Major UK & International author forced to self-publish in States

[garygibsonsf]

I almost didn't know where to post this one, but I figured news was probably the best bet.

Richard Wiseman is the author of several pop-psychology books (one of which, 59 Seconds, is excellent), and is well known in the UK. His newest book, Paranormality, is a skeptical look at the paranormal. It's already selling well both in the UK and international territories, but can't get a deal in the States. From his blog:

"Paranormality launches in the USA today……under rather unusual circumstances!

Paranormality takes a scientific look at the paranormal, exploring psychic readings, out of body experiences, mind control, ghosts and dream precognition. It is very interactive and allows readers to develop various ‘superhero’ powers. Richard Dawkins was kind enough to provide an endorsement, writing “Wiseman shows us a higher joy as he skewers the paranormal charlatans, blows away the psychic fog and lets in the clear light of reason”.

The book has done well in the UK and has been bought by publishers in lots of other countries. However, the major American publishers were reluctant to support a skeptical book, with some suggesting that I re-write it to suggest that ghosts were real and psychic powers actually existed! We didn’t get any serious offers and so it looked like the American public (around 75% of whom believe in the paranormal) wouldn’t get the opportunity to read about skepticism. Then I had an idea.

I am going to self-publish an unashamedly skeptical book in America and see what happens. Today the book launches on Kindle and my UK publisher will ship physical editions into America (and it will appear as an iBook very soon). It all feels like a scary but exciting experiment.

If you are in the USA you can buy the Kindle edition here and the physical edition here. There’s more information about the book here. This is the book that lots of people don’t want Americans to read and I hope that you will support the project."

I find this an extremely interesting development, speaking as a working author. Sometimes authors who sell in one country don't in another, or rather do not sell in sufficient numbers (or so potential publishers believe) to justify the cost of production and advertising. That may leave the door open for a form of self-publication of books with existing contracts in other territories.

As I say, a very interesting development.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00572B4BK

[odiakkoh]

However, the major American publishers were reluctant to support a skeptical book, with some suggesting that I re-write it to suggest that ghosts were real and psychic powers actually existed!

Wouldn't that kind of defeat the purpose of the book?

Sounds interesting and glad he went the self-publishing road rather than not bother at all. I put the book in my wishlist, I can see myself reading it.

[SCION]

It has my interest. Thanks.

[luqmaninbmore]

I find this story hard to believe. Many skeptical books are published each year in the US. Prometheus Books is dedicated to skepticism. I encourage this experiment but remain dubious about the back story. Will there be DRM?

[charleski]

It looks as if he wanted it to get picked up by one of the big houses, rather than a small speciality press, which is fair enough - if you're willing to do it ebook-only, then the main thing a publisher offers is the promotional machinery, and if you want a general audience then only the big publishers can do that.

I don't think he's being 'forced' to self-publish - I'm sure he could find a small imprint somewhere that's willing to take it, but he realises he can do better by going for it on his own. The interesting thing is that the major houses don't think they can sell enough copies to make it economic for them - I sincerely hope he proves them wrong.

[Namekuseijin]

to be faithful or to be skeptical? That is the question!

but either way you'll find plenty of books to keep you entertained...

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by charleski

It looks as if he wanted it to get picked up by one of the big houses, rather than a small speciality press

I'd guess this is correct. It's put out by Macmillan in the UK and he was probably looking for them or one of the other big houses in the US to put it out too.

[Andrew H.]

Originally Posted by luqmaninbmore

I find this story hard to believe. Many skeptical books are published each year in the US. Prometheus Books is dedicated to skepticism. I encourage this experiment but remain dubious about the back story. Will there be DRM?

Yeah, I wonder about the backstory, too. "The God Delusion" sold 1 million copies in the US; I couldn't find the sales for "God is not Great," but it was a NY times #1 bestseller. Both are not merely skeptical (in the debunking-the-paranormal-style) books, but are explicitly pro-atheist books. And yet were very successful in the US.

[tompe]

I actually broke my principle of not buying books with DRM and bought Wiseman's books. I was really surpised that I was allowed to buy it from Sweden since I do not seem to be allowed to buy any books from iBooks.

The books contains links to youtube movies and other things so it is very sutable as an ebook. In the paper book the links are there using QR codes.

[J. Strnad]

I busted my book budget and picked this up. I'm heading off on vacation soon and wanted to load up my Kindle with a variety. Thanks for the heads-up!

[Sil_liS]

Originally Posted by Andrew H.

Yeah, I wonder about the backstory, too.

Maybe there is no backstory. I couldn't find anything else on the subject, because every article just quotes his blog. I found one blog that had a letter from Richard Wiseman about the subject, and initially I thought that I had finally found something new, but the only difference is that his blog starts with

Paranormality launches in the USA today……under rather unusual circumstances!

while the letter starts with

Hi
Just a quick email to say that Paranormality, my book about the science of the paranormal, has just been launched today in the USA.....under rather strange circumstances!

So I was looking for information that predates his blog, and I found this:

Put aside your prejudices for a moment, and consider what Professor Wiseman has to teach us. I’m going to assume you know who Richard Wiseman is, because let’s face it apart from a few tribes living in the most impenetrable jungles of E17 who have never seen a Guardian readers face everyone knows who Richard Wiseman is, and if this week was anything to go by, regards him as a dear and bosom pal, have done several shows with him, and have taken deep personal offence to my Paranormality review (despite me giving it 5 stars on Amazon…) If you don’t know, flip back through my blog – he is the guy who gets mentioned more than my girlfriend, which has to be unhealthy!

His review of the book contained the words:

So my review? Good book, fundamentally limited. Worth reading – but it would fail any Advertising Standard Authority check if someone reported the claims on the cover as an actual advert. Wiseman effectively claims to dismiss the paranormal, vanish it like a ghost at cock crow; here is the real science that replaces our wacky world of the paranormal. So sayeth the book; yet in fact, it does nothing of the sort. Instead what it does is scout around the edges of the current parapsychological debate, taking potshots at the fatally wounded, the stragglers, but in the main just shooting up the corpses left by the onslaught of Hyman, Alcock, Blackmore, Randi et al. The huge column of psi researchers making positive claims and producing high quality papers are marching off unscathed off over the hills – nothing as complex as a real peer reviewed parapsychology paper is even assailed in this books first two parts.

On top of that the book is supposed to be interactive, with links to interviews, so it works better in ebook form anyway. And it's been available on the UK Amazon since March, so if Americans couldn't get to it until now it can only mean that it had georestrictions on it.

But hey, this happened just in time to announce his free Paranormality iphone app, and you can probably find the explanation for how it works if you buy the book.

[Ransom]

Originally Posted by Sil_liS

Maybe there is no backstory. I couldn't find anything else on the subject, because every article just quotes his blog.

Wiseman effectively claims to dismiss the paranormal, vanish it like a ghost at cock crow; here is the real science that replaces our wacky world of the paranormal. So sayeth the book; yet in fact, it does nothing of the sort. Instead what it does is scout around the edges of the current parapsychological debate, taking potshots at the fatally wounded, the stragglers, but in the main just shooting up the corpses left by the onslaught of Hyman, Alcock, Blackmore, Randi et al. The huge column of psi researchers making positive claims and producing high quality papers are marching off unscathed off over the hills – nothing as complex as a real peer reviewed parapsychology paper is even assailed in this books first two parts.

This is exactly what was going through my mind. I'm guessing that American publishers demanded better provenance for poorly substantiated claims and more hard science than he had to give. For instance, his so-called scientific look into "dream precognition." He would have a very hard time skirting John Dunne's work at Oxford during the 1920s which absolutely proved via qualitative analysis that a fairly good percentage of people have precognitive dreams on a regular basis. Or in the case of "mind control", if I were a perspective publisher, I would have asked him to show evidence against it in the case of what's known as "the measurement problem" pertaining to atoms. Atoms normally never stop moving, but if you try to take any measurement/readings of them, they very happily come to a complete stop to allow you to do so. Either atoms have minds (and the ability to read ours), or the minds of the scientists are controlling the atoms. Or how about "the double slit experiment" where an observation device thrown into the mix completely changes the outcome—as though the particles know they're being watched. (Some have suggested that ANY object brought into proximity will cause this to happen, but this is blatantly false. I've never found any experiments showing anything other than a measuring/observation device that have had a similar effect.) So again it would seem, either particles have minds, or the minds of the scientists are controlling the particles.



Skeptics are often quick to dismiss Rupert Sheldrake's work, but I've yet to see one come up with a real scientific rebuttal of his well documented experiments that showed certain dogs were able to tell when their owners were coming home from anywhere they happened to be, and at any time of day. He even invited members of London's Skeptic Society to repeat his work and they got the exact same results. If these dogs aren’t showing a paranormal ability, then what is it?

And concerning the OBE phenomenon: it's such a uncontrollable process that we only have personal accounts to go by. They can't be substantiated through science. But neither can they be rebutted scientifically. What we can have though are eyewitness testimonies that corroborate the testimony of the experimenter. For instance, I know a girl who had an OBE hit her out of the blue one day as she was resting. She felt herself pass out of body and through the front wall of her home and on down the street where she overheard a conversation between two neighbors a couple of blocks away. After the experience was over, she went down to where she had heard the conversation and found the two people still there talking, told them what she had heard them say earlier, and they confirmed that as being exactly what was said. There simply is no way to repeat the experiment (OBE travelers seem to have little or no control as to where they will go.) Since these experiences can neither be proven, nor disproved, it would seem foolish to write a book claiming to disprove them. If I were a publisher, I doubt that I would have taken on such a book either.

[Graham]

Originally Posted by Ransom

Or how about "the double slit experiment" where an observation device thrown into the mix completely changes the outcome—as though the particles know they're being watched. <snip> So again it would seem, either particles have minds, or the minds of the scientists are controlling the particles.

This conclusion that there are 'minds at work' doesn't follow from the experiment. What we know is that the act of observing makes the electrons act as particles. The act of observing itself cannot be performed without interfering with the experiment in some physical (not psychic) way.

Yes, it's weird, but it's not a proof that minds influence the electrons' passage.

It's certainly not the scientists' minds, in any case, as the observations can be automated (and I imagine usually are).

Graham

[Ransom]

The act of observing itself cannot be performed without interfering with the experiment in some physical (not psychic) way.

Care to elaborate on how since the observation device is well out of the way of the particle gun?

It's certainly not the scientists' minds, in any case, as the observations can be automated (and I imagine usually are).

Who did that experiment, where, and when?

David Bohm thought that particles probably had a kind of consciousness. Chris Langan (the guy with the highest IQ in the world who wrote "The Cognitive-Theoretic Model of the Universe") places thought as a form of power in the universe since its inception. You know better than these men how?

I'm just saying that skeptics of the pesimistic variety are always quick to ridicule but seldom have any experiemntal evidence to back their claims. It's 90% theory and conjecture.

[DMB]

I went to a talk given by Wiseman last year. I haven't read any of his books, but he is a most entertaining speaker and I can imagine he'd write well.