Entertainment

Don’t tell Gore Vidal about Tera Patrick’s new book!

The scary possibilities of a nascent publishing trend

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Tera Patrick, dangerous trend-setter?
Photo: Leila Navidi

The small poster of Tera Patrick at left can be found on the reverse side of the jacket of her new book, which has a title we didn’t commit to memory, and words inside that we read, let’s say, selectively. It’s a clever, value-added touch for buyers of her book, and it will probably save the publishing business, or at least that part of it dedicated to putting out books by attractive people.

On the other hand, picture Glenn Beck with stars obscuring his nipples.

Okay, bad example—that was probably an actual centerfold in a recent issue of The Weekly Standard. So picture Stephen King. Or Mitch Albom. You see the danger here, right? In an industry where one successful publishing strategy begets a thousand imitators, potentially seismic trends like book-jacket hot pics have to be used, let’s say, selectively.

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