I’m going to assume my readers don’t need to be filled in on the events of the past few weeks regarding the almost-published pseudo-confession by O. J. Simpson, and its repercussions in the publishing industry (if you don’t know the story, be thankful). I don’t have much to add, except that it’s a cruel reminder that you should take off the rose-colored glasses through which you view the book business and put some big ol’ sunglasses on.
A lot of great people work in the book industry. People who became editors, agents, authors, and publishers because they simply love writing and/or reading. And then there’s Judith Regan… Perhaps this was once true of her; it’s not my place to judge. I’ve never met the woman. But she has gained an industry-wide reputation for being, well, not very nice. And it’s hard to justify the apparent lack of moral compass she displayed by signing Simpson to a book deal, then saying she did it on behalf of abused women and that Simpson wasn’t getting money for the book (yeah, right). This week, after finally getting the ax for allegedly making anti-Semitic comments to a Harper attorney (just the ammo Friedman needed), she even claimed that she was a victim akin to Jews who’ve suffered from anti-Semitism.
Despite all this, Regan is far from the only culprit in this sordid saga. At least she was up front (sort of, at the last minute) about her involvement in the project. Did Rupert Murdoch or HarperCollins head honcho Jane Friedman not know about this book until we did, and then became morally outraged? Not likely. Rupe, perhaps, is so high on the food chain that he may have had very little to do with it—I doubt he’s involved much in the day-to-day book deal making at HarperCollins. Then again, this wasn’t just any deal. As for Harper execs, it’s hard to believe Regan was allowed (or able) to keep the deal secret from everyone, even if, as publishing’s biggest celebrity, she had a lot of financial autonomy at her imprint.
At the very least, lawyers would have looked at the contract. Fox TV execs knew at some point, as did Regan’s own employees. Perhaps they feared for their jobs if they revealed her plans for the book, but their choice was not to say, “Hey, I don’t want to work at an imprint that signs multi-million-dollar contracts with (um, alleged) murderers.” Like most people involved in bad things, everyone in this situation was sorry only when they got caught… in this case, by the refreshingly outraged public, including booksellers and local Fox TV affiliates who refused to carry the book and the interview.
Anyway, the whole thing will blow over soon enough, Regan will land on her feet in Hollywood (the best place for her, no doubt), O.J. will go back to the golf course despite being sued again by the victims’ families for taking money for the book-that-wasn’t-a-book, and publishing will move on.
The point isn’t that you should enter the book business already jaded, thinking that all publishers care about, all the time, is money. You should approach the book business as a business, complex like any other. A business that’s sometimes wonderful and creative and makes the world a better place—and one that’s sometimes about nothing but the bottom line. Striking a balance, and choosing to work with others who do the same, is the only way to be both successful and fulfilled.
That’s the end of my rant, and that’s all I ever hope to write on this subject. I’m going to go take a shower now. Ick.
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