Like a couple of million other Americans, I’ve already read Alice Sebold’s The Lovely Bones -so the fact that it will not be appearing in paperback this summer makes no difference to my reading plans. But those who have been waiting for the paperback version of the novel, in which a murdered 14-year-old girl tells Read More
It seems counterintuitive, in a business driven by buzz, that one of the most cutting-edge weapons in a publisher’s arsenal depends on not letting people talk about-or even read-their books in advance. It’s called the embargo, and it’s looking like a pretty good strategy right now. It was used on two current best-sellers: Queen Noor’s Read More
A few years ago, I met with a prominent editor at a major house on a kind of “go-see” to introduce myself as a publishing reporter and tell her about the kinds of stories I would be writing. I told her how I planned to report the advances paid for books, how many copies were Read More
Given the publishing-world scuttlebutt last week, you might have thought the P.E.N.-sponsored tribute to Samuel Beckett, held at Town Hall on Monday night, Dec. 9, was subtitled “Waiting for Barney.” Former Grove publisher Barney Rosset, Beckett’s original U.S. publisher, was not initially asked to participate in the event, which featured such Beckett-friendly literary types as Read More
Publishing doesn’t exactly abound with happy stories these days. But over at HarperCollins, executive editor David Hirshey has been feeling pretty good. Especially on Wednesdays, the day HarperCollins-like most other publishers in town-receives the New York Times best-seller list that will appear in the paper 10 days later. For nine straight weeks, Mr. Hirshey has Read More
