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Gingrich and Fortschen's "Days of Infamy"; This is some inept marketing.......
Topic Started: Dec 25 2007, 10:57 AM (692 Views)
TR1
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As most of us are aware, Newt Gingrich and William R. Fortschen began a trilogy about an alternate attack on Pearl Harbor. The first volume dropped this year. The title of the second volume scheduled for next year has been announced: "Days of Infamy."

http://www.amazon.com/Days-Infamy-Newt-Gin...98597667&sr=1-1

This just strikes me as inept from a marketing standpoint.
"Nobody's gay for Moleman." - Hans Moleman
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Custer
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Inept marketing, yes. Unheard of, no.

As long as the book doesn't portray a Japanese occupation of the islands, it should be fine. If it does...I think the ex-House Speaker has the bigger name recognition, anyway.
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TR1
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As a politician, sure. But HT got his out first. HT is the "name" in AH. HT and his publisher would have a solid case if it came down to it.

Even if it isn't about an invasion, just purely from the money side of things, why would you invite additional comparison between the projects?
"Nobody's gay for Moleman." - Hans Moleman
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Custer
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No idea.

Isn't SJ engrossed in this feem? He'd be our weather vane for was ist los in this series.
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TR1
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He liked Gingrich and Fortschen's previous work, but I don't remember if he'd read this one before heading to Korea or not.

His big thing was Stirling's Venus and Mars books.
"Nobody's gay for Moleman." - Hans Moleman
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Custer
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Here's link I found on AH.com to a review of the next book (with spoilers):

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/7...t_gingrich.html
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SladeJack
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I ate up the Gettysburg trilogy, enjoyed it greatly. I also enjoyed PH. I read it when it first came out about six weeks before shipping out. There's a fictional character in there, a Brit who lived in Japan for eight years and developed a real cultural competence to the point that he was eventually accepted as one of the Japanese crowd, at least until the hawks became dominant and the Anglo-Japanese Alliance cracked up. In my mind's eye I sort of saw him as a model for me to follow in Korea, at least from a fantasy point of view.

I also read G&F's 1945. Good God that sucked.

Looking forward to DoI. If it had come out a few weeks later, or if I had taken my vacation a few weeks later, I might have been able to pick it up in Singapore. As is I have to wait till I get home. I'm at the point where I need to start thinking about how I'm going to get everything I've acquired home so there's really no more room for further acquisitions like big old hardcover books, so I can't really justify getting transcontinental shipping for them like I have with so many other books I've wanted to read this past year.

I agree the cover is a real "WTF?" moment. Maybe the decision was made in some sort of vacuum. More likely they're hoping that people will search for HT and find their books and decide to give them a try; I believe though that giving your book the same title as an older one usually hurts more than it helps. So a novelist once told me.

At any rate, TR's the legal mind here but I could have sworn that I had heard titles are non-copyrightable, so if HT gets pissed he's SOL.
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TR1
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SladeJack
Apr 29 2008, 01:34 PM
At any rate, TR's the legal mind here but I could have sworn that I had heard titles are non-copyrightable, so if HT gets pissed he's SOL.

You're right, no copyright for titles.

There is a concept in trademark law that popped to mind, wherein a TM holder might put the kibosh on something if he can show that there might be confusion.

No TM for titles, either. So, I was being too enthusiastic.
"Nobody's gay for Moleman." - Hans Moleman
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MapleLeafs4Ever
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TR1
Apr 29 2008, 04:01 PM
SladeJack
Apr 29 2008, 01:34 PM
At any rate, TR's the legal mind here but I could have sworn that I had heard titles are non-copyrightable, so if HT gets pissed he's SOL.

You're right, no copyright for titles.

There is a concept in trademark law that popped to mind, wherein a TM holder might put the kibosh on something if he can show that there might be confusion.

No TM for titles, either. So, I was being too enthusiastic.

I do recall reading that Cronenberg was pissed when Haggis' movie Crash came out since Cronenberg had made a movie with the same name ten years earlier but no lawsuit resulted.
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SladeJack
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A one-name title that could mean anything, with a ten-year gap between the movies? Sounds a little petty on Cronenberg's part. Maybe if he were ripping off a really specific title, or doing it two weeks after the other one came out.
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Makkabee
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Specific titles get reused all the time. The 1970s film Heaven Can Wait was a remake of Here Comes Mr. Jordan, but it lifted a more appropriate title from a film with an entirely different story line.
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SladeJack
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I'm debating what to title my memoirs. A few ideas:

The Godfather
Hamlet
Gone With the Wind
The Wizard of Oz
A Tale of Two Cities
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Jurassic Park
Lord of the Rings
Psalm 23
The Iliad


If I want to get onto any Amazon search results lists I'm going to need all the help I can get.
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Mr Nelg
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I must admit, that I'm a sucker for alternate general battles, that's why I recently ordered this series, but the Yamamoto VS Halsey fight.

By the way, would anyone recommend "the Gettysburg trilogy?" I've heard of it, but never bothered to get it. Is it a good read?


Quote:
 
I'm debating what to title my memoirs. A few ideas:

The Godfather
Hamlet
Gone With the Wind
The Wizard of Oz
A Tale of Two Cities
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Jurassic Park
Lord of the Rings
Psalm 23
The Iliad


Gee SJ, one would think that you're mighty old from reading those titles.
Let's see you do that kung-fu crap after I disintergrate your legs...
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The Guy from Fiji
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SladeJack
Apr 30 2008, 10:03 AM
I'm debating what to title my memoirs.  A few ideas:

The Godfather
Hamlet
Gone With the Wind
The Wizard of Oz
A Tale of Two Cities
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Jurassic Park
Lord of the Rings
Psalm 23
The Iliad


If I want to get onto any Amazon search results lists I'm going to need all the help I can get.

Those are all good choices Sladester. Almost as good as my book about discovering that a certain pop-techno musician is a real jerk: Moby Dick.
Sic Temper Molemannis!
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TR1
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The Guy from Fiji
Apr 30 2008, 08:50 PM
Those are all good choices Sladester. Almost as good as my book about discovering that a certain pop-techno musician is a real jerk: Moby Dick.

:lol:
"Nobody's gay for Moleman." - Hans Moleman
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