Deep in the heart of the Big Pharma Wackosphere, shadowy figures, twisted into parodies of humanity by their greed, shuffled to and fro. They all carried the stain of Big Pharma – a tattoo of Darth Offit – on the back of their left hand so that they might know each other. The stink of corruption hung in the air like the stench of a festering wound. Not that the Wackosphere cared. Such was their corruption that they breathed deep of the foetid stench…and called it good.
Two figures, barely human broke off from the main rank and file and walked towards a small door. They glanced quickly at each other. Nobody entered this room lightly. Behind its plain brown door lay secrets the likes of which those – the sheeple – outside of the Big Pharma Wackosphere could not even imagine. Dark secrets of events that had the power to blast ones sight and scar one’s mind. Repeated visits rubbed away at a man’s conscience until all that was left was greed and the desire to do harm via blogging. This was…The Knowledge Room.
The two figures steeled themselves. Once they had been simple bloggers, sheeple themselves, but over the years they had first sipped at the Cup of Corruption and then swigged greedily from its poisoned chalice. Now all they wished for was to do as much harm as was possible, whilst getting paid for it in silky Big Pharma cheques.
The first figure, who called himself Kev but who’s real name has passed beyond knowledge, turned to the other who called himself Sullivan, a twisted joke on the name of a sheeple film where monsters are the good guys.
“Go on, then.”
“Its your turn”
“Are you sure?”
“I think so.”
Kev uttered an oath. “I still don’t like this,” he said gloomily.
“Think of the money.”
“True.”
Kev reached out a hand and pushed at the door. It was unlocked as always, inviting visitors into its cold heart.
The room was a small, plain, somewhat arid brown box with a chair in front of a TV. The TV, as always was on and showing the snow of an untuned station.
Kev went to sit in the chair, then stopped.
“Are you sure its my turn?”
“Pretty sure.”
“Damn.”
He sat down.
“Erm…hi…I was wondering if you could tell us how many copies of The Age of Autism had actually sold this week. Uh…Please.”
The room went dark. Sullivan stepped back from the chair. All he could see was the dull throbbing of the tattoo of Darth Offit on Kev’s left hand. He knew what Kev was going through now. Delivery of the answer was always a hideously painful process. The price one paid for having access to this room.
Slowly the room lightened, little by little Sullivan made out the figure of Kev. He had fallen to the floor and was panting like a boxer who was still floored after a big punch.
“Well? How many?” Much rested on the answer to this question. If the book was a success, Big Pharma would have to spend more of their resources refuting the book. That meant less money for Wackosphere bloggers.
Kev looked up from the floor. “Twenty-six.” he panted.
“Twenty six?” Sullivan laughed darkly…by the power of Wyeth! To the Blogging Chamber!!”
Left Brain Right Brain 
You call this website a blog…you really are a fucking idiot!!!
Sadly, it *is* a blog. Powered by WordPress – blogging software 🙂
I guess this makes me smarter than you 😉
So, STY, are you getting ready to roll-out all of the evidence you promised us in a couple of months? That should be interesting, especially since you have issues with common Internet vocabulary.
Yes, this is a blog. It is a web log of a group of people who post articles with their opinions and observations, with a comment system that allows for a conversation. Ah! “Conversation”, another concept you cannot grasp.
Where’s your book, Kev? You have a vast online collection of short fiction, and your bloggers are quite good at making up stories – a fantasy compilation edited by you would be a hit.
Jake – what makes you think I’m not published ? 😉
As for fantasy collections – according to Amazon that’s more Dan and The Blax’s department.
Kev,
all I can say is that it is really hard to apply the tattoo when you have 4″ fur.
that said, in this case you are “more knowledgeable than you”. And, “smarter than you”, yes, this is a blog.
Second comment for Kev–you aren’t published because you don’t have “editors”. If you would call me “editor” and double my salary, you would be “published” here. Go ahead, raise my salary by 10x even. The result is the same. (Those who remember their high school algebra can calculate my salary from this information).
Jake Crosby, good to see you back.
Sullivan
(from the land where the monsters are the good guys *and* the myth of children being toxic is exposed as false)
I enjoyed this a lot, Kev. Although, I was wondering why a television and not a plexiglass box of blinking lights. After all, he DOES know everything.
(and why wasn’t it Sullivan’s turn? LOL)
Dawn – I never thought of that! Bang goes my Big Pharma pay cheque this month :((
What is surprising to me is that Jake Crosby is not refuting those sales figures. To me, they seem very low – I would have expected sales of at least a few hundred from the true faithful.
I think they exclude Amazon sales. How is the book doing on Amazon.com?
“Where’s your book, Kev?”
You can call it “Sage of Autism”
Ha! Or maybe a big pharma inspired ‘Wages from Autism’ 😉
smarter than you : No you’re not
Kev : This is genius.
But where did you get that figure and is there anything they don’t include?
Because I can’t find an author listing for you, Kev, and FYI “The Age of Autism” is number 4 in the Autism and Asperger Syndrome category on Amazon, after Temple Grandin’s two books and “The Complete Guide to Asperger Syndrome.”
Jake Crosby,
Age Of Autism is currently book 2,213 overall at Amazon.
The sales rank at Barns and Noble currently sits at 65,396.
It is very likely that Amazon reflects the buyers who read your blog, since your blog (and other sources linked to your blog) link to Amazon. Barns and Noble represent the public at large, with a bias that your readers have been to a large part siphoned off to Amazon. It does appear that the opportune moment for publishing a book claiming that mercury causes autism was about 5 years ago.
For what it is worth, I’ve been told that the total number of books sold (and recorded by the tracking services) for Callous Disregard is under 3,000.
Interesting,
Callous Disregard is doing better on Barns and Nobel than Age of Autism (CD is ranked at 45,116). This even though CD has been out for a while.
That puts CD in a tie with Autism’s False Prophets (which has been out for quite some time). AFP is outselling AoA. Funny, that.
Climbing the charts now…#2213 best selling book on Amazon…climbing to #4 in the Autism category…Just passed John Elder Robison’s book…
Ironically, if it came out on audio book, I’d buy it. They should get Jenny McCarthy to read it, she’s got a flair for comedy farce…
Well, let’s put in in perspective… Since this spring, I’ve been making three to six ebook sales at amazon a month, which since they doubled my royalties translates into $15-20 per month. So, by comparison, 26 in a week is stellar.
David N. Brown,
you don’t have a publisher wondering why they spent the money to print up some number of physical hard-back books.
On the flip side, my guess is that you didn’t get an advance (which, again, the publisher would be wondering if they will ever recoup).
What I find interesting is that when Evidence of Harm by David Kirby came out, there was a huge push on the EoH yahoo list to get it to #1 on Amazon. Now, there is very little traction for the whole idea that mercury (in whatever form) is responsible for autism. No new yahoo group devoted to Age of Autism. Nothing but the Age of Autism blog, which attracts only the faithful.
There were real, independent reviews of Evidence of Harm. On Amazon, there is a Booklist and a Publishers Weekly review. There was even a review in the New York Times. Nothing so far on Age of Autism, except for the usual anti-vax lapdogs – nothing independent. Why? On the surface, both EoH and AoA appear to be well-written books, with a respected journalist as author, and published by a reputable house. In the next few weeks we should see if this book is picked up by the independent media. If not, it will be evidence that the autism-mercury idea is discredited in the media.
Damn. Where’s Darth Orac to stand side by side with Darth Offit? 🙂
@Sulivan:
Does stopping writing while I have a good laugh count?
Further to Chris’s comments, what about it STY? Care to show the evidence that six months ago you said would prove us wrong and the anti-vax army right? Oh wait…
March 12: The Test Cases before the Vaccine Court (Dwyer, King, Mead) are denied compensation.
May: The Federal Court of Appeals upholds the Special Master’s verdict in the Hazelhurst Appeal.
August 27: The Federal Court of Appeals upholds the Special Master’s verdict in the Cedillo Appeal.
FAIL.
Well this is the pattern. AoA and all their stuff is on the way out. Groups are down. Website traffic is down. The book gets no reviews, apart from some looney on the Murdoch network.
I guess Olmsted and Blaxill can still work their way around the internet “radio stations”, which should sell another dozen books for them.
The moving finger writes, and having writ, moves on…
Jake : But if you search Amazon for “autism”, your book is not 4th but … I actually don’t know, I gave up after the first 120.
Even Jenny McCarthy is up there at like 70.
Actually, hang on, it’s not even 4th on the page when you look at the Autism category sorted by “Bestselling”.
It’s 75th.
Although I don’t know if that’s total sales or recent sales.
I looked at 10.10 Eastern and it was 89th in the autism section. This turkey is dead in the water. Makes Andrew Wakefield look like JK Rowling.
The Age of Autism is up to #3 on Amazon for “Autism and Asperger Syndrome.” Only Temple Grandin’s books top Dan and Mark’s in that category now.
Jake being No.3 in the autism section is like being No.3 in the folk music category: only a very small percentage of people care. Get back to me when its a mainstream top ten bestseller.
A quick check in the top 100 Non fiction bestsellers reveals AoA is nowhere.
NB: This is on amazon.COM the US version of Amazon.
NB No.2 its in fact at position 1,819 on the bestsellers chart. Ouch.
September 21st, 2010, 00:34:23: Amazon #2213, B&N #65396
September 22nd, 2010, 15:00. Amazon #1660, B&N #66,143
I’ll update this daily for a bit. Jake, you should recognize that the Amazon rating is influenced by your blog, since you have promoted it heavily. The B&N rating is indicative of the general public’s level of interest.
Why would anyone buy it? At least Kirby wrote his like a work of fiction, which gave it some kind of narrative.
They are years too late and with a static old story.
Blaxill is wealthy, but Olmsted must be well choked up to learn that he has no future.
“The Age of Autism is up to #3 on Amazon for “Autism and Asperger Syndrome“.”
Ah, I see where my earlier confusion came from. This is true of amazon.com; on amazon.co.uk it’s #75.
Still, what goes up must come down. The fact that it’s moved up from #4 to #3 in just a day means it can fall that fast as well. We’ll see where it stands next week.
Incidentally, I did learn one thing from the book. Gary Greenberg, who I used to have quite a bit of respect for, wrote a blurb for the book: “A fascinating medical detective story that should change the way we think about and investigate environmental toxins and neurological disease.”
This saves me having to read his books. Thanks!
Jake Crosby,
of course the important point is this: AoA could be the world’s #1 best-seller. Doesn’t make it correct. Evidence of Harm was a NY Times best seller and it was wrong.
The mercury hypothesis failed. Plain and simple.
“Jake being No.3 in the autism section is like being No.3 in the folk music category: only a very small percentage of people care. Get back to me when its a mainstream top ten bestseller.”
More like the barbershop quartet category.
Where do I get MY Darth Offit tattoo?
Roger Kulp,
good–keep them guessing if you’ve got the tattoo!
It’s funny, I did not see Jake’s comment before mine, I put it at #4 in the Autism category as an ‘also ran in the polka category’; he saw it as some kind of an accomplishment. That a just released book couldn’t even crack the top spot in it’s target category is testament that their appeal is limited to the small circle we all orbit.
OOP, latest figures: #3121 best seller on Amazon, back down to #5 in the Autism category. They must have rerun Temple on HBO today; John Elder Robison probably also had a blog post just come out…
I see it as sixth in the autism category yesterday, behind a movie tie in re-issue of a book that already sold well, a reference text, a couple of autobiograpies, and a book about animals and autism.
So, it’s a much newer book, heavily advertised in all the relevant venues, aimed at a much wider audience, from two established names, and it’s having difficulty outselling a book by a guy that used to do guitars for KISS.
September 21st, 2010, 00:34:23: Amazon #2213, B&N #65396
September 22nd, 2010, 15:00. Amazon #1660, B&N #66,143
September 23rd, 2010, 21:40. Amazon #1,831, B&N #69,959
I notice it is in my local Barnes and Noble. Maybe I will wander down and take a look at it. Perhaps put an appropriate book next to it. Something like Mistakes Were Made, But Not by Me.
It helps to know what day it is 😉
September 21st, 2010, 00:34:23: Amazon #2213, B&N #65396
September 21st, 2010, 15:00. Amazon #1660, B&N #66,143
September 22nd, 2010, 21:40. Amazon #1,831, B&N #69,959
September 21st, 2010, 00:34:23: Amazon #2213, B&N #65396
September 21st, 2010, 15:00. Amazon #1660, B&N #66,143
September 22nd, 2010, 21:40. Amazon #1,831, B&N #69,959
September 24rd, 2010, 03:24. Amazon #788, B&N 168,072 (Imus bump on Amazon only)
Woah, I was expecting a larger Imus bump than that.
Leave Dierdre out of this! ; -)
September 21st, 2010, 00:34:23: Amazon #2213, B&N #65396
September 21st, 2010, 15:00. Amazon #1660, B&N #66,143
September 22nd, 2010, 21:40. Amazon #1,831, B&N #69,959
September 24rd, 2010, 03:24. Amazon #788, B&N xxx (that was the digital book on B&N, sorry)
September 25th, 2020, 01:52. Amazon #971, B&N #38,556
September 21st, 2010, 00:34:23: Amazon #2213, B&N #65396
September 21st, 2010, 15:00. Amazon #1660, B&N #66,143
September 22nd, 2010, 21:40. Amazon #1,831, B&N #69,959
September 24rd, 2010, 03:24. Amazon #788, B&N xxx (that was the digital book on B&N, sorry)
September 25th, 2010, 01:52. Amazon #971, B&N #38,556
September 26th, 2010, 05:15. Amazon #1,978, B&N #38,601
September 21st, 2010, 00:34:23: Amazon #2213, B&N #65396
September 21st, 2010, 15:00. Amazon #1660, B&N #66,143
September 22nd, 2010, 21:40. Amazon #1,831, B&N #69,959
September 24rd, 2010, 03:24. Amazon #788, B&N xxx (that was the digital book on B&N, sorry)
September 25th, 2010, 01:52. Amazon #971, B&N #38,556
September 26th, 2010, 05:15. Amazon #1,978, B&N #38,601
September 26th, 2010, 21:00. Amazon #2,323, B&N #36,546
September 21st, 2010, 00:34:23: Amazon #2213, B&N #65396
September 21st, 2010, 15:00. Amazon #1660, B&N #66,143
September 22nd, 2010, 21:40. Amazon #1,831, B&N #69,959
September 24rd, 2010, 03:24. Amazon #788, B&N xxx (that was the digital book on B&N, sorry)
September 25th, 2010, 01:52. Amazon #971, B&N #38,556
September 26th, 2010, 05:15. Amazon #1,978, B&N #38,601
September 26th, 2010, 21:00. Amazon #2,323, B&N #36,546
September 28th, 2010, 16:50. Amazon #2,533, B&N #32,723
September 21st, 2010, 00:34:23: Amazon #2213, B&N #65396
September 21st, 2010, 15:00. Amazon #1660, B&N #66,143
September 22nd, 2010, 21:40. Amazon #1,831, B&N #69,959
September 24rd, 2010, 03:24. Amazon #788, B&N xxx (that was the digital book on B&N, sorry)
September 25th, 2010, 01:52. Amazon #971, B&N #38,556
September 26th, 2010, 05:15. Amazon #1,978, B&N #38,601
September 26th, 2010, 21:00. Amazon #2,323, B&N #36,546
September 28th, 2010, 16:50. Amazon #2,533, B&N #32,723
September 30th, 2010, 02:15. Amazon #5,754, B&N #28,382
Climbing on B&N! Maybe soon the Amazon and B&N rankings will match.
What its future looks like, this is the ranking of Callous Disregard:
Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #149,160 in Books
September 21st, 2010, 00:34:23: Amazon #2213, B&N #65396
September 21st, 2010, 15:00. Amazon #1660, B&N #66,143
September 22nd, 2010, 21:40. Amazon #1,831, B&N #69,959
September 24rd, 2010, 03:24. Amazon #788, B&N xxx (that was the digital book on B&N, sorry)
September 25th, 2010, 01:52. Amazon #971, B&N #38,556
September 26th, 2010, 05:15. Amazon #1,978, B&N #38,601
September 26th, 2010, 21:00. Amazon #2,323, B&N #36,546
September 28th, 2010, 16:50. Amazon #2,533, B&N #32,723
September 30th, 2010, 02:15. Amazon #5,754, B&N #28,382
October 1, 2010, 04:14. Amazon #4,565, B&N #31,919
September 21st, 2010, 00:34:23: Amazon #2213, B&N #65396
September 21st, 2010, 15:00. Amazon #1660, B&N #66,143
September 22nd, 2010, 21:40. Amazon #1,831, B&N #69,959
September 24rd, 2010, 03:24. Amazon #788, B&N xxx
September 25th, 2010, 01:52. Amazon #971, B&N #38,556
September 26th, 2010, 05:15. Amazon #1,978, B&N #38,601
September 26th, 2010, 21:00. Amazon #2,323, B&N #36,546
September 28th, 2010, 16:50. Amazon #2,533, B&N #32,723
September 30th, 2010, 02:15. Amazon #5,754, B&N #28,382
October 1, 2010, 04:14. Amazon #4,565, B&N #31,919
October 2, 2010, 2:30. Amazon #5,398, B&N #31,127
September 21st, 2010, 00:34:23: Amazon #2213, B&N #65396
September 21st, 2010, 15:00. Amazon #1660, B&N #66,143
September 22nd, 2010, 21:40. Amazon #1,831, B&N #69,959
September 24rd, 2010, 03:24. Amazon #788, B&N xxx
September 25th, 2010, 01:52. Amazon #971, B&N #38,556
September 26th, 2010, 05:15. Amazon #1,978, B&N #38,601
September 26th, 2010, 21:00. Amazon #2,323, B&N #36,546
September 28th, 2010, 16:50. Amazon #2,533, B&N #32,723
September 30th, 2010, 02:15. Amazon #5,754, B&N #28,382
October 1, 2010, 04:14. Amazon #4,565, B&N #31,919
October 2, 2010, 02:30. Amazon #5,398, B&N #31,127
October 3, 2010, 02:15. Amazon #3,621, B&N #38,513
September 21st, 2010, 00:34:23: Amazon #2213, B&N #65396
September 21st, 2010, 15:00. Amazon #1660, B&N #66,143
September 22nd, 2010, 21:40. Amazon #1,831, B&N #69,959
September 24rd, 2010, 03:24. Amazon #788, B&N xxx
September 25th, 2010, 01:52. Amazon #971, B&N #38,556
September 26th, 2010, 05:15. Amazon #1,978, B&N #38,601
September 26th, 2010, 21:00. Amazon #2,323, B&N #36,546
September 28th, 2010, 16:50. Amazon #2,533, B&N #32,723
September 30th, 2010, 02:15. Amazon #5,754, B&N #28,382
October 1, 2010, 04:14. Amazon #4,565, B&N #31,919
October 2, 2010, 02:30. Amazon #5,398, B&N #31,127
October 3, 2010, 02:15. Amazon #3,621, B&N #38,513
October 4, 2010, 19:44. Amazon #9,919, B&N #37,429
Not much movement in the past few days:
September 21st, 2010, 00:34:23: Amazon #2213, B&N #65396
September 21st, 2010, 15:00. Amazon #1660, B&N #66,143
September 22nd, 2010, 21:40. Amazon #1,831, B&N #69,959
September 24rd, 2010, 03:24. Amazon #788, B&N xxx
September 25th, 2010, 01:52. Amazon #971, B&N #38,556
September 26th, 2010, 05:15. Amazon #1,978, B&N #38,601
September 26th, 2010, 21:00. Amazon #2,323, B&N #36,546
September 28th, 2010, 16:50. Amazon #2,533, B&N #32,723
September 30th, 2010, 02:15. Amazon #5,754, B&N #28,382
October 1, 2010, 04:14. Amazon #4,565, B&N #31,919
October 2, 2010, 02:30. Amazon #5,398, B&N #31,127
October 3, 2010, 02:15. Amazon #3,621, B&N #38,513
October 4, 2010, 19:44. Amazon #9,919, B&N #37,429
October 8, 2010, 14:20. Amazon #7,009, B&N #37,420
Big plunge this week:
September 21st, 2010, 00:34:23: Amazon #2213, B&N #65396
September 21st, 2010, 15:00. Amazon #1660, B&N #66,143
September 22nd, 2010, 21:40. Amazon #1,831, B&N #69,959
September 24rd, 2010, 03:24. Amazon #788, B&N xxx
September 25th, 2010, 01:52. Amazon #971, B&N #38,556
September 26th, 2010, 05:15. Amazon #1,978, B&N #38,601
September 26th, 2010, 21:00. Amazon #2,323, B&N #36,546
September 28th, 2010, 16:50. Amazon #2,533, B&N #32,723
September 30th, 2010, 02:15. Amazon #5,754, B&N #28,382
October 1, 2010, 04:14. Amazon #4,565, B&N #31,919
October 2, 2010, 02:30. Amazon #5,398, B&N #31,127
October 3, 2010, 02:15. Amazon #3,621, B&N #38,513
October 4, 2010, 19:44. Amazon #9,919, B&N #37,429
October 8, 2010, 14:20. Amazon #7,009, B&N #37,420
October 15, 2010, 04:33. Amazon #10,827, B&N #61,633
Like Sullivan, I wonder if it is worthwhile continuing to post these updates, but I’m going to go on until the Amazon rating is similar to the Barnes and Noble rating. In any case, the conclusion is that this is not a “groundbreaking book”.
September 21st, 2010, 00:34:23: Amazon #2213, B&N #65396
September 21st, 2010, 15:00. Amazon #1660, B&N #66,143
September 22nd, 2010, 21:40. Amazon #1,831, B&N #69,959
September 24rd, 2010, 03:24. Amazon #788, B&N xxx
September 25th, 2010, 01:52. Amazon #971, B&N #38,556
September 26th, 2010, 05:15. Amazon #1,978, B&N #38,601
September 26th, 2010, 21:00. Amazon #2,323, B&N #36,546
September 28th, 2010, 16:50. Amazon #2,533, B&N #32,723
September 30th, 2010, 02:15. Amazon #5,754, B&N #28,382
October 1, 2010, 04:14. Amazon #4,565, B&N #31,919
October 2, 2010, 02:30. Amazon #5,398, B&N #31,127
October 3, 2010, 02:15. Amazon #3,621, B&N #38,513
October 4, 2010, 19:44. Amazon #9,919, B&N #37,429
October 8, 2010, 14:20. Amazon #7,009, B&N #37,420
October 15, 2010, 04:33. Amazon #10,827, B&N #61,633
October 18, 2010, 02:54. Amazon #15,388, B&N #78,345
Broken Link,
I like seeing the ratings. It shows to me that besides not being a “groundbreaking” book, it isn’t a breakout book. Looks like those who already believe the mercury causation message bought the book.
My guess is that SafeMinds will be buying up remainder books by the hundreds and mailing them to be unread by legislators from all over America.