"Widely unread" is a tricky concept. If you look at the population of the USA, even a Harry Potter novel is "widely unread" when calculated as a percentage of the literate populace that has actually read it.

You might want some quantification instead, like:

Amazon.com Sales Rank: #120,921 in Books

#67 in Books > Nonfiction > Social Sciences > Political Science > Political Doctrines > Democracy

Actually, this is not that low a ranking, though of course I understand if you'd rather sell as well as J. K. Rowling, or even Thomas Sowell.

For comparison:

The Myth of the Rational Voter (Bryan Caplan): Amazon.com Sales Rank: #163,489 in Books

#97 in Books > Nonfiction > Social Sciences > Political Science > Political Doctrines > Democracy

And Bryan has the advantage of a Kindle edition!

So perhaps it's not so unread after all...

Posted February 28, 2010 5:00 PM

dlr writes:

Well, I said this before, but I'll say it again. Your publisher is doing you a real disservice by not allowing Google books or B&N or Amazon to let people read a portion of your book on-line before they decide if they want to buy or not.

Who is going to buy a pig in a poke? Tell your publisher to let people read the first 20 pages or so, and 'get hooked'.

Posted February 28, 2010 5:37 PM

Arnold Kling writes:

There is a substantial preview here. Admittedly, that is not on the B&N or Amazon site.

Posted February 28, 2010 9:56 PM

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