The Barbara Walters Memoir ‘Embargo’ Was Even More Meaningless Than Most
On her Tumblr, which is obviously where I get most of my news, the Observer‘s Doree Shafrir bitches that the Times ran their review of Barbara Walters‘ memoir ‘Audition’ yesterday despite Knopf’s explicit warning that no reviews should run before May 6. “It’s sort of bullying of a paper like the Times to publish their review first, just because they can. It’s not like Knopf is never going to send Janet Maslin another book,” she points out.
But it’s also worth noting that the book’s gossipiest revelations — like the news of Walters’affair with a senator — broke much earlier in a non-review context, despite the embargo. Of course it’s publicists’ job to position books cleverly, but it does seem unfair to leak buzzy details strategically while telling reviewers they must hold off on writing about the book. This just makes it obvious that the only point of an embargo is to focus review coverage around pub in a way that will create a sales spike that boosts bestseller-list chances. Scandalous.
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