Notice: Fredric Rice may have removed segments of the replies given to questions if they contained copyrighted materials. After a very short while, Scientology "experts" refused to answer questions and started cut-and-pasting copyrighted cult propaganda. Additionally I removed URLs in some of the replies, and left them in others. And it's also important to note that eventually the unfortunate "Greg Churilov" cultist was ejected from askme.com for his typical Scientological behavior.

Subject: 'Bestsellers?'
Answered by: honorarykid
Asked By: MarkAbb

MarkAbb asked this question on 5/8/2000:

Better watch out, kid! Your score is now higher than spirit's and larrybergen's... so they will soon try to get you ejected like desertphile!

Oh, I'm supposed to ask a question, aren't I? With spirit and larrybergen "asking" each other big chunks of text taken from scientology.org and giving each other "high fives", I almost forgot...

How did Battlefield Earth and Hubbard's other later SF works become bestsellers? Is there any evidence that Scientologists and the Church were buying up copies of the book to inflate sales statistics?

honorarykid gave this response on 5/8/2000:

I just hope I don't present as much of a threat to them as did Paulette Cooper.

Battlefield Earth and Dianetics both enjoyed more "official" sales than they deserved. Scientology allocated money from it's budget and also ordered it's members to purchase copies.

In an amazing show of bizarre thinking, many of the extra, unneeded copies of these books were then turned in at the orgs and missions by their purchasers, only to be repackaged and resold to bookstores as new books by Bridge Publications.

There are many testimonials from bookstore employees who unpacked these "new" books only to find their inventory and store stickers already placed.

When the LRH inspired movie, Battlefield Earth, opens this weekend, I hear that there is going to be a similar effort.

According to a correspondent at the San Diego Union:

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Scientologists are quietly being told when they go to the theater to see BE (which they will) they are to buy extra tickets. They are then to return the unused tickets to a person who is designated in their area for a refund.

Now get how this works better than the books. Let's say four friends go. Each buys four tickets. Four tickets are torn in half when the person enters. The other 12 are pocketed and then returned. Unlike the book-scam, the movie theater will not take notice of someone buying more than one.

That was the tip-off in a lot of bookstores as it is unusual for someone to come in and buy four copies of a novel. But it is not unusual for one person to buy four tickets, is it?

In some cases, those who might seek the refund are to be asked if they would like to make that as a "donation," saving the refund costs. This too is a good one for not many Scientologists wanted to keep four copies of a book. But to make BE the #1 movie, many will be willing to do this. But this gimmick (the "donation") won't happen until after they come back for their refund.

In some cases, some staff are being designated to go and buy a block of tickets, but not too many to be noticed, (say 6-8) and not even go but take them back to the org for the refund. This is to be done for several weeks.

I don't have the other details but in some cases those who buy the extra tickets will be offered a trade rather than the refund when they come back in, e.g., they can trade the value of the tickets (and let's say the person bought three extra at $7 each, so that is $21) in Hubbard books, which will also be funded by ASI.

Scientologists are also being told to do it as a "birthday present to Ron." Some already love the idea of making it #1. They are also being told they can give the tickets to friends to promote Hubbard, another idea they also like. They are not to give gift coupons to the theater but the ticket, to make sure it goes on the BE stats.

ASI has set aside several million dollars for this (and also raised money) that they will mark off in some "promotional" manner. I don't have details on this but there are ways to do it that are actually fairly legitimate, e.g., they are allowed to buy tickets to the movie to give to friends. I don't know if the way they are doing it is legitimate but DM is not worried about that any more than he worried about it for the book buying. The whole point is to make BE the #1 movie and no costs are to be spared, which means millions of dollars will be spent on this. The heaviest is to be done in the first week as that is the first make/break point and then it will go into week #2. But he is throwing his heaviest effort into the first week. People are to go to the movie the way they went to the Portland event back in 1985. In fact, there is a whole BE-promo team that has been set up to coordinate this, to make sure the Scientologists go and that they buy the extra tickets.

Some of the Deep Pocket boys who usually contribute large amounts are being hit up for this, to help cover costs. Some are doing it as "investment."

Now it may be thought that a few million dollars is not enough to do it but that is just what they are prepared to pay back to the Scientologists. It is up to the team to see that the Scientologists "donate" it. Plus the orgs themselves are to get into this. They can legitimately buy tickets to take staff to movies. This is a legitimate expense. But every org is to do this but then - try this - they are not to use the tickets but get the staff to buy their own. A few can be used for a "bonus" but this is another way they can double their money. So at this rate, they can keep doubling their monies.

DM can't leave it to promo and Travolta's name to make it a hit and he knows there are not enough Scientologists in the US to make it a hit so he has to do the same routine he used back in the 80s to make the books into "best sellers." Word is out that heads will roll if BE is not the #1 hit movie in its opening week.

Further facts about this criminal empire may be found at Operation Clambake and FACTNet.

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