BY BENJAMIN SAMUEL
Stephen King wants to talk about gun control, but he’s just preaching to the choir.
Last month, King published “Guns,” an e-book available exclusively on Amazon Kindle for 99 cents. Written in response to the horrific school shootings across the country, “Guns” is billed as a “pulls-no-punches essay intended to provoke rational discussion.”
And in Tuesday’s press release announcing the release of the audiobook edition, King is quoted as saying, “The overwhelming response from readers of the Kindle Single edition of ‘Guns’ underscores the great need for thoughtful discourse on the issue of guns.”
As one of the country’s most famous authors, King doesn’t have trouble finding an audience. And looking at the figures, this latest release is also his latest success. Ranked first in the Kindle Singles’ bestseller category and as the fifth-highest-selling nonfiction title for the Kindle, “Guns” has inarguably received the overwhelming response King was looking for. But a closer look suggests that the eBook hasn’t engendered the rational discussion he was looking for.
Although Amazon reviews are far from the ideal forum for thoughtful discourse, the numbers have a lot to say. Of the 100 most helpful 5-star reviews, 75% are marked “Amazon Verified Purchase” (meaning the customer at least bought the eBook). Of the 98 total 1-star reviews, that percentage drops to 22.
Since the title isn’t available on other platforms (Nook, iBooks and Kobo), we can assume that 78% of the 1-star reviewers, the people who claim to disagree with King’s views, likely haven’t even read the book. They are simply responding to the notion of an anti-gun book, rather than the contents of that book. In other instances, such as with a recent Michael Jackson biography, similar tactics have been used as an attempt to bury a book. This reactionary and reflexively suspicious group, however, is the audience King needs to reach: Those who are so virulently against tighter gun laws that they’ll condemn an argument without actually hearing it.
Amazon has virtual dominion over the e-book marketplace, and publishing to Kindle gives King access to the biggest e-reader audience around. But because the Kindle Singles program requires books be sold for some amount, and not available for free anywhere else, King immediately discouraged people from taking a risk and engaging with ideas that might challenge — or align — with their own. Because, as any writer, editor, or publisher will tell you, the only thing harder than getting people to read is getting them to actually buy your book.
Recommended Reading, a fiction magazine I co-edit, is distributed for free every week via Tumblr. We removed barriers in order to bring extraordinary fiction to the widest, most diverse audience possible. As a small independent publisher, we’ve attracted tens of thousands of readers in only a few months. Just imagine if someone with King’s reach used a similar approach.
It’s not about the money; King is donating the earnings to the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. King said he wanted “Guns” to be “published quickly, and Kindle Singles provided an excellent fit.”
I don’t believe books should be free; nor do I believe people won’t pay for good ideas. We also publish to Amazon, including Kindle Singles, and are grateful for the sales and the wider audience it offers. But if your primary intention is to start an open dialogue, there are better, cheaper and more accessible ways to do it. It’s difficult to readers willing to pay to have anyone, even Stephen King, tell them that their beliefs, values, and behaviors are wrong. But, then again, there was “Carrie.”
Samuel is co-editor of Electric Literature. He has an MFA from Brooklyn College, and a has an essay in the forthcoming anthology “Paper Dreams: Writers and Editors on the American Literary Magazine.” You can find him on Twitter at @benasam.