Amway co-founder Richard M. DeVos has written another book, and he wants the world to think it's a bestseller before it's ever sold in stores. In an article published in the New York Times today, August 23, 2000, the sordid story unfolds.

The book is called Hope From My Heart: 10 Lessons for Life. The publicist, Alan Nevins, described by the Times as "a prominent literary agent with Michael Ovitz' Artists Management Group," placed deeply discounted orders -- for at least 18,000 copies -- with small, independent bookstores who report their sales to the New York Times for inclusion in the bestseller data. The books were not intended to ever be sold in the stores, but to be shipped to Amway convention locations for sale to that organization's members.

The end of August and beginning of September are the traditional dates for massive "Free Enterprise Celebrations" throughout the Amway Motivational Organizations (AMOs).

Nevins put his requests in writing on several faxes to bookstore owners, stating that the sales should be reported by August 18 as an "off-site author book signing."

Nevins claimed he was not attempting to manipulate the best-seller list. However, Ron Land, an executive with the book's publisher, Thomas Nelson Publishers, stated that getting the book on the best-seller list was indeed the motivation. Thomas Nelson is a religious publisher out of Nashville, TN.

"The purpose of directing those sales through the stores was to get the book a presence in the marketplace and get it on the list, and give our marketing a jump-start."

Nevins' employer quickly issued a statement distancing the company from Nevins' activities.

Several bookstores took advantage of the deep discounts in order to make an easy profit. But one store owner, Karen Watkins of Vroman's Bookstore in Pasadena, Calif., said the whole thing smelled, and she blew the whistle on Nevins and DeVos to the New York Times and to the American Booksellers Association.

Michael Kagey, New York Times surveys editor (the department which compiles the best-seller list), stated:

"The extremely improbable sales of Mr. DeVos's book -- at a time when no other stores reported any sales, and coming from small stores that report only a few hundred sales of even a Harry Potter book -- certainly would have excluded the DeVos book from The Times's list."

Book marketing is usually time consuming and expensive. However, in 1993, when DeVos released Compasssionate Capitalism, he put together a promotional tour that made enormous amounts of money. At locations throughout the United States, DeVos and his entourage rented stadiums and filled them with Amway members -- each paying $10 a head for the privilege of being there. Cash only, no receipts.

The propaganda value of these bogus sales for the DeVos marketing machine will be fully milked at upcoming Free Enterprise gatherings, and as usual the lambs will be fleeced.

More About Amway

New York Times Article