Author\'s Attempt to Promote Book Backfires

March 9, 2002 - 3:42pm — Blake

NYTimes Story on David A. Vise, a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter for The Washington Post and author of the new book \"The Bureau and the Mole.\"

He bought 20,000 copies of his book, then returned about 17,500 copies and asked for his money back. A rival publisher grumbled that Mr. Vise appeared to be trying to manipulate best-seller lists by bolstering sales of his book.

He said he never meant to manipulate best-seller lists or to profit from reselling his books, and conducted all transactions in the open, under his own name. \"My goal was to increase awareness of `The Bureau and the Mole,\' \" he said.