Summers & Swan - A new book - Looking For Madeleine

[faithlilly]

I know you weren't asking me, but I'd be very surprised if the authors fully appreciated just how much under attack they would become by the venomous Anti McCann brigade, simply for writing a reasonably fair account of the known facts of the case to date.   Still, it's given them plenty of material for their next book.

Their next book ? 

[faithlilly]

I have expressed my opinion on here and shown members where I think the authors have been less than ...... but I have neither left a review on Amazon nor posted about the book anywhere else so I hardly think I can be described as part of an 'online mob'.

As to trashing the author's reputation and livelihood, Summers has been a highly paid investigative journalist for over forty years so I don't think he'll be facing penury just yet and as to his reputation, that would have taken a strike with this book no matter what the sceptics had done ( which is why, I would guess, none of the broadsheets reviewed it ).

IMO Summers biggest mistake was claiming that the accusations that the McCanns had any part in their daughter's disappearance were unfounded in the blurb for his book. Maybe a few years ago that may have sold it but now people are just too knowledgable about the case or too jaded with regard to the McCanns for it to help. The public want the truth about Madeleine and the authors scored an atrocious own goal by telling them they were not going to get it before they had parted with a penny of their money.

[Eleanor]

That sounds like honesty to me.

[faithlilly]

That sounds like honesty to me.

To you Eleanor but obviously not to the majority of people who buy books.

[Eleanor]

To you Eleanor but obviously not to the majority of people who buy books.

I wouldn't be too sure of that if I were you.

[faithlilly]

I wouldn't be too sure of that if I were you.

Oh I am sure Eleanor, believe me I am !!

[Eleanor]

Oh I am sure Eleanor, believe me I am !!

I fear your circle is a little restricted.  This book isn't aimed at people like you.  Or me for that matter.

[faithlilly]

I fear your circle is a little restricted.  This book isn't aimed at people like you.  Or me for that matter.

This book is aimed at the book buying public and so far they don't seem greatly keen on Mr Summers tome.

Amazon is the largest book seller in the country and is a good yardstick by which to measure how the book is selling and according to them it's selling dismally.

[Eleanor]

This book is aimed at the book buying public and so far they don't seem greatly keen on Mr Summers tome.

Amazon is the largest book seller in the country and is a good yardstick by which to measure how the book is selling and according to them it's selling dismally.

That's what I mean.  Amazon isn't the be all and end all of book sales.  Basically just a place where certain types of people can say rude things about books they haven't read, and then congratulate each other about how ignorant they are.

[faithlilly]

That's what I mean.  Amazon isn't the be all and end all of book sales.  Basically just a place where certain types of people can say rude things about books they haven't read, and then congratulate each other about how ignorant they are.

Amazon May not be the be all and end all but it is a good indicator of how a book is selling generally.

[Alfred R Jones]

I have expressed my opinion on here and shown members where I think the authors have been less than honest but I have neither left a review on Amazon nor posted about the book anywhere else so I hardly think I can be described as part of an 'online mob'.

As to trashing the author's reputation and livelihood, Summers has been a highly paid investigative journalist for over forty years so I don't think he'll be facing penury just yet and as to his reputation, that would have taken a strike with this book no matter what the sceptics had done ( which is why, I would guess, none of the broadsheets reviewed it ).

IMO Summers biggest mistake was claiming that the accusations that the McCanns had any part in their daughter's disappearance were unfounded in the blurb for his book. Maybe a few years ago that may have sold it but now people are just too knowledgable about the case or too jaded with regard to the McCanns for it to help. The public want the truth about Madeleine and the authors scored an atrocious own goal by telling them they were not going to get it before they had parted with a penny of their money.

you do make me laugh!  if ordinary people (ie not those engaged in online McCann doubting for years) are shunning this book because it is so "poorly written and badly researched" then that is entirely down to people like you and your comrades in the struggle, leaving totally over the top negative reviews all over the net.  If this really was the atrocious book you claim it is then it probably WOULD be have been reviewed by the broadsheets lamenting the sudden drop in standards of Summers' writing.  The reason why it is not top of the bestseller lists in my opinion is that anyone interested in the case will know that the answer as to who has taken Madeleine is not to be found in this book.  However, it is gratifying to see that Kate's book continues to sell so well years after publication, putting paid to your suggestion that the public is only interested in a book in which it woz the parents wot dun it.

[Alfred R Jones]

Can the merit of a book be judged by how many copies it has sold?  The higher the sales the better the book, is that how it works? 

[stephen25000]

Can the merit of a book be judged by how many copies it has sold?  The higher the sales the better the book, is that how it works?

Ask Katie Price or kate mccann . 

[faithlilly]

you do make me laugh!  if ordinary people (ie not those engaged in online McCann doubting for years) are shunning this book because it is so "poorly written and badly researched" then that is entirely down to people like you and your comrades in the struggle, leaving totally over the top negative reviews all over the net.  If this really was the atrocious book you claim it is then it probably WOULD be have been reviewed by the broadsheets lamenting the sudden drop in standards of Summers' writing.  The reason why it is not top of the bestseller lists in my opinion is that anyone interested in the case will know that the answer as to who has taken Madeleine is not to be found in this book.  However, it is gratifying to see that Kate's book continues to sell so well years after publication, putting paid to your suggestion that the public is only interested in a book in which it woz the parents wot dun it.

Firstly as I have said already I have not written a review but from what I can see there are nearly as many good reviews as there is bad so why is the book still not selling ?

Secondly how could the broadsheets criticise Summers book without suggesting that his research was bad and his conclusions faulty ? A catch 22 for the broadsheets and best avoided altogether.

As to Kate's book still selling, that simply proves that the public are more interested in misery memoirs than re examinations of cold cases, nothing more.

[Benice]

It's obvious that these authors found nothing in their meticulous research to incriminate the McCanns.

It is not a case of their being scared to purport other theories.   They simply didn't find any other theories that could be evidenced or proposed as credible to print in their book.    Hardly surprising as neither has anyone else in 7 years - including SY and the PJ.

Why is that so difficult to accept?