When Leaks plugged books

An innocuous search for 8220;book publicity8221; on Google yields upwards of 41,000,000 links, some to straightforward PR agencies...

An innocuous search for 8220;book publicity8221; on Google yields upwards of 41,000,000 links, some to straightforward PR agencies, some to big-name publishers and yet others to the 8216;sell your own book by buying our 49.99 package8217; variety. Obviously, they aren8217;t aware of the 8216;leak-a-little8217; school of promotion. Gunter Grass8217;s new autobiography While Peeling the Onion may have had assured sales on the strength of the author8217;s name, but his confession of involvement in Hitler8217;s SS weeks ahead of release ensures the title will be flying off the shelves now. It8217;s a trusted gimmick, as the publishers of the following will vouch for:

8226; Indian Summers 2006: Former India coach John Wright8217;s account of his experience with the Boys in Blue and the Men Behind Them may not even have been published in India, but well-timed releases to wire services and 8216;friendly8217; newspapers ensure that it is one of the most-talked-about books in recent times, certainly in sporting circles. The zonal selection system? Saurav8217;s pigheadedness? Sehwag8217;s collar? For out-of-context excerpts, look to the front page.

8226; A Call to Honour 2006: This was the book that made a sales-mountain out of a mole who allegedly existed in the Narasimha Rao government and leaked vital information on India8217;s N-plans to the US. For days, television news channels and respectable broadsheets played guessing games, fuelled by the author himself, as they tried to trap the mole. Eventually, Singh, who had promised to divulge all in a letter to the PM, backtracked, saying he did not know the name either. In the meantime, the title sold 20,000 copies.

8226; The Magdalene Line: The Expected One 2006: Said to be 8220;partly autobiographical8221;, this book is further fodder for Da Vinci-converts. What8217;s more, its author Kathleen McGowan claims to be the Holy Grail 8211; as explained by Dan Brown8217;s monster book 8211; herself, the descendent of the original union between Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene. The credulous can queue here.

8226; A Million Little Pieces 2003: James Frey8217;s memoir of his years as an alcohol-drug-crime junkie shot straight to the top of the best-seller lists in 2005 after TV8217;s daytime diva Oprah Winfrey recommended it on her hugely influential bookclub. Frey appeared on her show, wrung hundreds of hearts with his agony tales and almost clinched a film deal, before a website revealed that much of his 8216;autobiography8217; was fabricated.

8226; Indira 2002: Katherine Frank8217;s biography was rescued from anonymity by a libel suit filed by Maneka Gandhi, who claimed the book contained 8220;scurrilous8221; references to her late husband Sanjay. A British court awarded her damages, and promised that future editions would delete the offending chapters. Incidentally, initial media reports were more concerned about the rumours about Indira8217;s alleged romances that Frank put on record.

8226; The biggest of them all, though, is yet to come. General Pervez Musharraf8217;s autobiography In the Line of Fire is due to be released in the US in September. Watch this space.

8212;Compiled by Sumana Mukherjee