The decision to leak Daniel Halper’s forthcoming Clinton, Inc. in an effort to disrupt its publisher's PR plan has backfired and instead given the book additional publicity before its designated July 22 publication date.
The entire 317-page book was blasted out in a series of emails to more than 100 journalists and others in the media over the weekend by an individual named "Robert Josef Wright," who claimed to have just purchased the book.
Lloyd Grove of the Daily Beast suggests that the "strange leak" threw a wrench in the "ambitious and detailed plans for the rollout" of the book by publisher HarperCollins.
Though many have suggested that the leak is intended to ruin the release, it seems to have had the opposite effect. The book has received wide publicity and praise since it was sent around the media world.
Grove says that Halper’s book is "juicy and gossipy, yet scrupulously researched" and draws on several interviews with "prominent Democrats and Clinton insiders, past and present."
BuzzFeed editor-in-chief Ben Smith commented that the leak is doing more to promote the book than blow it up.
The book has received coverage due to the leak from Entertainment Weekly, Politico, Fishbowl DC, and the Huffington Post.
Politico’s Dylan Byers noted that even though Clinton defenders "will likely try to push Halper's book to the margins," they "won't get that far."
The Huffington Post notes that Halper’s book will surely "find an audience among Fox News viewers and talk radio listeners."
The Daily Beast article prompted Margo Howard to proclaim to her thousands of Twitter followers that "This looks way better than Ed Klein's Clinton book!!!"
This looks way better than Ed Klein's Clinton book!!! http://t.co/8qEhIVjiQX
— Margo Howard (@Margoandhow) July 14, 2014
The publisher says it is searching for the true identity of "Wright," who Grove describes as somebody trying to pose as "a Clinton-hating wingnut." The email's carefully crafted lack of style suggests it was sent from a "pretend conservative," according to the Huffington Post's Sam Stein.
Nick Merrill, a spokesman for Hillary Clinton, told the Huffington Post that nobody in the Clinton camp had any knowledge of the leak.
"No clue," Merrill said in an email, "but it's sad to see Daniel Halper join the discredited and disgraced ranks of Ed Klein and Jeff Gerth, all for the sake of making a quick buck."
Hillary and Bill Clinton have reportedly made more than $100 million since leaving the White House. Chelsea Clinton reportedly has been charging a $75,000 speaking fee and was paid $600,000 annually for her work as a "special correspondent" for NBC.