Monday, January 5, 2009

Publishing ‘News’

Two articles in the Times today of note. The first, Puttin’ Off the Ritz: The New Austerity in Publishing is your standard no-s*** story, with some silly quotes by heavy hitters in the industry. Couple thoughts:

1. “For decades the New York publishing world promised a romantic life of fancy lunches, sparkling parties, sophisticated banter and trips to spots like the Caribbean to pitch books to sales representatives.”

What? Seriously? When? How did I miss that?

2. I’m sad they didn’t use Amanda Urban’s common nickname: “Binky.”

3. I love this quote: “It’s not like you have books that can be Manolo Blahniks and books that can be Cole Haan. A book by James Patterson costs the same as a book by some poet.” I believe this means Ms. Urban cannot name one poet, but can easily rattle off high-end shoe brands.

4. I would not call BEA a “jamboree.”

Secondly, there’s this: The Times to Sell Display Ads on the Front Page. Egads. Is nothing sacred?

2 comments:

Brian Hurley said...

Too busy... to comment... guzzling martinis... at work... expecting a call from... Carla Bruni...

Klaus Varley said...

I like how in that second article they explained where "below the fold" was. Oh, the LOWER half of the paper. Got it.

 

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