Oprah, Pick Me!

There’s a cliché in public relations: Is Any Publicity Good Publicity? Getting your name and product in front of the people means sales. Supposedly that works even when the name is attached to less than favorable comments.

For those who haven’t thought through the numbers, let me point out that there are thousands of books published each year in the United States. Most of them will sell in the thousands if they have something to say and are reasonably well written. Typically royalties to the author hover around a couple of bucks per copy. If you do the math, you’ll find out that flipping burgers at the local fast-food drive-through will pay you more per hour than getting a book published. The rewards for writing aren’t in dollars usually, they are in the feedback from folks who read and enjoy your tales.

Occasionally, however, lightning strikes. Get a couple of good reviews and your book may move. Get reviews in a major publication like the Wall Street Journal (that happened to me with “When Thunder Rolled”) or the New York Times and you sell a lot of books. Get an endorsement from Oprah and for some reason you’ll sell millions. That translates to a lot of money.

That is why the “A Million Little Pieces” is getting so much attention. Oprah recommended it and James Frey has made millions. That’s why it is so disappointing to those of us who right our memoirs and don’t reap the windfall. What’s his story? Well, he was a drunk and a druggie who went to rehab. On the way down to rock-bottom, he had painful experiences. On the way back, he experienced a moral and spiritual rebirth. Oh yeah, and a lot of the story is pure fiction—lies if you will.

Maybe Oprah should take a look at “When Thunder Rolled” or in two months at “Palace Cobra” when it is released. There are no criminals, thugs, drunks or druggies in the stories. But, at least they are true. There are heroes and patriots, but maybe Oprah doesn’t like that kind of person. There’s a war and a lot of men fighting and dying, but maybe her audience doesn’t think that sort of thing is admirable. There are conflicts and challenges as Americans fight their fears and cope with the need to do unimaginable things in the service of their country. But, why would someone respect those guys?

My memoirs are true, but the probability of Oprah reading them is pretty low. That’s okay with me. I like the guy who looks back from the mirror in the mornings. He still tells the truth.
When Thunder Rolled on Amazon
Palace Cobra on Amazon