A major goal has been accomplished: The hardcover edition of HIDI is just hitting the shelves of a bookstore near the Museum of Contemporary Art in Adams, Massachusetts! It is but a single copy, true, and the manager of the store does not yet know it. But it’s a start. We wonder, assuming that someone is intrigued by its nondescript cover, when it is brought forth to the checkout register, will the penciled-in price of $2 be honored?
For this placement, we gave a copy to a member of the clergy, encouraging them to read the fascinating Prologue at least, and then to put it in the Museum Gift Shop at the MoCA, in sort of a surreptitious reverse-shoplifting maneuver. That was a lofty goal, indeed, and it is asking a lot for a minister to risk all for the sake of performance art. We are therefore counting this placement as a success, because it will help create additional “buzz” around the book. (Readers of this work immediately understand the relevance of MoCA; if you are not one of these few cognoscenti, then consider buying the book, how about it?)
We are considering offering barcode stickers to accompany the book, so that you can have it ring up on a traditional register. Of course the barcode would be of some other item, say a can of peas. There is the risk, then, of over-inflating the sales of those other items, and a quick-witted clerk might be suspicious when the book rings up as a can of peas. This is more likely to work at non-book stores, where today’s average worker is not looking out for the interest of the business.