JOE McGINNISS

Crown Publishing, currently the strongest division of Random House, Inc., has made yet another decision with which I agree.

They have decided not to send out pre-publication galleys of  THE ROGUE to review outlets and mass media.

They’ve printed only seventy-five galleys and are keeping them locked in a safe in their offices in New York.

I myself have received only one copy.

A very few magazine editors and executive producers of national TV shows will be shown a redacted version,  but only after they sign stringent, legally binding, non-disclosure agreements.

Very seldom does a publisher decide to embargo a book in this fashion.

Crown has chosen to do so because THE ROGUE contains revelations about Sarah Palin that neither they nor I want to have leaked before the September 20 publication.

As interest builds, a lot of people in national media are clamoring for an advance look.

Crown has weighed the ups and downs of a total embargo and has decided that in this case–given that some of the content will make headlines as soon as it’s revealed–it’s the only way to go.

I agree completely.

There’s some stuff we just don’t want to see online a month before THE ROGUE reaches bookstores around the country.

My wife and editor, Nancy Doherty, has read the book (Nancy having helped enormously to make it better than it would have been without her.)  My lawyer, Dennis Holahan, and my agent Dave Larabell, of the David Black Agency, have also read it.  As have, of course, the chosen few at Crown Publishing who are responsible for the book’s successful publication.

Normally, an author wants to see his book disseminated as widely as possible before publication, to build interest.

But in this case, some of the content is simply too sensitive to risk premature disclosure.

I’ve given only one other writer an advance look. I chose her because I admire her and trust her and because she’s never had anything to do with Sarah Palin, so she read it with an outsider’s perspective.

First, she tweeted:

…just finished your book. Holy shit. Must collect thoughts & write longer email. Suffice to say haven’t stopped thinking about it.

I wrote her to say that I hoped she meant “Holy shit” in a good way.

She replied by email:

Yes that Holy Shit was a good one.
Great one in fact.
It was is so compelling- I just devoured it. Woke up thinking of it, went to bed thinking of it.
It makes everything clear about her…The deconstruction of her religious beliefs is terrifying and shocking. I had no idea there was a fringe element called dominionists, nor did I know about this business about demon-controlled cities, and the need to destroy them…It’s a very frightening mass delusion.

I love how you grounded the whole story with your own experiences in Alaska- past and present. It was the perfect refresher, in all the right spots, to the lightless persona of SP.

This is a real tour de force and I imagine will set off a lot of depth charges. I hope you are prepared for the onslaught from her camp.

You’ve done a great service, apart from writing a great biography.
If people wake up to the insidious nature of these fringe fundamentalists then maybe her power and those like her will start to dissipate.

And apart from all that, it was just a great read.

And so Crown and I move forward to Sept. 20.  Without Crown’s approval, I can’t share any details about the shows I’ll be appearing on, but suffice it that I won’t be hard to find on either network or cable TV, nor on radio, nor in the press, nor at online sites via interviews in late September and October.

The people at Crown–including publisher Molly Stern, editorial director Charlie Conrad, senior executive director of publicity David Drake, publicity director Annsley Rosner, marketing director Patty Berg, associate director of online sales and marketing Jacob Bronstein (who, for you FATAL VISION fans, is the son of Dr. Merrill Bronstein, who treated Jeffrey MacDonald in the emergency room at Fort Bragg’s Womack Hospital on Feb. 17, 1970, and testified at MacDonald’s 1979 trial), and, far from least, Matthew Martin, vice president and associate general counsel, Random House–are by far the best I’ve ever worked with over my twelve-book, forty-plus year career as an author.

Together, we’ll bring you the truth about Sarah Palin.