By Diane Evans
Maybe you’re someone just too snobbish for nostalgia.  If so, don’t read on, because I’m not going to apologize for feeling regret over the news that Doubleday is being dismantled as a division of Random House Inc.
Doubleday is just one of the casualties in a publishing industry streaming with bad news. Writing in The Daily Beast blog, author and editor Tina Brown noted, “The carnage in media jobs accelerated last week with hundreds getting whacked at CBS, NBC, Time Inc. and my own esteemed publisher Doubleday.”  You could add to the list:  Simon & Schuster, Thomas Nelson Publishers and Scholastic.
No surprise, with the economy what it is, coupled with consolidation of various forms of media in a digital age.
Doubleday, in particular, represented the mystique and glory of big publishing houses in New York.  I envision these places much as the newsrooms of major dailies under titans such as John S. Knight:  The quality of the written word mattered.  And you better get it right.
Among its legends, Doubleday had Jacqueline Kennedy as an editor. And it still is a house of celebrity.  Current authors include Suzie Orman, John Grisham and Dan Brown.
Of course, whether it was Kennedy at the table with client Carly Simon, or a current editor trying to coax the next book out of Dan Brown, the business is about selling books and making money.
The difference, in an earlier time, is that publishing had the air of a regulated industry. Now it’s like a deregulated free-for-all, with everything from free downloadable books, free Kindle books, self-published books, books-on-demand and you name what else.
Consumers have more choices, but they’ve also got more sorting out to do on their own, with publishers in a diminished role as institutional filters.
Meanwhile, continued cost cutting comes with raised concerns about poor editing, and in some cases, fabrications in books sold as nonfiction.
And the future?  In the mix of continued shakeout and job loss, there still will be serious books and serious publishers.
One title currently in the works at Doubleday that will now transfer to one of the remaining Random House units:  The yet-untitled story of Jackie Kennedy’s 16 years at Doubleday.  It’s by historian William Kuhn and it is slated to come out in 2011.  In an announcement in September, Doubleday said that Kuhn would draw on “previously untapped archival material” and interviews with Kennedy’s authors, collaborators and friends from the 1980s and 1990s.
That hits on why Doubleday’s demise is a loss:  Because it was the kind of publisher that invested in books that required the digging up of new and valuable information. If the trade-off is that we have more choices now, then the question is:  Is more really more? Or is it less?

To read more, CLICK HERE or HERE.

Mystery writer Anne Perry has a new book out in time for holiday reading, A Christmas Grace.

The author of A Christmas Journey, A Christmas Visitor, A Christmas Guest, and A Christmas Secret, Perry is regarded by the Chicago Sun-Times as  “the most adroit sleight-of-hand practitioner since Agatha Christe.”
A Christmas Grace takes the reader to a small Irish town that is haunted by a tragic legacy. Throw in a series of violent storms, fear that a killer might still be among the townsfolk, a sole survivor of shipwreck and themes of hope and forgiveness, and you have a whodunit with tinsel and lights.

For more information, CLICK HERE.

By Diane Evans

With instant global communications, is book censorship even possible?
Consider the expedited release of Sherry Jones’ The Jewel of Medina, the
controversial novel about the prophet Muhammad that some Muslims find
offensive. It’s a historical romance about Muhammad’s child bride, A’isha.
Random House originally planned to publish the book in August. But amid
concern that the book would incite violence by extremists, Random House
canceled publication.
Meanwhile, a Dutch publisher, Martin Rynja of Gibson Square Books, moved ahead with plans to release The Jewel of Medina in Great Britain. That was until a firebomb attack on Rynja’s office – which put his plans on hold.
Now in the United States, publisher Beaufort Books has just released the
book — a week earlier than planned, in response to the attack in Great
Britain. “By speeding up the publication, we wanted to reduce or eliminate
the chance of violence,” according to Beauford president Eric Kampmann.
Some comments from the blogging world:
This from Hungarian novelist Miklos Vamos, writing on the Web site of the
Washington Post: “Why do we expect book publishers to be any more
courageous than the rest of us?
“… All in all, it is easy to cry censorship at any decision of any
publishing house in the world. But without reading the manuscript, it is
hard to tell whether Random House was right. There are oeuvres that are
worth some trouble.” And others not.
And this from Marjorie Kehe, blogging on the site of the Christian Science
Monitor:
“Into the fray steps Salman Rushdie. In an interview with Australian
broadcaster Clive James, he is reported to have said that he has no regrets
about having written The Satanic Verses, despite the 10 years he spent
living in hiding after having done so. ‘The question of do we have agency in
our lives or whether we are just passive victims of events is, I think, a
great question and one that I have always tried to ask,’ said Rushdie in
comments published on James’ Web site. ‘In that sense I wouldn’t not have
wanted to be the writer that asked it.’ ”
In a review in the Los Angeles Times, critic Laurel Maury notes, “It does
seem odd that Random House – which publishes Rushdie, a man made famous well beyond literary circles by the fatwa against him, and Nobel Laureate Orhan
Pamuk, who regularly receives death threats in his native Turkey — would
balk at a novel that, from the excerpts, seemed an un-serious piece of
literature about Islam.”
As to censorship: It’s not so much whether censorship is possible. Thank
goodness, the more relevant question today is whether it’s impossible.

The Good Thief by Hannah Tinti is generating some big buzz. Tinti, the author of Animal Crackers, is fast becoming one of this decade’s brightest new writers. There might be something to the hype:

“Every once in a while — if you are very lucky — you come upon a novel so marvelous and enchanting and rare that you wish everyone in the world would read it, as well. The Good Thief is just such a book — a beautifully composed work of literary magic.”—Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love

See author Hannah Tinti talk about The Good Thief:

The Good Thief is published by The Dial Press, an imprint of Random House Inc.

To see more, CLICK HERE.

Seth Greenland’s Shining City is an example of how book publishers are increasingly turning to movielike trailers to promote their books. Many trailers rely on enticing music and pretty fonts to draw in potential buyers. Greenland’s a goes a little further. After all, it’s set in Los Angeles.

To learn more, CLICK HERE.

To view the trailer, (mature audiences), CLICK HERE.

Or below:

Or, see this lovely video for Matt Beaumont’s novel Small World, which springs from a Random House contest:

I don’t typically do a lot of insider news about the publishing industry. But when Random House gets a new CEO, that’s worthy news. And with the German parent company making it clear that Random has to make more money, it could lead to the kind of earthshaking changes that will directly affect book consumers. The industry sold more than 3 billion books last year, according to a gov’t report. That’s a lot of freakin’ books! And a lot of consumers out there. If you figure one in three Americans bought at least one book (a totally made-up figure, I have no idea what the real number is), that would amount to 100,000 book buyers.

I had a journalism professor who, among other things, used to frequent a restaurant where I tended bar and order three manhattans (not all at once!) with dinner. From the journalism class he taught, I remember two things. 1. News is when those who are in a position to say “This is news,” say “This is news.” 2. The purpose of a newspaper is to make money! His voice would swell up two octaves and 30 decibels as he said “MAKE MONEY.” Ohio State j-school alumni from a certain era will recognize this professor immediately.

That “make money” part is happening less and less at newspapers now — which played a large role in my job description of “former” Akron Beacon Journal editor. Bitter? Me? Actually, I’m having a blast here with DelMio, holed up in the Akron Innovation Campus and at the moment overhearing some UAkron tech guys try to figure out what’s wrong with the Wi-Fi (which, as far as I can tell, is nothing).

This moment shall live on in DelMio lore.

Markus Dohle has been named CEO and chairman of Random House, the U.S. division of German media giant Bertelsmann AG. The selection of Dohle, 39, is viewed as a surprise in some circles because of his youth and lack of experience in an industry known for its tight-knit circles. Bertlesman CEO Hartmut Ostrowski said he expects better financial performance at Random House, which could signal broader change is afoot at the publisher, which could mean palpable change for everyday readers.

Dohle replaces Peter Olson as CEO at Random. Olson, who struggled to improve Random’s financial footing, said he was leaving to enter academia.

To read more, CLICK HERE.