LISNews: Librarian News

Publishers turn page with big cuts: For decades, the New York publishing world promised a romantic life of fancy lunches, sparkling parties, sophisticated banter and trips to spots such as the Caribbean to pitch books to sales representatives.

The cushy way of doing business, however, is winding down.

Amid a string of layoffs and pay-freeze announcements, book publishers are clamping down on some of the business' most glittery traditions.

It would seem the first and last actually famous librarian, soon-to-be-former First Lady Laura Bush, has found a home for her memoir, despite an apparent lack of enthusiasm from several NY publishers.

Scribners is the lucky lady. You can read about it here at Yahoo: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090105/ap_en_ot/laura_bush_book

I wouldn't give a festering bowl of dog snot for her husband but I always liked her. Smart, classy, rational, diplomatic. Seems the wrong Bush went into politics.

She got a lot of money for the book too. More than her husband and close to what Hillary got.

Well, it's had a good long run, nearly 600 years. But...is it the 'end of the book'?

Here's an opinion piece by Tom Engelhardt in the LA Times. He has worked in publishing for more than three decades and is currently the editor of TomDispatch.com, where a longer version of this article is published.

From the article:
Worlds shudder and collapse all the time. There's no news in that. Just ask the Assyrians, the last emperor of the Han Dynasty, the final Romanoff or Napoleon -- or Bernard Madoff. But when it seems to be happening to your world, well, that's a different kettle of fish.

Two weeks ago, a close friend in my niche world of book publishing (at whose edge I've been perched these last 30-odd years) called to tell me that an editor we both admire had been perp-walked out of his office and summarily dismissed by the publisher he worked for. That's what now passes for politeness in the once "gentlemanly" world of books.

His fault, the sap, was acquiring and editing good books. The sort of books that might actually make a modest difference in the universe but will be read by no less modest audiences -- too modest for flailing, failing publishing conglomerates.

Since 1903 RR Donnelley, the world's largest commercial printer, has created a book to be given to customers and employees during the holidays.

The 2008 book is "Jailed for Freedom" by Doris Stevens.

Because the books are not sold but are given away as gifts the way to find out about what the new book is each year is by watching eBay. The RR Donnelley website does not seem to update the list of Lakeside Classics until well into the next year. Currently they show a list of all the Lakeside Classics from 1903-2007.

Here is a copy of "Jailed for Freedom" on eBay.

Video on YouTube about the Lakeside Classics.