Glenn Beck, the New Patron Saint of Thriller Writing?

I suspect reading Motoko Rich's story on "the Glenn Beck effect" on thriller writers might have caused a trace of discomfort among many writers and publishing industry types. It's certainly different than a spot on Oprah, or Craig Ferguson, or NPR, or the Daily Show or the Colbert Report, as those media outlets lean more towards the left, or the comedic, or keep politics to a minimum, let alone whip up a frenzy of cartoonish propaganda Warner Bros. would have balked at during the apex of World War II.

But publishing casts about for anyone resembling a savior, someone whose recommendations will lead to the magic elixir of book sales. Even Oprah's own transformative powers have decreased this year (picking a short story collection that, while exceedingly well-written, centers around poverty and violence in Africa) So now Glenn Beck, that "outspoken media darling of populist conservatism," gets his turn.

There are a number of interesting takeaways, the first being the types of books Beck gravitates towards and who is writing them. They are, by and large, thrillers that hinge more on elaborate plot twists, conspiracies and grand schemes, featuring protagonists who are more absolutist (what they do is good, who they battle is bad, with little room for grey areas or introspection) and more conservative in outlook. In the past couple of years, Beck's interviewed David Baldacci, James Patterson, Brad Thor, Ted Bell, Andrew Gross, Brad Meltzer, Vince Flynn, Christopher Reich and Daniel Silva, among others - in other words, it's like Beck has a line into the upper echelons of ITW. (The most notable absence at first blush would be Lee Child, but consider that the first of his Reacher novels to top the NYT list, NOTHING TO LOSE, was also the most heavily criticized by the right.) Beck definitely has a line into what his viewers - especially the 800,000-odd people in the coveted 25-54 demographic - might be interested in reading. Chances are they are not avid book buyers, lucky to put a couple of hundred bucks' total into publishers' coffers.

Beck's viewership also skews predominately towards white males, and at the risk of gross overgeneralization, fall into the stereotypical category of those who shy away from reading books outside their own gender (or ethnic and cultural worldview.) I didn't search through Beck's entire interview archive of radio programs and tv episodes, but at least since he's moved over to FOXNews, he doesn't appear to have talked with a female thriller writer. Not doing so cuts off access to the larger, predominantly female book-buying demographic, but they aren't really Beck's audience - and I'm not sure he's all that interested in catering to that particular group.

Increasing overall ratings is certainly of high priority - 3 million or so watch Beck daily, a loud minority that's only about 1% of America's total population. (Such is cable television.) But to put things in perspective, that's a phenomenal number of potential book buyers. So no wonder William Morrow attributes Beck as the reason James Rollins' THE DOOMSDAY KEY stayed on the NYT bestseller list longer than they anticipated, since all it takes to stay on the list is a steady sales stream of several thousand copies per week.

But then comes the proverbial problem: now that Rich's story has run, will Beck's producers be besieged by writers wanting to appear on his show? And if they don't share Beck's views, or deviate considerably from them, will they run into similar situations as befaced Andrew Gross?

"I'll get people who are obviously fans of his who write me e-mails, saying, 'I paid $27 for this, and I didn't want to buy a bunch of lefty [shit,] Mr. Gross said. “And then I get calls from people on the left who say, 'I've always liked your books but now that I see you have an association with Glenn Beck, I'm reconsidering.'"

Mr. Gross said he defended himself to both sides. "Invariably, I've had people who said, 'I wasn't going to read it because I saw it was endorsed by Glenn Beck,'" he said. "And I've pushed them to hold their judgment. And several of them have written back and said, 'I take it back.'"

In other words, Beck's reach works because it's self-selecting to his chosen audience, and when there's a sales bump of a certain author's titles, the publisher beams. Threshold, the conservative imprint of Simon & Schuster, will have plenty of occasion to do just that when Beck's own thriller (still untitled) is released next spring. But move outside that self-selection bubble and the happy scenario may play out far, far differently. It's a dance that requires a great deal of delicacy - a far cry from Beck's own outsized, button-pushing persona.

Comments

[Edward Champion]

It's certainly an intriguing development, and it makes me wonder if other hosts along these lines (Olbermann and Maddow) will book more authors to pick up the slack. The real question for publishers is whether or not a Glenn Beck appearance will sell books. I do think you've hit it on the head by distinguishing between books that entertain versus books that enlighten. I'd love to see more talk shows devote their airtime to both. But if an audience is turning in to have its politics confirmed, perhaps it won't matter so much. Then again, if an author appearance can move even a few more units, that's a significant boost for an industry that sometimes gauges success in hundreds rather than thousands.

[Jeff Abbott]

I think he's already pretty besieged by publicists promoting thrillers; this isn't news to anyone promoting a thriller that he's into them. Interestingly, his producers approached me; my books had been recommended to them by another author. I appeared on his CNN Headline show while promoting COLLISION, and while his first question to me was a political one (about military contractors, which is an element in the book where I present both sides of the issue of how involved they should be in wars), the rest of his questions weren't really political at all. I got the sense he just loves thrillers and likes promoting them. In prepping for the show I watched tapes of other authors appearances and he seemed just as excited about the books by authors he might politically disagree with (Andrew Gross, as mentioned in the article, they disagree about what constitutes torture) as he did those that were more conservative.

Re his audience, at least half the emails I got after appearing on the show were from women. And I don't recall the numbers, but the hits on my website after he interviewed me went up significantly, and stayed up for days. (He also does a weekly email newsletter that goes out to a huge subscriber list, with links to interviews and to author sites.) I did get some negative feedback for having been on the show from readers who dislike Beck; I just made sure they knew when I was interviewed on Air America for TRUST ME.

[Jason Pinter]

I've encountered this (on a smaller scale) since I started writing for the Huffington Post - as you noted yesterday. I've gotten a bunch of emails and responses on Twitter essentially saying, "I used to like your books until I realized you were a leftist commie pig." And my response, like Andrew's, has been, "Please actually read what I write and then make your decision." A few have taken it back, but I have also (sniff) lost a few followers on Twitter. When it comes to entertainment, I think folks on the left and right have far more in common than they want to or are willing to admit. And as much as I loathe Beck's histrionics, he is pretty much the only mainstream television host who promotes thrillers regularly and embraces the genre.

[Edward Champion]

Jason: I'm sorry to hear that. If it's any consolation, since Obama's inauguration day, I've had uptight liberals get their panties in a twist because I tell the truth (and often criticize inert Democratic policy from the left). And I've had right-wing demagogues confuse my outspokenness with libertarianism. These are strange times to have a voice, particularly when cartoons like Beck are fashionable. But your voice is needed. I suspect the hostility you allude to (and November's election results) has more to do with people trying to another source to blame in this terrible recession, which has hurt so many.

[Ralph H.]

There are plenty of thriller writers out there that I would put above those interviewed by Beck. I confess, I read a few books by those guys and in many cases they work on their own terms -- narrative, pacing, even character development on occasion -- but anyone who thinks that Daniel Silva, for example, has anything useful to say about the Arab-Israeli conflict is deluding themself. Same with Vince Flynn and the GWOT.

[Neil Nyren]

I think Jeff and Jason are right -- Beck just likes thrillers, and as someone deeply involved in thriller-publishing, I'm happy to have any outlet that'll sell books effectively. God knows we need them. It was kind of amusing, actually, to find that the Times had "discovered" something that those of us who do thrillers had known for a good while!

[David J. Montgomery]

I was at an ITW cocktail party a couple years ago at ThrillerFest. It was a small affair with only a couple dozen authors, including James Patterson, Jeff Deaver, Clive Cussler, people like that. Also attending were two bookers from the Glen Beck show. They were talking to everyone and seemed really enthusiastic and happy to be meeting folks. (I'd never even heard of Glen Beck at that point, I have to admit.) So, as is often the case with Times' reporting on publishing, this ain't nuttin new.

[Sarah]

@David & Neil - In defense of the NYT, what's not new to a small select group suddenly becomes "new" to a national audience because a particular story gets a national angle. So sure, I know I had more than a vague awareness that thriller writers were being booked on Glenn Beck's show, but until he moved over to FOX, he didn't have a gigantic, lightning-rod national profile. Now that he does, his love of thrillers takes on a whole extra and stakes-raising sheen for both publishers and a national audience.

The larger question is what this means in terms of future guests. Will Beck stick with his bread and butter, or will he branch out? Will he book some female authors, for example, or continue to steer clear? And will there be potential damage for authors who, like Andrew Gross, may not share the political views of Beck and his audience?

Not to mention all these questions take on greater importance if this afternoon's news that Oprah's going to move her show to her own pay tv channel as of 2011, which could backfire in the way that Richard & Judy leaving Channel 4 for a smaller pay network did in the UK. So we'll see.

[Keith Thomson]

A thriller writer, I was effectively conscious of the Glenn Beck effect the very moment I was asked to write my first Huffington Post column in 2008. That was 35 columns ago. Sure, prospective interview subjects slam the phone down on me while I'm saying, "The Huffintgton Po—" And it's annoying because I've always tried to be an objective reporter, if only for fear of partisan blowback one way or the other.

But I concluded there's a line you can't cross; I think of it as the Tylenol Line. The 1982 case showed a juncture where all press ceases to be good press. With regard to the aforementioned forums for thriller writers, I don't see the line being crossed. We're good either way.

And for what it's worth: Lately, most interview subjects—including some of the hardest of hardcore snack-on-scrap-metal hawk-types—are afraid NOT to take calls for the Huffington Post.