Shyster reviewers
Occasionally I buy up all the "new" copies of The Well-Tempered Clavier that are going on Amazon and Abebooks.
These are the copies that are going for two or three quid, and which - even with postage - are one hell of a sight cheaper than buying them from Idle Tom the Publisher.
The reason why I’m buying up these books, of course, is to scatter them around the world like confetti.
Just need one big, big player to read the book, and to think "You know, maybe this thing could be turned into a film" … or even, "Maybe this would be just perfect for Oprah".
Anyway, last week I was snapping up books all over the place on Amazon. Had a huge splurge, and can now verify that the very cheapest Clavier you can buy is about £2.50. I think it’s good for quality control if I bag all the £1 cheapos myself.
Today, this tranche of Clavier books started thudding through the letter-box.
One thing that’s slightly unnerving though is that all but one of them have already been signed by me.
I’ve realised they must be the review copies that we sent out nine months ago.
These shysters must see review books as nothing more than a bit of spare pocket-money.
Imagine if every week you’ve got another 30 books to review. Hawk 95 per cent of them on Amazon, and that’s £50 in your pocket. Sod-bunkers!