Far-right food fight at Regnery
The right's biggest book publisher is apparently having trouble with some of the right's biggest authors. It could get ugly -- and for some of us, entertaining.
Five authors have sued the parent company of Regnery Publishing, a Washington imprint of conservative books, charging that the company deprives its writers of royalties by selling their books at a steep discount to book clubs and other organizations owned by the same parent company.
In a suit filed in United States District Court in Washington yesterday, the authors Jerome R. Corsi, Bill Gertz, Lt. Col. Robert (Buzz) Patterson, Joel Mowbray and Richard Miniter state that Eagle Publishing, which owns Regnery, “orchestrates and participates in a fraudulent, deceptively concealed and self-dealing scheme to divert book sales away from retail outlets and to wholly owned subsidiary organizations within the Eagle conglomerate.”
[Richard] Miniter said, “It suddenly occurred to us that Regnery is making collectively jillions of dollars off of us and paying us a pittance.” He added: “Why is Regnery acting like a Marxist cartoon of a capitalist company?”
As Kevin Drum put it, "[I]f a conservative is a liberal who's been mugged, what do you call a conservative who's come face to face with the naked face of vertically integrated capitalism?"
impeach chimpy!
Sorry guys but this is the kind of "market place" you've created. Enjoy not getting paid and enjoy fighting a giant company with "a jillion dollars" and as many lawyers to protect themselves. Here's hoping the "authors" spend every dime getting no where.
Now THIS is funny :D I'll bet 90 percent of these Repugs are bitching about the writer's strike in LA because they're union.
Frist!!
Rats. ;^((
The free market should take care of it, right?
The accuse the people who've wronged them of being secretly liberal and become more conservative.
[Richard] Miniter said, “It suddenly occurred to us that Regnery is making collectively jillions of dollars off of us and paying us a pittance.” He added: “Why is Regnery acting like a Marxist cartoon of a capitalist company?”
Um ... because Marx was right?
Filthy Harry @ 7:
See evidence A: "Why is Regnery acting like a Marxist cartoon of a capitalist company?" [Richard Minter]
lol
I hate to admit it, but they have a point...I'm a writer myself, and I'd hate to be jipped on my earnings (even as trashy as theirs are). Yet if the same company owns the books clubs, that is very dirty.
My God, this is too funny. Conservative authors have typically had a boo-fricken-hoo attitude toward any who oppose the fundamental inequities of the capitalist system, but when it's their ox being gored? I hope these people beat each other bloody.
Right wing ideology...banished to the discount book rack of history.
How about starting a union!!!!!!
Nyuk,Nyuk
It is Regnery's self dealing which gives these authors sales figures in the first place.
The big question is would even ONE of their books have sold at full price? I think not.
It's really cute that these guys think of themselves as "authors".
If these guys are really authors, they should have no problem going to a more reputable publisher. I suspect, however, that they are just trained monkeys who write what the publisher wants them to write.
So right-wing authors are now fightin' against being exploited by THE MAN!
What's next? Larry Craig finally comes out? Cheney grows a conscience and turns that shotgun around? Chimpy puts on a real military outfit (not a costume) and actually goes to fight in Iraq as a profile in courage?
No so much.
"...what do you call a conservative who’s come face to face with the naked face of vertically integrated capitalism?"
Oh I can think of lots of things to call them, but I choose to remain civil.
hehehe
Well, maybe you lose a little money but its an easy way to get one the NYT's Best Sellers lists.
Maybe they should start a Best Read List to see if anybody is actually reading Ann Coulter.
Maybe the authors don't realize that their books are not going to sell in the "marketplace" and so this book publisher is doing the only thing it can to get the "product" to sell. Kind of like what Scientology does with the L. Ron Hubbard books in order to make them seem like they have sold millions and millions of copies. There are many levels to this story and yes, they are all so delicious to contemplate.
Purge the wingnut welfare roles!
Frederick @ 21:
How would we then feed so many desperate people?
Marxists cartoon of a capitalist company?
No, this IS your capitalist company at work -- it has never been about paying those that produce your product that allow you to make your $$$$$$$ a decent and fair amount. . . sharing and/or paying your workers, those that make/produce your product a fair wage or fair amount is a LIBERAL concept.
So conservative writers are crying when their get capitalism is the be all and end of of the world falls them ..... waaaaaaaaaaa
I pity them cause even if they win (and they are right) they still won't get it and support of champion someone else in their quest for fair pay.
Capitalism's bootlicks can't pull themselves up by their bootstraps?
Breaks my friggin' heart.
It could be that Regnery is doing them a favor. When you see a book on the NYTimes bestseller list, if it has a "dagger" beside it, that means someone (a book club, maybe?) has bought the item in bulk.
This is how some republican books make it to the bestseller list...bulk purchases by groups that support them.
Ann Coulter admitted as much in the past -- that her books were sold at conservative conferences, etc. b/c she is somehow put down by "the man." Funny, that. Not only are the govt and media a vast left wing conspiracy, so are the tastes of the book-buying public.
If someone buys an item in bulk, whether they're associated with the publisher or not, they will get a steeper discount because of volume.
I hope the outcome is as publicized as the complaint. I'd like to know if Regnery is regularly pumping/pimping their authors' sales. If not, so funny that conservatives complain when they get treated like they treat the rest of the world.
What they need is a strong union. Organize for collective bargaining. Call it the "Ayn Rand" memorial union.
As Kevin Drum put it, “[I]f a conservative is a liberal who’s been mugged, what do you call a conservative who’s come face to face with the naked face of vertically integrated capitalism?”
I believe the correct term for this is a "whiner" -- at least that is what they call a liberal who would make the same observation.
If they didn't sell the crap they write at deep discounts to their own outlets the books would never get sold. They produce crap and want to get paid for fertilizer.
Terrible @ 15:
Ian McGarrett @ 14:
Yep and yep. Regency is clever in that they artificially inflate demand by dropping the price on the books... it's simple economics. If these authors don't like it... tough shit. They need to be better writers.
Listen to these weasels piss and moan about being had.
These same Repugs that say they want government off their backs want redress in our courts. HUH?
These same pissy little whiners will want that same government to bail them out if their house floods or a hurricane hits, or earthquake, fire, tornado etc....etc......
They will also be the biggest whiners when the robber barons steal the internet, and take over our highways.
To summerize: F^%K 'EM!
HAHA, welcome to your vision of capitalism Miniter! When it's not going right for you, it's a "Marxist cartoon of a capitalist company." But when millions of Americans say this about their own situation they need to shut up, put their head down and get back to work? Never mind all the years of their printing books and carrying water for the worst ideas. Nevermind all the shoddy writing and intellectually vapid content of conservatism and their tireless promotion of it. Like a truly deluded and self-involved example of your own ideology, when it comes to your ass it's the evil forces of Marxism and it needs to stop. But when its millions of American citizens who can't feed their family or are getting short-changed by your wonderful Reaganomics society, well they can just eat their pie and suck it up huh?
I don't even necessarily disagree with their position, and if they are getting short-changed money for their writing, Regnery should be paying up. But I just get the vapors over a conservative that's the victim of his own ideas, and then acts like he doesn't know what hit him. Maybe we'll all be saved Regnery's continued existence with these guys suing them into oblivion.
xoites defends Constitution @ 19:
It's exactly like the typical tactic of the Scientologists: buy out Hubbard's books in bulk in order to boost the sales list. The only difference here is that Regency is doing it by artificially inducing demand (see my post above).
Lewis Robert @ 26:
Now *that's* irony. :lol:
Hey, perhaps they could hire the ACLU to represent them.....................Nah, on second thought.....F^%K 'EM!
But I thought Conservatives hated Trial Lawyers???
;)
MargeAggedon @ 2:
No kidding. It's rare that a conservative makes such a good case for unionization, and they don't realize they're doing so.
Snicker.
It would be quite difficult to explain it any more succinctly. Conservatism's ideas didn't earn their place in the public's mind, they bought it, and they continue to lose money on the outlets that keep supporting the garbage. For a bunch of supposedly great capitalist minds, they just don't get it.
Eagle Publishing, which owns Regnery, “orchestrates and participates in a fraudulent, deceptively concealed and self-dealing scheme to divert book sales away from retail outlets
Wow, who would have expected that from a publisher owned by right-wingers?
But..but..but..Gee, under the US capitalist system, if the managers of Regnery don't maximize the company's profits, aren't they violating their fiduciary responsibilities to their owners/stockholders?
And if they have to pay a percentage to the conservative authors for every book they sell at a profit, but not for every book they sell at a loss to a subsidiary, which can then reap a bigger profit for Regnery, shouldn't they sell all conservative books to their subsidiaries at whatever price will retain all profit for Regnery as a whole, meaning no percentage to the conservative authors?
Perhaps the conservative authors should get liberal lawyers, who understand the dim relationship between the Law and Justice in the US, to work out their publishing contracts for them in advance, before they get into these conservative messes.
"Why is Regnery acting like a Marxist cartoon of a capitalist company?”
Because that is how capitalist companies remain capitalist companies. Maximizing profits for the company is the name of the game. Guess it hurts when your belief system comes face to face with reality. Idiots.
From the linked article:
Sounds like they are doing EXACTLY what a good conservative company should do. Just like their exalted hero company Wal-mart.
The authors should remember that under their business beliefs, as artists, they have no rights. They are just workers producing a product, and the company can do with them, and their product, whatever it chooses. I hope they get a Republican, pro-corporate judge on their case, preferably someone chosen by Gonzo for party loyalty, whose lack of knowledge of the law won't prevent from ruling against the authors while taking a secret kickback from the publisher.
The next book should be titled "A Republican Cookbook: 101 Ways to Eat Crow."
Think about how many conservative books make the "Best Seller" lists. Perhaps diverting to subsidiaries at discount prices is the only way for these books, that will not sell in the retail marketplace, to attain these "Best Seller" list placement. This in turn would give the publisher and author the right to make the "Best Seller" claim.
Why is Steny Hoyer trying so hard to kill HR 333? The answer may surprise you...
http://willyloman.wordpress.com/2007/11/07/why-did-steny-hoyer-try-so-ha...
...or then again, maybe it won't.
I think a federal program should be in place to pay these authors. It is not welfare. It is bailing out capitalistic people. Aid is called welfare only when poor, downtrodden liberals receive it.
Terrible @ 15:
The real question is would anyone even publish their garbage if it weren't for Regnery.
I'm sure that the publisher's profits will eventually trickle down to the "authors" if they'll only STFU and have a little patience.
This is what happens when you drink with the devil!
You might think this thru to the full limit. Are authors fully paid for the deeply discounted book as sold by the big box chains? Small bookstores, who sold at cover price, gave the authors a fair share of the profits. For the publishers, cutting the price by discounting, could sell lots of copies and still make their money. Small bookshops folded and we get generic bookstores who shill recommendations and make money by placement. Who really profits here?
“Why is Regnery acting like a Marxist cartoon of a capitalist company?”
It's not a "marxist cartoon" - this IS how capitalism works. I thought these guys knew that. Oh, I see, they did, but true to wingnut style, it's always different when THEY are the ones getting fucked.
Yellow Elephant Safari @ 45:
I wonder how they feel about "frivolous lawsuits" and tort reform now?
Yellow Elephant Safari @ 45:
What trickles down to them from above will actually be a yellow colored fluid. That's what happens when you partner with the Commodore Vanderbilts of publishing.
You know, these guys are going to need a really good trial lawyer, but since John Edwards is running for President, I guess they're shit out of luck. Sucks to be them.
hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah - just too rich for words!
This is great stuff! Finally, the "real" news is getting a little more fun...
Just wanna know...how much is "Jillion's of dollars", exactly, like say in american dollars? Do conservatives have their own currency now?
Personally, I'm stocking up on popcorn. Can't say I will be disappointed whichever way this case turns out. After all, whoever loses a rat bastard gets screwed. Could happen to a more deserving bunch a wingnut welfare queens.
“Why is Regnery acting like a Marxist cartoon of a capitalist company?”
Um, what? They're not acting like Marxists, they are being true to profit-at-all-costs capitalism!! This is the "free market", no? That means that Regnery can charge whatever they want for their books and can sell them to whomever they want at that price. If they choose to dump their books on their book club or sell them in bulk to conservative organizations then they are well within their right to do so, even though it artificially increases their sales and falsely puts them on a "best seller" list.
If Regnery were a "Marxist" company, then there wouldn't be a problem. The workers (i.e., the authors of these terrible books) would benefit directly from the product of their labor. There wouldn't be any shareholders outside of the workers in the company to have to satisfy. No capitalist would be exploiting their labor to make a profit. A Marxist/socialist type of company would be more in the interests of the workers because it wouldn't have to fill the pockets of capitalists and the investment class.
It just goes to show you how little the conservatives really know about the world. They scream that Hillary's healthcare plan is "socialized medicine", yet it is really more of a sop to the insurance companies. They scream "Marxism" when they are exploited by their publishers - in exactly the way that these conservatives promote and encourage others to do.
If these people ever actually met a real Marxist/socialist, would they even be able to recognize him as such? If Hillary actually proposed a real socialist approach to healthcare would their heads explode? They spend so much time fighting these strawmen socialists that a real one would definitely scare the hell out of them.
destroy that company, rapture bunnies!
I quote Bruce Willis in the first 'Diehard'
"WELCOME TO THE PARTY, PAL!"
centralilgirl @ 3:
Likely so.
Karma's a bitch ain't it?
Joementum @ 8:
So true!
Regnery sold the books to itself in order to put them on the bestseller list for political reasons. You don't think any Repugs actually *read* "Unfit for Command", do you? They'd rather just wait for the movie.
Joementum @ 8:
Wait a minute- I think this is too much for my tiny little mind. Does this mean that wholly owned subsidiaries of Regnery are buying back their own books? You mean nobody in their right mind actually reads that shit? ngUg, nGug, NMghin.,...sputTTer, gAsP...
I'm with Regnery on this one. Stealing from the Shit Boaters is justified in my book -a book that won't be published by Regnery!
Perhaps they should consider starting a writer's union ...
What, another "frivolous lawsuit?" How dare they! Don't they know they'll probably put Regnery out of business. What are they thinking? Don't they remember that they are CONservative?
I don't know what these reich-wing authors are all upset about. This is their ideology at work
foron them. Criminality and predation as a business plan is the conservative/neocon/reich-wing ideal and way of doing things. That these authors are the victims this time should merely serve as an affirmation that their little universe is functioning as it should.This is just one more confirmation that sociopathy underlying source of the conservative impulse. To wit: one of the defining attributes of all sociopathy and psychopathy is that the sociopath's or psychopath's capacity for moral outrage is limited soley to what happens to their persons. And no others. They can complain against being systematically ripped off by their publishers, but I'm willing to bet that the substance of most of their books was in defense of conservative "values" and practices, such as ripping off and preying upon those they consider weak or unworthy...as if that predation were a virtue. They're pissed off that the thing they advocate made a victim out of them, but they'll turn right around and gleefully victimize some hapless other - and they'll do it without a second thought. Their morality is copletely self-centered and compartmentalized.
Since sociopathy is a choice that is repetitively made, it's kinda hard to find any sympathy for these guys.
If they're unhappy that Regnery has to shuffle the books in-house in order to make it appear as if they're selling, perhaps the authors should listen to the dictates of their beloved free market and write stuff that people are actually willing to spend money to read.
Oh, wait, they're right-wing writers. Never mind. They've got better odds trying to call the whaambulance.
xoites defends Constitution @ 22:
Soylent Green is REPUBLICANS!!
what do you call a conservative who’s come face to face with the naked face of vertically integrated capitalism?
Poor!
Seriuosly, let's get real. Those books don't sell even in book clubs and other organizations owned by the same parent company, much less "retail" outlets.
It's rightwing welfare, and now these (hack) "authors" (hack) are so dependent, I guess they want a new black Cadillac. Hacks!
If Regnery didn't "sell" it's books to Eagle Books at steep discounts, nobody would buy the books. Everyone in publishing knows that Coulter, Gertz, et all, only make it to the best seller lists because of the deceptive practice of "bulk buying" and other practices.
Free. Market.
This discount book thing is the 'Compassionate' part of compassionate conservatism. It's the conservatives way of helping the poor. Their books are available at outlets for less than the cost of bricks, so all us po' folks can use them to:
1. Hold up our pianos that have broken/missing legs we can't afford to fix,
2. Prop up those '47 DeSotos we have in our front yards until we can afford new tires for them,
3. Throw through the windows of the predatory lenders that conned us into buying $500K houses for $950K, with nothing down and payments of $100/month for 18 months, before 'readjustment of mortgage terms to current market 'value''.
Maybe Corsi should have a sit down with Coulter or Hannity and let them explain how the wingnut welfare scam works. It goes something like this: Regnery publishes your book and you get a little money up front. Regnery then dumps copies of your book in bulk on "Conservative " book clubs, thereby pumping up the sales figures of your book and consequently putting you on the NY Times "best seller" list. Now, all the corporate media outlets will pay you to come on their talkshows because you're now a bestselling author which makes you an expert and shit. It's on the talk show circuit you're supposed to make the money. What? You thought you were gonna make money on book sales TOO??? What a putz. Wanna make more money? Come out with another book and repeat the above mentioned process.
I wonder why this kind of thing doesn't happen to Stephen King or Greg Iles?
Oh - maybe it's because their books don't SUCK ASS.
Rusty Shackleford @ 73:
It's also because people actually WANT to read books by Stephen King. How many wingnuts do you know actually read the shit published by Regnery? Probably none. If your typical wingnut is familiar with any of the latest book titles by such titans of modern political thought such as Sean Hannity, Ann Coulter, Neil Boortz, etc it's because they heard them being talked about on FOX. These guys are just pissed off because they've come to the realization that it's all a scam; they're not making any royalties because nobody's actually buying the damn piece of shit books.
Is a Far-Right food fight with brie and camembert, or Vienna sausages and tater tots?
Does this affect o'really or colter any?
I'm not a porn fan but I do enjoy watching Jerome Corsi get f**ked in the ass.
gene214 @ 74:
Well the numbers don't back this up. There are a lot of people buying books through this publisher, which is why these morons are complaining about royalty allocation to a degree. And they should, they write the books. I know that Ann Coulter's last book sold like wildfire, and not just on the right. I've read many reviews by those on the left who have read it, only to have purchased it for a laugh and to be aware of the BS that's coming from the other side.
Regardless, I think this is just hilarious. Let them fight it out, maybe Michael Vick can mediate.
This gave me a good case of the lulz.
These reich wingers are always suing people. Do you think they'll accuse each other of filing a "frivolous lawsuit" at the behest of the "trial lawyers"? Hope they're not looking for a ruling from an "activist judge"!!
"Why is Regnery acting like a Marxist cartoon of a capitalist company?”
Because Marx was right?
this is too funny, they can't take what they dish out to everyone else. well, repugs go sit on the throne, something to eat will show up in your briefs soon. (all puns intended)
81 Forrest Greene Says:
“Why is Regnery acting like a Marxist cartoon of a capitalist company?”
Because Marx was right?
___________________________________________
Right about, "I don't care to belong to a club that accepts people like me as members" ?
Claiming a Leftist was Right will blow a few Right-wing circuits.
"If a conservative is a liberal who’s been mugged,
a liberal is a conservative who’s been arrested."
- Tom Wolfe
We wish capitalist companies only behaved badly in Marxist cartoons. Without government oversight bad corporate citizens would probably be the norm rather than a minority.
Preacher Boob @ 38:
Exactly. What's hilarious about this is that one of these authors just happened to notice after the fact that his royalties didn't seem to match his sales, and then contacted his fellow free-marketers.
Didn't they have agents and/or lawyers to write proper contracts for them? The publishing business is not rocket science. This wasn't some complicated scam. Anybody with a brain could have negotiated a deal compelling full disclosure of all sales, discounts, distributions via subsidiaries, and different royalty rates.
Fuckwits.
Blue Buddha @ 29:
Over at Ann Coulter's site, consevative books are $1 each. That sure helps boost sales, I'm sure. I used the "contact us" button, and left a message saying, "I had wanted to buy some, but thought they were overpriced." tee hee. That's the kinda guy I am.
Ian McGarrett @ 14:
B I N G O !!!
These "conservative" writers would not even be blips on the radar if their hackery wasn't massively discounted and then forcibly distributed as a form of "socialist welfare" in the first place.
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