A day before Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Poizner's book "Mount Pleasant" hits bookstores, it's already climbed up the Amazon bestseller list, reaching number two yesterday and currently sitting at number six.
That puts the book, which focuses on Poizner's time volunteering at a San Jose high school, in the company of such bestsellers as Fox News host Sean Hannity's "Conservative Victory: Defeating Obama's Radical Agenda" and several of late Swedish writer Stieg Larsson's "The Girl Who..." books.
Asked to explain the Poizner book's unexpectedly high ranking, campaign spokesman Jarrod Agen responded in an e-mail: "It's good news for Mount Pleasant High School, since the proceeds will go to the school." As The Bee reported, the book has upset some at the school.
Not to doubt Poizner's publishing feat, it does seem the campaign has sent out quite a few complimentary copies, including to teachers at Mount Pleasant and to The Bee's Capitol Bureau, which received at least four copies.
According to California Watch, the book had ranked 256,726 on Amazon's list on Thursday.
And an article by Marion Maneker of Slate's The Big Money Web site finds that such Amazon rankings are vulnerable to manipulation. Amazon had not yet responded to a phone message seeking comment about the bestsellers list this morning.
"At the very top -- rankings No. 1 to No. 10 -- a book could be selling 3,000 to 10,000 copies a week through the Internet retailer," Maneker writes. "So all it takes is, say, 500 to 1,000 copies manhandled through the system on a single day to get your book into the top ranks."
Then again, "Mount Pleasant" could signal a literary superstar in the making.
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