How did we sink to this? I have to admit that it doesn't surprise me because the world's mass culture seems to sink to a new low on a weekly basis, but I'm impressed with the speed in which this piece of junk is being rushed back onto the market.
"I just thought, so much has happened in the ten years since the first book came out that it would make a good trade paperback," Carole Stuart, the publisher of Barricade Books, told the Times. "Then of course last week she dies. And so we suddenly got really, really attractive to the distributors and book buyers." She added: "We didn't kill her or anything."
I've been pretty much aware that Anna Nicole Smith existed for a long time but I tried to ignore her because, frankly, I was always embarrassed when she claimed Houston as her home. I never could figure out what she did to earn her fame other than to take her clothes off for the cameras, prostitute herself with a man old enough to be her grandfather, make a public nuisance of herself in various stages of drunkenness or seem constantly to be on the verge of a drug overdose. I was saddened to see her lifestyle suddenly catch up with her but I was hoping that she would go quietly. I should have known better.
I had not really heard of her this side of the pond until her death. I feel really sorry for her baby; I just hope she is brought up in a 'normal' family environment.
ReplyDeleteAs for this book: we have had tabloid TV for a generation, now we have a tabloid book trade. I bet there will be no shortage of buyers.
Nick, it's good to hear from you.
ReplyDeleteThe woman was generally a disgrace, exactly what makes for mindless television and trash newspapers and magazines, but somehow or another it bothers me more to think that ANY book publisher would waste paper on her, even one as small as Barricade Books must be.
My manager told me that companys have bios ready to go on most every celebrity, and they just update them when something happens. That way, as soon as they're dead, the book's ready to go to print and be on the shelves in a week or two. I'm actually torn between awe and total disgust. As for Anna Nicole Smith, I just don't get why she was a celebrity in the first place. We haven't had any books about her in the store yet, but I am morbidly interested to see how they sell.
ReplyDeleteThey will sell, Anne, to the same people who are glued to Entertainment Tonight every night. We've turned into a society of celebrity worshipers and that is just sick. I realize that the world has always been that way to a degree but we've taken that sick worship to a new level in recent years.
ReplyDeleteHow else to explain that I even know who Paris Hilton, Anna Nicole Smith, Britney Spears, etc. even are? You just can't avoid those idiots no matter how worthless they really are.
That's an interesting concept: instant biographies. I guess it should surprise me, but it doesn't. It's just another symptom of what's so wrong about all of this "hero worship" that we suffer. And, saddest of all, it's really just all about how much money can be shaken form those who are gullible enough to think that those losers are cool.
''it bothers me more to think that ANY book publisher would waste paper on her, even one as small as Barricade Books must be.''
ReplyDeleteTherein lies the problem Sam, it's not only small bottom feeder publishers who are involved. Judith Regan? I cannot be alone in my feelings of disgust that a mainstream publisher would give money to OJ Simpson: that was a disgrace.
I understand she was also planning a hatchet job on Mickey Mantle; who even I know was regarded as a baseball great, and very much an American icon
Thankfully, Judith Regan got exactly what she deserved...although she's now suing for millions of dollars. I suppose that this is nothing new but I do find it very irritating to have to make a conscious effort to avoid being exposed to the likes of Anna Nicole Smith, O.J. Simpson, Britney Spears...the whole lot of trash like them.
ReplyDelete