 |
| No, really, WTF? |
In Pat Buchanan, there seems a mind at work, one capable of actual investigation, thought, and contemplation. That the result is so twisted is, in a way, even more terrible than if not. And then, at the opposite end of the thinking spectrum, we find Glenn Beck.
Beck, a radio and television show host, specializes in ultra-paranoid rantings for the right-wing. He has a book coming out, Arguing with Idiots, which I assume will explain that everything wrong with America and the world today has to do with liberals and possibly the French. I don’t know; I haven’t read it. I have, however, looked at the cover and had much the same reaction that I have to hope everyone looking at it had: what the hell is he wearing?
I mean, really. What the hell is he wearing? It’s a uniform of some sort, obviously. Seems vaguely Germanic; perhaps Nazi get-up? Yes to the former, no to the latter: it seems to be an East German uniform, stripped of some of the piping and the crest on the hat.
Now, I think we should pause for a long moment, to wonder at the impressive stupidity of this. An East German uniform? The German Democratic Republic was not a success by any measure, and its military had no victories to its name, unless you count the shooting of folks attempting to defect, or the invasion of an ally.
I suppose that there’s an explanation. It could be an invisible high-five of some sort. It could be an “Obama is going to turn us all into Socialists and make annoying right-wing show hosts dress up in embarrassing uniforms” thing. There are the darker ones: “I wanted to dress up in a Nazi uniform, but didn’t have the courage” or “what do you mean the East Germans weren’t any good? Have you seen their results in the Olympics?”
When you get down to it, though, any possible explanation is irrelevant. There is no thought-process that led to Glenn Beck dourly wearing the dank and musty relic of a failed example of a failed movement that is not moronic, and unworthy of even the words ‘thought’ and ‘process.’ I said about Buchanan’s piece on Hitler that it was a coherent narrative; coherent but entirely disconnected from reality. Beck’s statement in wearing that uniform, on the other hand, is simply gibberish; gibberish, I now realize, that resembles his malign rantings pretty well.
The Edge of the American West 
70 comments
September 4, 2009 at 8:08 pm
Gary Farber
At risk of sounding as if I’m somehow defending defending Glenn Beck, I have to point out that authors have don’t design their book covers.
Authors frequently don’t pick the titles of their books, either. By contract, in all but extraordinarily unusual cases, they have no say over either; it’s something publishers would never leave to authors, save in the incredibly rare cases a writer is so awesomely popular they’re able to successfully negotiate clauses require cover approval into their contract, or the publisher desperately doesn’t want to offend them.
Now, to be sure, this is a case where the author had to pose for a photo, so there’s no doubt that he cooperated. And it’s entirely possible that he came up with the idea.
But while he obviously cooperated, I still have to point out that based on general mass market publishing practices, the odds that he’d be the one to come up with a cover idea are very very low. It would be the art department at his publisher, and his editor, and other folks at the publisher coordinating how they’re going to market the book, that would be responsible for the cover idea and design and execution.
Which doesn’t make the cover less mockable, or Glenn Beck less mockable. I’m just regrettably pouring some water on the assumption that somehow an author comes up with cover designs, since that mostly doesn’t happen, and even if it does, it’s not up to them, anyway.
But here’s what a quick check shows: the book is being published by the imprint of Threshold Editions.
Which is:
Shocker, eh?
Mind, I’d put a fair-sized bet that Matalin’s “editing” consists of somewhere between actually acquiring material, and saying “good idea, let’s publish that!”
It’s probably more towards the latter than the former. I rather doubt she’s very hands-on with actual text, but I’m just guessing, and could be all wrong.
Meanwhile, Simon & Schuster gave her this imprint because this sort of crap is still selling big.
And a guy with as large a microphone, and camera, as Beck, is apt to sell a lot of this crap. From their television, to bookstores, some of his viewers will go, and even a small fraction of his tv audience is a huge number in the book business.
David Hannum once made a relevant comment that everyone wrongly attributes to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/There%27s_a_sucker_born_every_minute” P. T. Barnum.
And, of course, the one attributed to Mencken.
September 4, 2009 at 8:09 pm
Gary Farber
I really hate blog commenting systems that don’t have a “preview function.”
It’s entirely their fault that I don’t proofread my comments better.
September 4, 2009 at 8:42 pm
Ahistoricality
Actually, I think there’s a very coherent message in the cover, one that’s entirely consistent with the Malkin-Coulter-Limbaugh line. It hinges on the reversed R, the Я which gives the cover a vaguely Soviet look. Add to it the East German — not immediately identifiable, but pretty Warsaw Pact looking to me — uniform and the decidedly goofy — idiotic — expression. He’s identifying “idiot” and “communist” — the subtitle makes it even clearer by conjoining “small minds and big government” — and therefore identifying his liberal interlocutors as both idiots (the Coulter gambit, of course) and communists.
It’s Goldberg’s argument, this time as farce.
September 4, 2009 at 9:00 pm
TF Smith
What grown man plays dress-up?
September 4, 2009 at 9:02 pm
Gary Farber
“He’s identifying ‘idiot’ and ‘communist’ — the subtitle makes it even clearer by conjoining ‘small minds and big government’….”
One more time: Glenn Beck is not the art director of, nor part of the editorial/publishing team at, Threshold Editions. Setting aside that he wouldn’t have designed the cover, I will bet a shiny nickel that he didn’t come up with the sub-title, either. And, repeating myself, the odds are very reasonable that he didn’t come up with the title, either.
For that matter, I’m skeptical as to how much actual writing he did of the book. That he dictated some of his rants to an uncredited actual writer strikes me as a more likely model than assuming Glenn Beck knows how to write remotely coherently.
Perhaps I am engaging in unfair skepticism and presumption.
Perhaps.
“It’s Goldberg’s argument, this time as farce.”
Goldberg, on the other hand, I’m willing to believe wrote his own incoherent ideas down on a keyboard.
For Beck, I’d want to see some supporting evidence before assuming he can get that far on his own.
September 4, 2009 at 9:04 pm
Gary Farber
“Perhaps I am engaging in unfair skepticism and presumption.”
Allow me to emphasize that relatively few celebrity “authors” write their own books.
Barack Obama, as everyone knows, had his written by Bill Ayers.
September 4, 2009 at 9:10 pm
Scott Madin
On the one hand, I suspect Gary is right re: Beck’s input (or lack thereof) into the cover design; on the other hand, I suspect Ahistoricality is also right re: the intent of the cover design. And on the other other hand, it’s not really Goldberg’s argument, is it? Because Goldberg didn’t claim “libs=commies” (in fact, I believe he took that identity as axiomatic), but “libs[=commies]=nazis;” Beck (or his publisher’s art designer, but I would imagine there’s some degree of this in the content of the book as well), perhaps not possessing sufficient creativity to follow Goldberg’s leap, is just falling back on the good old “libs=commies” chestnut.
September 4, 2009 at 10:26 pm
Ahistoricality
That is Glenn Beck on the cover, right? I’m asking because I don’t actually watch enough TV — especially news and especially him — to be sure. If it is, though, then the art director would have had to explain to him what the concept was (I’m assuming that he actually did the dressing up, and it wasn’t a photoshop job), and if Beck disapproved there would likely have been changes.
Gary, I’m sure you know the publishing business better than I do, but I’m not absolving Beck of this visual atrocity (and aren’t the conservatives the ones who are supposed to be outraged when we make light of the communist menace?).
Scott, I said “farce” and I meant it.
September 5, 2009 at 12:22 am
chingona
Why is the R backwards?
September 5, 2009 at 12:40 am
Watson Aname
It’s Goldberg’s argument, this time as farce.
Hang on, wasn’t Goldberg pretty farcical to start off with?
September 5, 2009 at 3:04 am
Jonathan Jarrett
Surely he, or his editor, is conjoining the concepts of `idiot’, `big government’ and Germanic-looking totalitarianism as evoked by a European uniform that no-one who will buy the book recognises. I mean, yes, it’s stupid, but it looks like a rational marketing decision to me.
September 5, 2009 at 4:32 am
aflandshage
it’s brilliant, and not only the (indeterminate) uniform but
also the very subtle color scheme that both invoke the German flag(=Nazism) and the dominant red and the backwards r that invoke the USSR(Communism), and then by placing Beck in the middle they cleverly associate Nazism and Communism not only with evil, but also with stupid.
September 5, 2009 at 6:41 am
Ahistoricality
Why is the R backwards?
Because it makes it look look Russian.
September 5, 2009 at 7:05 am
dude
“Barack Obama, as everyone knows, had his written by Bill Ayers.”
what?
September 5, 2009 at 7:38 am
dave
Joke, dude, just a joke…
September 5, 2009 at 7:42 am
Gary Farber
“…on the other hand, I suspect Ahistoricality is also right re: the intent of the cover design.”
Oh, sure. And I’m also, given all the bets I’m laying down, betting that Glenn Beck didn’t say “gee, I have some concerns about wearing this outfit,” as opposed to most likely saying, when it was shown to him, some kind of variant of “0MFG D00D is t3h r0xx0rz1111 Woot!!!!!”
“…(and aren’t the conservatives the ones who are supposed to be outraged when we make light of the communist menace?).”
There you liberals go again, being so humorless. You’re obviously a feminizai and a hater.
See second half of post here, or just go here, or read Scott.
Why, it’s all been definitively proven, just as we know that Obama wasn’t born in the U.S., and is a Muslim terrorist who seeks to impose communist sharia on America.
September 5, 2009 at 8:47 am
Michael Drake
But I wanted to learn how to aɹgue with anarhists.
September 5, 2009 at 10:31 am
donna
Glenn Beck is an idiot and asshole and everything that is wrong with the right-wing morons. Paying any attention to him at all only encourages more idiocy.
September 5, 2009 at 10:40 am
Sir Gnome
Bringing us once again to the hypothetical, that in a thousand years, these monthly pulp-mill books / shelf-art are the cultural artifacts by which we will be studied.
What to make of these personality cult pundit books besides profiteering and group authorship? Is there something I’m missing by not reading them, and instead removing their inner parts and placing their outer jackets on whatever Canonical or philosophical works are at-hand? Seriously–is there any analysis of this kind of readership? Beck, after all, grew up close to my own neck of the woods.
September 5, 2009 at 10:52 am
James B.
“Paying any attention to him at all only encourages more idiocy.”
And the growth of his bank account. Wikipedia informs me that he made $18 million last year. What do you suppose is Beck’s appeal? His message? Or some sort of wacked personal charisma? I mean, I don’t have jowls or anything, but I am a fairly pasty-looking white dude. Can I write complete shit and be paid millions, too? It seems like it would be easier, and monetarily more rewarding, than this dissertation I’ve been trying to finish. True, I’d have to sell my soul and all, but dammit, I’ve got student loans that need to be repaid.
September 5, 2009 at 11:03 am
bitchphd
I swear to god when I saw that image I thought it had to be a photoshop. No doubt his audience will “get” it in some bizarre inchoate way, but to me it looks like he’s pretty clearly identifying himself as the idiot.
(Also, although authors don’t generally pick their own covers, I’m pretty sure that given that Beck is himself the person on the cover, he could have vetoed it, so the “it’s not his decision” thing is irrelevant.)
September 5, 2009 at 11:43 am
kevin
What grown man plays dress-up?
Well, George W. Bush loved to play dress up.
He dressed up like a fighter pilot, a cowboy, a construction worker, you name it. He was basically an Apache headdress away from single-handedly recreating the Village People/
September 5, 2009 at 12:23 pm
serial catowner
There’s a very simple answer to this- it’s not a picture of Glenn Beck, it’s a picture of Ilsa, She-Wolf of the SS.
September 5, 2009 at 3:18 pm
bfeinberg
beyond the uniform–check out his right eye: punched? eyebrow missing?? who’s abusing whom here?!
September 5, 2009 at 3:37 pm
kevin
Actually, with the sunken eyes, he looks a lot like the woman who carved the backwards “B” in her face during the campaign. She seemed to have a better grasp of reality, though.
September 5, 2009 at 4:25 pm
K
As a youth I was given to understand that dark circles like the ones under Beck’s eyes were a mark of, pardon me, compulsive self-pollution. But in this case I grant that they may have been painted on by his makeup artiste.
True, authors (and “authors”) aren’t normally responsible for cover art, but I does anybody imagine Beck was forced to play dress up? I would think he guards his liberty too jealously for that.
September 5, 2009 at 5:09 pm
Jon H
I agree with Ahistoricality.
As to whether Beck’s level of control, I suppose we’d have to know how the book evolved. Given the level of vacuity in the wingnut propaganda media market, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Beck pitched the book by describing the title and cover design, having written nothing, then conveyed enough nonsense in notes to his ghostwriters to produce a block of pulp around which the cover would wrap.
September 5, 2009 at 5:12 pm
Jon H
James B. wrote: ” What do you suppose is Beck’s appeal? His message? ”
He seems to be a political televangelist. The Doctor Gene Scott of idiot wingnuts.
I’m somewhat surprised it didn’t happen sooner.
September 5, 2009 at 5:33 pm
Gary Farber
“Given the level of vacuity in the wingnut propaganda media market, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Beck pitched the book by describing the title and cover design,”
I suppose there’s no point to my repeating that I really really really would be, but I’ve only worked in mass market publishing on and off for decades for numerous major publishing houses, sitting in countless weekly editorial acquisition meetings, working with the art department and being part of the process (not in the last few years, to be sure, but that’s irrelevant here), so you probably know better than I do how it works.
There is a reason that all mass market publishing companies have an art department, and a promotion department, and a publicity department, and editors, and book designers, and they don’t exist to hang about while writers come up with their own cover ideas and designs, nor to sit back and say “oh, well, you writers are the experts on packaging, publishing, and selling books: we’re here just to follow your wishes.”
Moreover, Glenn Beck wouldn’t be pitching a book to an acquiring editor. That’s what agents do.
“I’m somewhat surprised it didn’t happen sooner.”
What’s the “it” you’re surprised didn’t happen sooner?
September 5, 2009 at 5:41 pm
TF Smith
True, Bush the Lessor liked to pretend as well.
Something about the GOP these days…
September 5, 2009 at 6:29 pm
IndieTarheel
I’ve got a friend who watches this nonsense – I am genuinely fearful for his sanity at this point.
September 5, 2009 at 7:03 pm
Charlieford
So, Silbey or anyone else, feel like tackling this little dust-up?: http://ricks.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2009/09/05/the_dying_marine_what_the_hell_was_the_ap_thinking_0#comments
September 5, 2009 at 7:21 pm
Jason B.
To me Beck looks like Colonel Klink with a gland disorder. And no monocle.
September 5, 2009 at 7:27 pm
Satan Mayo
I suppose there’s no point to my repeating that I really really really would be, but I’ve only worked in mass market publishing on and off for decades for numerous major publishing houses, sitting in countless weekly editorial acquisition meetings, working with the art department and being part of the process (not in the last few years, to be sure, but that’s irrelevant here), so you probably know better than I do how it works.
Are you an asshole?
What’s the “it” you’re surprised didn’t happen sooner?
The current celebrity status of Glenn Beck or someone like him.
September 5, 2009 at 8:17 pm
Chris Johnson
To me the hat looks way too small for his head. I wonder what the subtext of that is.
September 5, 2009 at 8:23 pm
Catsy
No, it makes it look like some idiot who doesn’t know anything about the Cyrillic alphabet wanted it to look Russian. The letter Я in Russian signifies the vowel pronounced ya.
Sorry to get pedantic about it, I just find the practice of ignorantly using symbols from another language that superficially resemble their English counterparts to suggest ethnic flavor to be truly annoying.
September 5, 2009 at 8:44 pm
Satan Mayo
No, it makes it look like some idiot who doesn’t know anything about the Cyrillic alphabet wanted it to look Russian. The letter Я in Russian signifies the vowel pronounced ya.
Many people know that. Are you an asshole?
It makes it look Russian to the intended audience.
September 5, 2009 at 8:59 pm
Allan
Kevin, that would be Ashleigh Banfield, and yes, there is an eerie resemblance.
Also, considering it’s Glenn Beck, it’s more likely that the ONLY input he had into the entire project was picking out what little outfit he was going to wear on his cover. Any actual words set in print were outsourced to an Indonesian freelance sweatshop who were instructed to defame Obama and anyone liberal at least once every 15 words.
Oh, and Mary Matalin is a heroin addict who drinks the blood of aborted fetuses mixed with some vodka as a refreshing pick-me-up at breakfast after a hard night of blowing truckers in a rest-stop mens room. I just thought you should know.
September 5, 2009 at 9:37 pm
Ahistoricality
No, it makes it look like some idiot who doesn’t know anything about the Cyrillic alphabet wanted it to look Russian.
There’s a long, long history of people abusing other languages to give a cosmopolitan or stereotyped impression. You’re right, but that doesn’t change the intent or effect, except among the small segment of the potential audience who both understand Cyrillic and are humorless about it. (Don’t get me wrong: I’ve been called humorless myself, and about somethings, I am. Nothing wrong with it, per se.)
September 5, 2009 at 9:38 pm
Scott
Allan, I think you mean Ashley Todd.
Ashleigh Banfield was the reporter who got fired at NBC for saying the media was fucking up coverage of the war.
September 5, 2009 at 9:51 pm
Allan
Thanks, Scott, I guess I don’t know my Ashleys from a hole in the ground. Forgive me, Ms. Banfield.
September 5, 2009 at 9:59 pm
Dr.BDH
It’s a dog whistle for the neofascists in Beck’s audience, the true believing, nigger-hating faux militarists who think their opposition is all faggots, lesbos, niggers and atheists. It’s put on the uniform and tell those wimps what’s what. Beck has serious S-M issues and his followers are now going to have to decide: back off or embrace the uniform and the dog collars that follow?
September 5, 2009 at 10:25 pm
Catsy
I beg your pardon?
I have no idea where that came from, and I’m not interested. Go troll somewhere else.
September 6, 2009 at 5:50 am
silbey
Folks–
Let’s keep the language a little more temperate please, both in general, and in specific (no lobbing around insults at each other, and yes, this means you, Satan Mayo.)
Thanks.
September 6, 2009 at 6:27 am
Down and Out of Sài Gòn
Why stop with one inappropriate use of a Russian letter? Why not go the whole hog? Personally, I think it’s a pretty pissweak attempt at Faux Cyrillic. I mean – if Glenn Beck is trying to scare his audience, why not go with “AЯGUIИG ШITH IДIOTS”?
September 6, 2009 at 8:00 am
onymous
I just find the practice of ignorantly using symbols from another language that superficially resemble their English counterparts to suggest ethnic flavor to be truly annoying.
Like all the ads for that movie about the Grssk wedding?
September 6, 2009 at 8:02 am
onymous
Today’s news is that Glenn Beck was able to force Van Jones to resign, so apparently his criticisms carry some weight with the Obama administration.
September 6, 2009 at 8:20 am
max
Never resign. The Japanese have a culture that demands resignation, so everyone does it. We have a different culture, one where the sociopaths have no shame and will be forced ot have none, so the normal people have to hold out. Ridiculous, but there it is.
Personally, I think it’s a pretty pissweak attempt at Faux Cyrillic.
A stupid person, pimping a book to a set of idiot publishers. Putting the guy in east German uniform must have seemed like it was sending a message. Unfortunately, not the one they intended to send, whatever that was.
max
[‘Occam’s razor is useful here.’]
September 6, 2009 at 8:37 am
Fats Durston
I’ve got to third the reaction to Goldberg but this time as farce: Certainly Liberal Fascism‘s histopracty was simultaneously tragedy and farce.
Anywho, when I saw the pic, with the jutting lip, I immediately thought of this dude. I’m not sure of Beck’s/the publisher’s intended message with this in mind…
September 6, 2009 at 8:39 am
max
BTW, has it occurred to anybody to thank these guys for finally coming around to opposing the Bush administration? Of course, they’re about 2000 days late and about 3 trillion short, but then, they’re a little slow like that.
max
[‘They’re shrill, even.’]
September 6, 2009 at 9:19 am
Gary Farber
“Unfortunately, not the one they intended to send, whatever that was.”
It’s exactly the message they intend to send, which is to attract attention. That’s the purpose of a book cover: it’s the main advertising tool of a book.
Thinking that the elements are done “ignorantly” is wrong. Criticizing them for being inaccurate as regards historical or cultural authenticity is completely irrelevant to why such choices are made in advertising.
The intent of advertising is not be historically or linguistically accurate.
This thread demonstrates how successful the cover design is at creating “buzz,” the ever-sought-after response most desired by publishers.
We’re not the audience to buy the book. But odds are that it will make a huge profit. That it offends us is a key part of the strategy. That Beck offends liberals is precisely what his audience is seeking, and the audience the publisher wishes to buy the book. And lots of them will. And Beck will make money and the publisher will make money. That’s the idea of publishing.
Book covers are signifiers. This one is demonstrably working as intended.
The sales of a book like this can probably be roughly measured by how proportionately liberals like us find it irritating, which is roughly proportional to much it will please the people who hate libruls and terrist-lovers.
Beck’s past books have been #1 sellers on Amazon and the NY Times best sellers lists. Simon & Schuster’s management will be disappointed if this one doesn’t do as well. Don’t be surprised if it does. His previous, Common Sense is still Amazon.com Sales Rank: #6 today.
September 6, 2009 at 10:34 am
Lagger
The interesting issue is the message intended by those who conceived and approved the photo, not whether Beck had a personal hand in the process. Beck is a provocateur who presents himself as a superpatriot. In the world he crafts for his fans, America is under siege by communists and fascists cloaked in the guise of liberalism and led by the illegitimate Barack Obama and the sinister Nancy Pelosi. In his view, only the fanatical resistance of beleaguered conservatives can preserve America’s freedom and greatness.
Given this shtick, one would understand the photo if it depicted Obama or Pelosi in such garb. Similarly, there would be no ambiguity if Beck were dressed in an American uniform or if the image were contextualized with visual clues that unambiguously located it under the rubric of American nationalism. But there are no waving Stars and Stripes and the background color is Soviet red, not Yankee red, white, and blue. And curiously, Beck is not only dressed in a foreign uniform, but is an officer bearing the look of smug authority; that is, one who commands, not one victimized by unwillingly conscription in the service of an occupying power.
Either the marketers of this book have made a tactical blunder that will give pause to many inclined to Beck’s worldview or else they have brilliantly calculated that the incoherence of the image with Beck’s own rants is irrelevant to its appeal.
September 6, 2009 at 11:06 am
Gary Farber
“…that will give pause to many inclined to Beck’s worldview….”
I’ll be very surprised if that happens. If I notice any such rightwing blog reaction, I’ll try to blog about it, or call attention back to it here. If anyone else notices any, point it out at this blog, or, by all means, please drop me an email. Has anyone noticed any signs of such a thing as yet?
“…or else they have brilliantly calculated that the incoherence of the image with Beck’s own rants is irrelevant to its appeal.”
The coherence, I would estimate, is that it’s a signifier for “look, I, Glenn Beck, am mocking the liberals by wearing a costume that represents What They Actually Are Behind Their Pretense,” i.e., commie-fascists, a la Goldberg.
I expect his audience will view it as such, though I doubt many will consciously think it through. Advertising fails if people have to consciously analyze why it’s appealing to them. Advertising is, of course, all about unconscious signifiers and response-engendering.
Plenty of money has been invested in research into how it works.
In the picture he’s figuratively tearing off Our Liberal Masks to reveal the lizard below.
That he‘s the one in costume is because you do best with selling celebrity books by putting their photo on the cover.
You attract the most attention by making them look provocative as possible in some fashion. (And Beck isn’t a young blonde woman, so they’re not going to showcase his cleavage and legs.)
Having a photo of Beck tearing the mask off someone else would add too much clutter, and distract from the fact that he’s the selling point of the book. And it’s not necessary. His audience isn’t going to analyze it for “coherency” or authenticity, let alone orthographic consistency with Cyrillic script, or an historically authentic uniform.
I’d be surprised if someone hasn’t already done a thesis, or several someones haven’t, on the semiotics of best-selling rightwing book covers. It would seem to be low-hanging fruit.
There have been no lack of people at the major publishing houses putting a lot of thought into how to successfully create packages that work, and they’ve done very well at it, as one can see by the very long list of best-selling works they’ve had since Regnery led the way for lots of the biggest companies to rush to create rightwing imprints of their own to cash in.
September 6, 2009 at 11:50 am
Jon H
Gary wrote: “Moreover, Glenn Beck wouldn’t be pitching a book to an acquiring editor. That’s what agents do.”
Well, normally, yes. But it wouldn’t surprise me if the close-knit, inbred world of wingnut media works a bit differently than what you’re used to, Gary. They know who they want to publish, and aren’t exactly putting out a lot of books by agented unknowns.
The idea of Beck’s agent sent a manuscript around looking for a publisher seems about as unlikely as Paul Wolfowitz getting his job in the Bush Pentagon by submitting his resume on Monster.com.
September 6, 2009 at 12:16 pm
Gary Farber
“But it wouldn’t surprise me if the close-knit, inbred world of wingnut media works a bit differently than what you’re used to, Gary. They know who they want to publish, and aren’t exactly putting out a lot of books by agented unknowns.”
Glenn Beck’s previous book, “Common Sense” was from Threshold Editions (June 16, 2009).
His previous book, “An Inconvenient Book: Real Solutions to the World’s Biggest Problems (Paperback)” was from Threshold Editions. (Again, this is the conservative imprint of Simon & Schuster, which has a zillion imprints, which Mary Matalin fronts, or lends her name to; how hands-on or hand-off she actually is, I have no idea; my guess is that she’s not in the office all that much, given that she lives in New Orleans.)
Beck obviously has a multi-book contract with Threshold. His current book wouldn’t have been independently pitched by him; his agent would have negotiated the multi-book contract as a whole, with escalator clauses.
I haven’t just worked on genre books; I’ve worked on NY Times #1 best-sellers. I’ve worked on celebrity books; I’ve worked on political books, and proposals from political celebrities. I know the process.
You’re quite correct that it wouldn’t involve “the idea of Beck’s agent sen[ding] a manuscript around looking for a publisher” as if it were from an unknown.
If you’re actually interested, here”s what happened:
There are various links and italics in the original I’m not going to bother to recreate.
It’s certainly not impossible for Mary Matalin to have called Glenn Beck to start things off, or for him to have started things off with a conversation with her. But if so, it all would have been handed off for negotiation between Beck’s agent, and the actual editor handling the deal, along with S&S’s contracts department. That’s what I meant by “pitching”; my apologies if my shorthand was unclear, and I can see how it easily might have been.
What actually matters in such deals is the written proposal formally sent by the agent, and the subsequent negotiation; until that happens, all that has taken place, at best, is an informal conversation, which in many cases will lead to nothing actually being produced, or at least nothing found mutually acceptable between the author and their agent, and the publishing company. I’ve seen such things, and endless far more substantial proposals, fall through many times.
September 6, 2009 at 12:19 pm
Gary Farber
Gee, I just noticed that I wrote a longish comment that I thought posted an hour ago, about how a cover works as advertising, and it doesn’t seem to have posted after all. Possibly due to the links I included it’s caught in a spam filter?
September 6, 2009 at 1:08 pm
Gary Farber
Okay, my comment of 11:06 am has now appeared; that was the one that went missing for a while. Thanks, to whomever!
September 6, 2009 at 1:22 pm
Gary Farber
“Kevin Balfe, Beck’s co-author on previous books, will oversee the partnership on behalf of Beck’s production company, Mercury Radio Arts.”
That’s who you want to look to for who is actually producing text in between those covers. Follow him on Twitter! :-)
Mind, I said “producing”; who generates the first substantive text, and the exact process, I couldn’t say, as such processes can and do vary. Balfe might be the main actual writer, or perhaps has someone uncredited below him; I have no idea.
I’ve never looked at one of Beck’s books, or, for that matter, yet seen him for even ten seconds on tv, or heard him on the radio; all I can say is that where the celebrity fits into the process of creating a celebrity-“written” book varies.
Once in a while some actually write their own books (copyediting and line-editing and other typical parts of publishing all books asiide); I don’t expect this is the case with Glenn Beck.
September 6, 2009 at 2:39 pm
max
Book covers are signifiers. This one is demonstrably working as intended.
I know that, Gary. And while I am aware of everything you listed, nobody said they was smart. You can tell me all about how publishers carefully plot bookcovers; and then you can explain all the ugly, senseless SF book covers over however many years, covers on books that sink without a trace.
I am not saying they’re not trying to create controversy or that they’re not trying to generate buzz. I am saying that that they carefully plotted a cover that was intended to be semi-humorous and that continues the trend started by the last book with the communist theme.
At the same time, they’re sending another message, probably unintentionally. Quite like the one on the back of the book:
I believe in politics that’s called a gaffe.
max
[‘On Usenet, PKB.’]
September 6, 2009 at 2:54 pm
Gary Farber
“…and then you can explain all the ugly, senseless SF book covers over however many years, covers on books that sink without a trace.”
Sure: sometimes incompetent people get hired, sometimes things get done in a rush and fall through the cracks, and often people just plain make mistakes.
All these things happen all the time.
September 6, 2009 at 5:24 pm
TF Smith
Semiotics aside, he still looks like an idiot playing dress-up.
September 6, 2009 at 7:37 pm
Down and Out of Sài Gòn
S&S companies in the U.K., Canada and Australia will publish Beck’s books in their respective markets.
Gary – I’m boggling my eyes at this. What market for Glenn Beck is there is in Australia – home of government-subsidized bulk billing for doctors? Australians may bitch about the nanny state, but anyone wanting to take it away are loathed. His crying jags don’t help either. Whinging is not a national pastime.
Seriously, it’s one thing I notice about American conservatism – its ultra-parochialism which guarantees almost complete irrelevance to anything outside of its borders. At least British Toryism can be erudite and amusing to foreigners. The only GOP dude widely read out of the country is P.J. O’Rourke, and only because of his travel writing for Rolling Stone.
September 6, 2009 at 8:42 pm
Spiny Norman
There is a simple explanation. The title on the cover of the book contains a typographical error. It was meant to read, “Arguing, with Idiots.”
September 8, 2009 at 12:16 pm
nick
it seems to me that Gary Farber, upthread, has this exactly right: Beck is dressing up as a dumb lefty, complete with obsolete Commie Fail uniform, as a form of mockery. why this reading is hard for people on the left (=us) to get, I’m not sure. because we assume a conservative whackjob book couldn’t possibly be other than literal? or because for us the use of Beck’s actual visage conflicts with reading the image as a mythic sign (a la Barthes on, eg, the black boy saluting on the Paris Match cover)?
September 8, 2009 at 12:41 pm
silbey
Beck is dressing up as a dumb lefty, complete with obsolete Commie Fail uniform, as a form of mockery. why this reading is hard for people on the left (=us) to get,
I understand that that might be what they’re trying to do with the cover. The last paragraph of my post covers my reaction to *that*.
September 8, 2009 at 1:01 pm
nick
ok, but you call it “simply gibberish”, whereas I would call it “perfectly coherent, (sub?) adolescent satire….”–any reading that explicitly or implicitly concludes with ‘they are so dumb as to make explanation irrelevant’ is, to my mind, pretty unhelpful. Just because Glen Beck is not interesting as an Author doesn’t mean that this cover as text is not readable….
September 9, 2009 at 11:20 am
Martha Bridegam
Or maybe he’s trying to say, “The dreadful liberals beat me up and made me wear this horrid costume so I would fit their idea of conservatives.”
Of course most of us don’t care what the man wears or even know what he looks like. But in the likely event that Beck is a narcissist, he’ll think that everyone is looking at him and thinking about him all the time. And as you know the Paranoid Style always claims the underdog position. So liberals criticize him for taking after Father Coughlin, he may take that as, “They’re confusing me with Mu..lini.”
September 9, 2009 at 11:24 am
silbey
Just because Glen Beck is not interesting as an Author doesn’t mean that this cover as text is not readable….
Gibberish is readable; it’s still gibberish.
(Look, I understand that Beck and his ilk might have had a thought process that went into the uniform, a thought process that we can discern and that some people find compelling. That both of the latter are true does not mean that the thought process is anything less than moronic.)
September 12, 2009 at 10:48 am
Gary Farber
I mentioned before that I’d yet to ever hear or see even five seconds of Glenn Beck on either tv or radio, but I didn’t mention that I’d never even watched a clip of him on the web; my only knowledge of him was reading some bits of transcript, and a lot of stuff about him.
But now I can say from my own viewing that, yes, he’s completely insane.
September 22, 2009 at 9:44 am
Ethan
Yeah, sure, he might not’ve come up with the idea, but when somebody said, “Hey Glenn, let’s get you in an East German military outfit for the cover of your book,” he certainly didn’t veto the idea like a non-stupid person would.
What I find interesting is that the average American probably doesn’t know Nazi (rightist dictatorship) uniforms from GDR (leftist dictatorship) uniforms.
Maybe he explains it in the book. I’ll never know, because I never read below a fifth-grade level.