{"id":412,"date":"2016-12-30T19:09:22","date_gmt":"2016-12-30T19:09:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/electricliterature.com\/book-world-reacts-to-white-nationalists-250000-deal\/"},"modified":"2019-03-14T20:50:13","modified_gmt":"2019-03-14T20:50:13","slug":"book-world-reacts-to-white-nationalists-250000-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/electricliterature.com\/book-world-reacts-to-white-nationalists-250000-deal\/","title":{"rendered":"Book World Reacts to White Nationalist\u2019s $250,000 Deal"},"content":{"rendered":"

The book world reacted with dismay to reports yesterday<\/a> that Milo Yiannopoulos\u200a\u2014\u200aa leading white nationalist, Breitbart staffer and one of the Internet\u2019s loudest, nastiest trolls\u200a\u2014\u200ahad secured a $250,000 advance on a book to be published by the Simon & Schuster imprint, Threshold Editions.<\/p>\n

Threshold described its new title in a press release: \u201cDangerous<\/em> will be a book on free speech by the outspoken and controversial gay British writer and editor at Breitbart News who describes himself as \u2018the most fabulous supervillain on the internet.\u2019\u201d Yiannopoulos is most famous for championing abhorrent far-right views on the Internet and being kicked off Twitter<\/a> after leading a harassment campaign against Ghostbusters<\/em>\u2019 Leslie\u00a0Jones.<\/p>\n

The book world recoiled at the news. Carolyn Kellog<\/a>, Book Editor for the Los Angeles Times<\/em> tweeted: \u201cIf you approved a $250K book deal for the troll promoting racist, sexist views so extreme he got thrown off this platform\u200a\u2014\u200awe need to talk.\u201d She also asked authors who had received $5K-$25K advances from big publishers to reach out to her. Saeed Jones<\/a>, BuzzFeedNews\u2019 Executive Editor, Culture and author of a forthcoming book set to be released by Simon & Schuster, lamented his new affiliation and reminded social media followers that \u201cThe publishing industry as of this year is 79% white. Being racist is quite profitable.\u201d Author Danielle Henderson<\/a>, who also has a book forthcoming from Simon & Schuster, tweeted: \u201cI\u2019m looking at my @simonschuster contract, and unfortunately there\u2019s no clause for \u2018what if we decide to publish a white nationalist.\u2019\u201d She invited the publisher to contact her regarding the state of their relationship.<\/p>\n

The Chicago Review of Books<\/em> announced on Twitter<\/a> that \u201cin response to this disgusting validation of hate, we will not cover a single @simonschuster<\/a> book in 2017.\u201d The move was received with some hesitation by those who felt a boycott would cause too much damage to deserving authors with books being released by other imprints. But as the day wore on, a movement to boycott Simon & Schuster<\/a> gained traction on Twitter. Meanwhile, Buzzfeed had some fun examining Yiannopoulos\u2019 self-published poetry<\/a>.<\/p>\n

According to The Hollywood Reporter<\/em>, which had an exclusive on the story, Yiannopoulos said: \u201cI met with top execs at Simon & Schuster earlier in the year and spent half an hour trying to shock them with lewd jokes and outrageous opinions. I thought they were going to have me escorted from the building\u200a\u2014\u200abut instead they offered me a wheelbarrow full of\u00a0money.\u201d<\/p>\n

At The New Republic<\/em>, Alex Shephard wondered<\/a> whether the move to get in bed with Milo Yiannopoulos might ultimately cost Simon & Schuster more than the $250,000 advance currently dominating headlines.<\/p>\n

Threshold\u2019s history and mission are described on the website: \u201cThreshold Editions was founded in 2006 with a mission to \u2018provide a forum for the creative people, bedrock principles, and innovative ideas of contemporary conservatism\u2019 and to chronicle the historic reforms those people and principles would bring.\u201d Its other recent titles include Glenn Beck\u2019s Liars, <\/em>more junk from Beck, some Trump propaganda and Oliver North\u2019s thrillers.<\/p>\n

Yiannopoulos\u2019 book, titled Dangerous, will be rushed out in March and has ridden the wave of publicity into the top-5 on Amazon\u2019s bestseller list.<\/p>\n