Book News, No Pics

Judith Regan (publisher of the OJ book, among other atrocities) claims she wants out of the spotlight. She announced this in an exclusive interview with Harper's Bazaar.

UK publisher Picador announced that they will henceforth be putting out their new titles in both hardcover and softcover simultaneously. They then ask this question of other publishers: "When are we going to accept that we live in an A and B (now mostly B) format country; that only a tiny handful of authors command enough reader loyalty to achieve viable hardback sales; that by concentrating promotional energy on a moribund format we are doing no favours to the format people actually want to buy?"

HarperCollins reports that they had a "lousy quarter," with sales falling 11.5%, to a paltry $330 million. I've got an idea that would raise their profits and help the struggling Arab publishing world at the same time. A merger of sorts. Well, okay, more like a government funded, hostile corporate takeover. HaliburtonCollins. I've even got their first three releases picked out for them: Bush's daughter's book, Cheney's wife's softcore pulp, and Everybody Poops (Taro Gomi is Bush's Maya Angelou).