By Marco Perez, LifeZette:
Why did The New York Times slight the second best-selling nonfiction paperback book in the nation from its renowned best-sellers list?
Nielsen Bookscan ranked “The Deplorables’ Guide to Making America Great Again” by Todd Starnes the second best-selling nonfiction paperback in the nation. The book, however, was left off The New York Times best-seller list.
The book by Starnes was named to at least three other best-seller lists, including those at USA Today, Publisher’s Weekly and the Conservative Book Club. The book has also been ranked a best-seller by Amazon.
As the publisher and executive vice president at Charisma House, which released Starnes’ book on Feb. 7, I’m appalled by the subjective nature of this decision to exclude the book from the best-seller list. After the great success of the book’s launch and the great news that we debuted on the USA Today and Publishers Weekly lists, we contacted The New York Times for clarity as to why the book did not make its best-seller list when our sales numbers were clearly reflective of a successful book.
The response from The Times indicated the book did not meet a separate, “proprietary” set of qualifications — even though sales were organic, legitimate and the result of a comprehensive sales and marketing campaign weeks and months prior to the launch to drive individual sales of the book.
“The Deplorables’ Guide” also outsold nine of the 10 books in the paperback nonfiction list for the week ending Feb. 12, 2017.
Said literary agent Frank Breeden, “We were surprised to see that The New York Times didn’t include Todd’s book on its nonfiction, paperback best-seller list. Nielsen Bookscan ranked his ‘Deplorables’ Guide’ as the second best-selling paperback title that same week.”
Breeden represents Starnes’ literary affairs — and pointed out that “The Deplorables’ Guide” outsold the other nine titles on the Times’ nonfiction list.
“The Deplorables’ Guide to Making America Great Again” is full of Starnes’ signature wit, soul-stirring true stories and practical ways the “Deplorables” can fight to restore traditional American values.
“The overall theme of my new book is that change may start at the White House, but it finishes at your house,” said Starnes. “Winning was just the beginning. The election is over and the inauguration regalia is wearing off, but there is still work to do. With the election of Donald Trump, the American people have spoken, potentially saving the Supreme Court and vowing to defend American sovereignty.”
Starnes has been at Fox News Radio for more than a decade. His commentary each day is heard on hundreds of radio stations, and his syndicated column is read by millions. He is a frequent contributor on many Fox News Channel and Fox Business Network programs.
Social science researcher George Barna included Starnes as one of the top media influencers for evangelical Christians in the 2016 presidential election.
Starnes has covered some of the biggest stories of the past decade — from presidential campaigns to the culture wars — interviewing an array of newsmakers and celebrities. Starnes is the author of three other books, including “God Less America,” a collection of essays documenting the war on religious liberty — and is the recipient of a regional RTNDA Edward R. Murrow Award and the Associated Press Mark Twain Award for Storytelling.
In 2014, Starnes was awarded the National Religious Broadcaster’s Board of Directors Award. He is also the recipient of First Liberty Institute’s “Defender of the Faith” award, Vision America’s “National Hero of the Faith” award, Bott Radio Network’s “Watchman on the Wall” award and Pacific Justice Institute’s “Light in Media Award.” Starnes is a frequent speaker at churches, Christian conferences, and Christian universities.
He has delivered messages at the Ronald Reagan Ranch, the Billy Graham Training Center and the Family Research Council’s Values Voter Summit.
Here are a few brief quotes from his book, “The Deplorables’ Guide to Making America Great Again,” which show the appeal of the message here — and why it’s been taking off:
