Jonah Goldberg’s last book, Liberal Fascism, entered the New York Times bestseller list at #10, went to #3 the following week, and went to #1 five weeks later.
His new book? Well, it came on the list at #24. And I’ve seen the new list, which will appear on the Times Web site this weekend, and it’s rocketed all the way up to … #23.
If you’re the publisher of this book, for which you paid a reported million-dollar advance, this is not good. If you’re the author, who gets to keep that advance, well, you’re failing all the way to the bank.
Did Goldberg get sidetracked by bad reviews? By that story about his inflated claim of two Pulitzer nominations? I doubt it — his audience doesn’t take all that “liberal media” hate seriously (or sees it as a badge of honor). I think it’s just that The Tyranny of Cliches: How Liberals Cheat in the War of Ideas is a far less blood-stirring title for wingnuts than Liberal Fascism. Or it could be that the wingers actually read Liberal Fascism and thought it was a ridiculous, implausible hack job…. Nahhh — impossible. I’m going with the title.
(X-posted at No More Mister Nice Blog.)