I’m happy to report The First Hollywood has been nominated for a 2008 Florida Book Award. The awards are coordinated by Florida State University and co-sponsored by the Florida Historical Society, the State Library and Archives of Florida, and the Florida Literary Arts Coalition. TFH was nominated in the category of non-fiction, and faces some stiff competition (no really - I’m up against a book about the history of Tupperware. Those containers are impossible to tear). Check out the competition here.
My publicity agent at the University Press of Florida warned me not to keep tabs on my book through Amazon.com. She said Amazon’s system for book rankings was a beast unto itself, and bared no true measure of a book’s success. But nevertheless there I am every day, pulling up the site, watching TFH’s ranking skyrocket and plummet like the Dow Jones. After the piece in the Hollywood Reporter, I’m the 20th most popular book about Florida! How did I drop to 620,467th two days later? Sometimes I check my ranking three or four daily. I’m an Amazon junkie. I’m an Amazunkie.
But Amazon’s convoluted ranking system has also given me a false sense of greatness and immortality. Turns out my book is ranked above some of the greatest works of American literature and reporting ever inked on the page. So thanks to Amazon, I have compiled a list of books The First Hollywood is better than. Any questions/concerns/criticisms should be directed to Jeff Bezos.
* Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck (Amazon ranking: 301,766)
* The Collected Short Stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald (663,328)
* The Catcher in the Rye - Cliffs Notes (211,118)
* The Kama Sutra Year: 52 Sensational Positions for Erotic Pleasure (unranked)
* The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Sewing (439,033)
© 2008 Shawn C. Bean.
All Rights reserved.