So the real trick in publishing is to get regular folks talking about your book, right? I’ve noticed over the past couple of years a few things have generated some buzz. For instance, J.K. Rowling trying to publish under a pseudonym. Then her pseudonym got outted (mysteriously!) right before the book came out. For that matter, the whole “Interview” story about “oh, we got hacked, now we’re cancelling the movie release, oh, whoops, we uncancelled it the day of, go figure” always struck me as at least partially calculated. Or, remember when Stephen Colbert got involved in the Amazon-Hachette fight and suddenly he recommended everyone buy CALIFORNIA from Hachette?

So are we going to start seeing more of this P.T. Barnum stuff? Let leak on the internet some story about chicanery within the industry, and the poor little book you’re representing/selling happens to be in the middle, and suddenly that book is on everyone’s lips? I doubt such trickery would be sustainable, and it might be an even bigger issue if it got out (or even more exposure?) but it could probably light a few fires.