It's not easy to sell books in this flashy era of MTV and inane blockbuster movies like Water Boy. People seldom read, and when they do their attention span seems barely long enough to focus on mini-books like Robert Waller's Bridges of Madison County, or no-brainers like John Grisham's legal thrillers. So what's a poor publisher to do?

Market, that's what. Only how do you market a book when so few people want to take the trouble to read?

Most major movies, no matter how rotten they might be, gross several million dollars their opening weekend.