28 January 2008

Fate of Publishing Industry Depends on Dan Brown's Next Book... As A Man























Dan Brown's 2003 novel "The Da Vinci Code" was the biggest publishing event in decades, a global best-seller that spawned dozens of literary knockoffs, a cottage industry of explanatory nonfiction titles, and a vast European tourism business focused on sites mentioned in the book.

Now that stupid Harry Potter — the only bigger publishing phenomenon of the age —is retired, no book has been as eagerly awaited as Brown's next novel, "The Solomon Key", purported to be about freemasonry and the Founding Fathers. The problem is, it is still awaited...and awaited...and awaited.


Bob Wietrak, VP of merchandising at Barnes & Noble says the nation's biggest retailers can barely restrain themselves. "We're constantly asking", he says, as desperately as an overdrawn millionaire can sound.



And from today's Wall Street Journal:
The whole industry is impatient. Book sales are generally sluggish, and one explosive, high-profile title can jump-start sales across the board as customers pour into the stores and walk out with a bagful of titles. When Bertelsmann AG reports 2007 results in March, it will be the first time since 2002 that it didn't get a boost from "The Da Vinci Code."”
Yes, yes, yes but did you know it wasn't always peaches and cream for Dan Brown...

In fact, unable to get a book deal from anyone and desperate back in 1995 he published the hideous "187 Men to Avoid: A Survival Guide for the Romantically Frustrated Woman" under the pseudonym Danielle Brown!

This was many years before Brown concocted the cozy and convenient memory that while he was growing up, on birthdays and Christmas, he and his siblings were led on elaborate treasure hunts to find their gifts following cryptic clues and codes left by their father and that led him to writing The Da Vinci Code.

Brown has since told fans that he uses inversion therapy to help with writer's block. He uses gravity boots and says, “hanging upside down seems to help me solve plot challenges by shifting my entire perspective.”





1 comment:

Anonymous said...

So sad for the man "hanging upside down" It is evident that somebody recognized his tips: "Reverse text", "we need a mirror" "Cryptology 101" "shifting the entire perspective”. "The Dan Brown Code" has been published (El Código Dan Brown por Leonardo da Vinci –Only in Spanish-) and this one seems to be inspired by "da Vinci" itself. He who laughs last laughs longest.