels Against Attacks). In the article, he characterized his fiction as being informed by the ugly experiences he witnessed in his own military history. "I have lived in the real world, and I have reported the real world in my writings. I started working when I was 12 years old, and I fought in a brutal war. I saw its ugliness while George Allen was hanging out at a dude ranch," Webb said at a rally.
Oprah, you getting this?