Stephen Colbert has a new way to 'really show Amazon'

When Colbert asked viewers to pre-order Hachette author Edan Lepucki's upcoming novel 'California,' the book shot to the top of independent bookstore Powell's sales list. Now Colbert asks fans to help him get the book on The New York Times bestseller list.

|
Amanda Schwab/Starpix/AP
Stephen Colbert recently suggested a new tactic to his viewers if they want to 'really show Amazon.'

Stephen Colbert is stepping up his fight against Amazon. 

The “Colbert Report” host publishes his books through Hachette, which was reportedly involved in negotiations with Amazon when Amazon first increased shipping times for some Hachette titles and then took “buy book” buttons off upcoming Hachette titles altogether. For example, the novel “The Silkworm” by Robert Galbraith (J.K. Rowling’s pen name) was made unavailable for pre-order, with customers’ only option being to sign up for an e-mail alert when they could get it. Now that “Silkworm” has been released, it’s listed as “Currently Unavailable.”

Hachette spokesperson Sophie Cottrell said the longer shipping terms weren’t caused by problems on their end and that Amazon is taking longer to deliver some Hachette items “for reasons of their own,” while Amazon, in a later statement, said that the company “encourage[s] you to purchase a new or used version [of an unavailable Hachette title] from one of our third-party sellers or from one of our competitors.”

On a recent episode of Colbert’s show, he brought up the dispute. Colbert’s newest book, “America Again,” is currently listed as taking between three to five weeks to reach customers. 

When he first brought it up, Colbert informed Amazon that he had “a little package” for them from himself and other authors like Rowling and showed his middle fingers to the camera. The host then spoke with “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” writer Sherman Alexie, who also publishes through Hachette. Alexie noted that the Amazon-Hachette dispute makes it particularly hard for first-time writers to get the word out about their books. To help a debut novelist, he suggested that customers seek out the novel “California” by Edan Lepucki. Colbert asked viewers to go to the author's website and pre-order Lepucki’s novel, which will be released on July 8, to purchase it there via a link from Oregon bookstore Powell’s Books.

“California” quickly became the bestselling title on the Powell’s website, and now Colbert is giving his fans another goal: get “California” on The New York Times bestseller list, saying that doing so will “really show Amazon.”

The host said viewers could buy the novel through his website or could go to an independent bookstore like Nashville store Parnassus Books (owned by novelist Ann Patchett), Washington D.C.’s Politics and Prose, or Rainy Day Books of Kansas. 

“Or go to your local bookstore, walk up to the counter, and just click on the clerk,” Colbert suggested.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to Stephen Colbert has a new way to 'really show Amazon'
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Books/chapter-and-verse/2014/0613/Stephen-Colbert-has-a-new-way-to-really-show-Amazon
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe