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Part 5: The Making of a Best-Selling Author
Costly Strategy Continues to Turn Out Bestsellers
Los Angeles Times, June 24-29,
1990 (six-part series)
Joel Sappell and Robert W. Welkos
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Thursday, 28 June 1990
Call it one of the most remarkable success stories in modern publishing
history.
Since late 1985, at least 20 books by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard have
become bestsellers.
In March of 1988, nearly four decades after its initial publication,
Hubbard's "Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health" was No. 1 on
virtually every best-seller list in the country — including the New York Times.
Ten hardcover science fiction novels Hubbard completed before his death four
years ago also became bestsellers, four of them simultaneously on some lists.
The selling of L. Ron Hubbard was envisioned, planned and executed by members
of the Church of Scientology, who say that worldwide sales of Hubbard's books
have topped 93 million. The sales have been fueled by a radio and TV advertising
blitz virtually unprecedented in book circles, and has put on the map a Los
Angeles publishing firm that eight years ago did not even exist.
In some cases, sales of Hubbard's books apparently got an extra boost from
Scientology followers and employees of the publishing firm. Showing up at major
book outlets like B. Dalton and Waldenbooks, they purchased armloads of
Hubbard's works, according to former employees.
As a writer, Hubbard was extremely prolific. He wrote short stories. He wrote
books. He wrote screenplays. And, for more than 30 years, he wrote thousands of
directives and scores of personal improvement courses that form the doctrine of
Scientology.
The promotion of Hubbard's books is part of a costly and calculated campaign
by the movement to gain respect, influence and, ultimately, new members. In the
process, Hubbard's followers hope to refurbish his controversial image and
position him as one of the world's great humanitarians and thinkers.
Hubbard's writings have become a means by which to spread his name in a
society that often equates celebrity with credibility. It is not with whimsy
that the church often calls its spiritual father "New York Times best-selling
author L. Ron Hubbard."
The church once summed up the strategy in a letter recruiting Scientologists
for Hubbard's public relations team, an operation that thrives despite his
death. Sign up now, the letter urged, and "make Ron the most acclaimed and
widely known author of all time."
But apparently Hubbard's followers have not trusted sales of his books
entirely to the fickle winds of the marketplace.
Sheldon McArthur, former manager of B. Dalton Booksellers on Hollywood
Boulevard in Los Angeles, said, "Whenever the sales seem to slacken and a
(Hubbard) book goes off the bestsellers list, give it a week and we'll get these
people coming in buying 50 to 100 to 200 copies at a crack — cash only."
After Hubbard's first novel, a Western adventure called "Buckskin Brigades,"
was re-released in 1987, the book "just sat there," recalled McArthur, whose
store was across from a Scientology center.
"Then, in one week, it was gone," he said. "We started getting calls asking,
'You got 'Buckskin Brigades?'" I said, 'Sure, we got them.' 'You got a hundred
of them?' 'Sure,' I said, 'here's a case.'"
Gary Hamel, B. Dalton's former manager at Santa Monica Place, had similar
experiences. He said that "10 people would come in at a time and buy quantities
of them and they would pay cash."
Hamel also speculated that some copies of a Hubbard science fiction novel
were sold more than once.
He said that while he was working at the B. Dalton in Hollywood, some books
shipped by Hubbard's publishing house arrived with B. Dalton price stickers
already on them. He said this indicated to him that the books had been purchased
at one of the chain's outlets, then returned to the publishing house and shipped
out for resale before anyone thought to remove the stickers.
"We would order more books and … they'd come back with our sticker as if they
were bought by the publisher," Hamel said.
Hubbard's U.S. publisher is Bridge Publications Inc., founded and controlled
by Scientologists — something that Bridge does not publicize. Company officials
refused to be interviewed about book sales or any facet of the firm's
operations.
But former employees alleged in interviews with The Times that Bridge
encouraged and, at times, bankrolled the book-buying scheme.
Mike Gonzales, a non-church member who worked in accounts receivable, said
one supervisor gave him hundreds of dollars for weekend forays into bookstores.
In one month alone, he said, he bought and returned to Bridge 43 books in
Hubbard's "Mission Earth" science fiction series. And, according to Gonzales, he
was not alone.
"We had 15 to 20 people going all over L.A.," he said.
During a shopping spree at B. Dalton in the Glendale Galleria, Gonzales said,
he bumped into three Bridge co-workers.
"There we were, four people in line buying 'Buckskin Brigades,' and (the
clerk) blurted out, 'You know why they do that? To get on the bestsellers
list !'"
Corinda Carford, who was Bridge's sales manager for the East Coast, said she
was instructed by two superiors to go to bookstores and buy Hubbard's books if
sales were sluggish.
"They would tell me to go and count the books and … if it looks like they're
not selling, go and buy some books," Carford recalled. She said she was troubled
by the request and bought only four copies of one Hubbard paperback.
Carford said Bridge executives also asked her in late 1988 and again in early
1989 to obtain the names of bookstores whose sales are the basis for the New
York Times bestseller list.
"It happened more than once," she said. " … My orders for the week were to
find the New York Times' reporting stores anywhere in the East so they could
send people into the stores to buy (Hubbard's) books."
Carford said she questioned several bookstore operators but they refused to
cooperate.
"That is confidential information," she said.
Carford said she left Bridge after a pay dispute and now works for another
publishing firm.
Another former Bridge employee, salesman Tom Fudge, said a supervisor once
handed him a list of booksellers purportedly monitored by the New York Times. He
said he was instructed to promise each one that Hubbard's books would "sell
well" if they stocked more copies.
"I was told that they (Bridge) had Scientologists who would go out to
specific stores and buy copies of the books," Fudge said.
An attorney who represents Bridge and Scientology denied that the publishing
firm possessed a list of bookstores the New York Times uses to determine
bestsellers.
"The list does not exist," insisted Boston lawyer Earle Cooley, who
characterized the former employees as "disgruntled" and "antagonistic" toward
Bridge and Scientology.
Adam Clymer, a New York Times executive, said the newspaper has examined the
sales patterns of Hubbard's books. In a two-year span, Hubbard logged 14
consecutive books on the New York Times list.
Clymer said that, while the books have been sold in sufficient numbers to
justify their bestseller status, "we don't know to whom they were sold."
He said the newspaper uncovered no instances in which vast quantities of
books were being sold to single individuals.
Science fiction and self-improvement books have always been big sellers in
America, and Hubbard's works have long had a strong following.
But Bridge learned quickly that to make him a best-selling author in the
1980s, it had to aggressively market his writings, especially within the
bookselling industry.
As part of its campaign Bridge has purchased full-page ads on the cover of
Publishers Weekly, an important trade magazine.
For a time, the firm was enticing book distributors to place large orders by
offering them free television sets and VCRs.
Marcia Dursi, director of book operations for ARA Services in Maryland, which
distributes paperbacks to supermarkets and airports, said she was offered a TV
for the employee lunchroom.
"I don't have to be bribed," Dursi said she responded.
Former Bridge consultant Robert Erdmann said that, while other publishers
offer incentives, he stopped the practice at Bridge because "it could be
perceived as influence peddling."
Erdmann, a non-Scientologist, was an industry veteran hired by Bridge to help
make inroads in the competitive publishing world.
Because the Scientologists at Bridge "did what we told them to do," Erdmann
said, "Dianetics" is no longer "the passion fruit of the Pacific that people in
the Midwest are afraid to eat."
When it was first published in 1950, "Dianetics" rode bestseller lists for
several months before sales dwindled. But it has remained the bedrock — "Book
One" — of Hubbard's Scientology movement.
In "Dianetics," Hubbard said that memories of painful physical and emotional
experiences accumulate in a specific region of the mind, causing illness and
mental problems. Hubbard said that, once these experiences have been purged
through cathartic procedures he developed, a person can achieve superior health
and intelligence.
So revered is the book that Hubbard scrapped the conventional calendar and
renumbered the years beginning with the date of its publication. To
Scientologists, 1990 is "40 AD" (After Dianetics).
From the outset, the Scientology movement has made the book the centerpiece
of its campaign to generate broad interest in Hubbard's writings.
In the last few years, millions of dollars have been spent on "Dianetics"
advertising to reach a targeted audience of young professionals who want to
improve their lives and careers.
The ads have appeared on television, radio, billboards and bus stops.
"Dianetics" has been a sponsor of the California Angels and Los Angeles Rams
games on radio. Race cars in world-class competitions such as the Indianapolis
500 have sported "Dianetics" decals. In New York City recently, 160 billboards
promoting Hubbard were purchased in subway stations.
Next month, in what may be the Scientology movement's biggest promotion yet
for the book, Dianetics will be a sponsor of Turner Broadcasting System's 1990
Goodwill Games, an Olympics-style event bringing together 2,500 athletes from
more than 50 countries for two weeks in Seattle.
Among other things, there will be Dianetics commercials during the
internationally televised competition and Dianetics signboards at sporting
venues. Goodwill Games spokesman Bob Dickinson said that Dianetics and 12 other
sponsors — including Pepsi, Sony and Anheuser-Busch — have paid "lots and lots
of money" for the exposure, but he would not provide a specific figure.
"It is safe to say it is in excess of several million dollars," Dickinson
said.
Word of the sponsorship has triggered more than 100 complaints from
disaffected Scientologists and critics of the church to TBS, the Atlanta-based
cable network owned by media entrepreneur Ted Turner. Most have accused the
network of providing a global forum for the Church of Scientology.
But Dickinson said that Dianetics, not Scientology, is the event's sponsor
and that "we really don't make any value judgment in terms of the product of the
sponsors. They have a right to advertise." He added that Dianetics for years has
been buying air time on TBS.
Although Dianetics advertisements never mention Scientology, the book's
promotion is a key component of the church's efforts to win new converts.
Scientology literature calls the strategy the "Dianetics route." The idea is to
attract readers to Dianetics seminars and then enroll them in Scientology
courses.
Given the success of the Dianetics campaign, Bridge now seems confident that
the public will clamor for Hubbard's Scientology writings.
Hubbard books that for decades had no audience outside Scientology are
scheduled to be mass-marketed into the next century, complete with costly
promotional campaigns as big as that for "Dianetics."
One of them, Hubbard's 1955 "Fundamentals of Thought," has "Scientology"
splashed across its cover, the first test of whether Hubbard's image has been so
greatly improved that the public is finally ready to accept his religion.
Even long-forgotten science fiction that Hubbard wrote back in the 1930s will
be dusted off, dressed in eye-grabbing covers and pushed as though it were
written today.
In recent months, billboards have appeared along Los Angeles freeways and
such well-traveled thoroughfares as Sunset Boulevard.
With the sea as a backdrop, they show a smiling Hubbard of earlier years, the
wind tousling his red hair. Below his robust image is the phrase: "22 national
bestsellers and more to come … "
The selling of the late L. Ron Hubbard has only begun.
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