Publishing, at times, is like going to the zoo and poking a stick through the bars at a sleeping lion.  You want to wake the lion up, get it to roar a bit and put on a show.  You don’t want the lion to jump the bars and make you its mid-morning snack.  A balancing act.  So too when courting controversy with your publicity.  Choosing a title like Band of Sisters was more than simply creating a sympathetic harmonic with Stephen Ambrose’s best seller, it was also a shot across the bow of chauvinists everywhere; women are in combat, deal with it.  Unsurprisingly, some can’t, or won’t.  If you’re curious, you can read some of what’s going on at www.militarytimes.com  Scroll down to Book Buzz, click, and see what the buzz (the elixir of life in publishing) is all about.   You’ll notice, he says affecting an air of practiced innocence, that of all the books they could be talking about, they’re talking about this one.  Gratis.  And for every sling and arrow sent its way, there are that many shields springing up to defend it.  The end result will be increased awareness followed by increased sales. 

Detractors almost never buy the book, they save their money and rail against what they perceive to be wrong with it.  The great thing about that is that all the gnashing and chest-thumping acts like a beacon for those interested in the book, and they are far more likely to buy it, especially after their blood gets hot reading what the naysayers have to bray.  Hmmm, I wonder if this would work when on a date…