The online bookselling resource center Abebooks.com conducted two separate polls of readers and bookstore owners about If I Did It, the book in which “O.J. Simpson” describes how he might’ve killed his ex-wife and the poor guy standing next to her, and it will come as no shock to you that nearly everyone is united in their disgust. When asked “whether they would be prepared to buy the book,” 97 of those who took the site’s poll said no. Then, out of 883 North American booksellers queried, 96 percent said they weren’t prepared to stock it.
Meanwhile, I’m waiting for some enterprising journo to give Joe Eszterhas a call, since he claimed back in 2000’s American Rhapsody that his screenplay for Jagged Edge was Simpson’s inspiration. And if there’s anybody brazen enough to piggyback on the Simpson/Regan backlash to create publicity for their own book, Eszterhas (currently pimping The Devil’s Guide to Hollywood) must surely be one of the leading candidates. Does he think that the “hypothetical” scenario OJ’s going to spin for Regan will match up with his original story? I’m a wee bit scared to call the guy myself…and, anyway, I think it’d be more fun if somebody at the Post did it. I just can’t decide between Liz Smith and Steve Dunleavy.