All manner of exciting things are happening in the world of writing and publishing*. Banned words (this may be changing soon). Editors leaving for new opportunities. And major publishers publicly acknowledging something they’ve known all along: sex sells. For those who haven’t been paying attention, major publishing houses have been adding more sexually explicit imprints/lines to their business mix. Sure, most of these are aimed at women, but that’s really not the issue. It seems to be part of the dichotomy first brought to our attention by the brilliant Jill Monroe — opposites do attract (the other burgeoning area in […]

Our dear friend Edward Wyatt (no really, we have built a full and unreciprocated relationship with the poor, unsuspecting man) tells us that Jonathan Karp has unexpected resigned from Random House. To pursue other opportunities. Now in any other situation, we’d equate this with being fired, but that simply doesn’t feel right. Karp is, was, a rising star. Though we hate to suggest such a thing, it is entirely possible that Karp is, indeed, seeking new challenges. How very strange. Mr. Karp, who has been at Random House for 16 years, said the decision to leave was his own. “Sometimes

The first thing we thought when we read that Denise Roy of Simon & Schuster called her area of focus “Adventures in America” was that she was interested in everything. It is a pleasure to be right about these things. Roy looks for fun, different angles on the American experience, especially from a historical perspective. To our mind, Finding Betty Crocker: The Secret Life of America’s First Lady of Food fits the bill exactly. We, the people, need to know what’s behind the Betty story. But enough about us. Denise Roy is proud to call herself an old-fashioned editor. She

As we and others suspected, BEA was hot, sweaty, and filled with far too much swag — a normal human could not hope to carry everything without a rolling suitcase. The halls were crowded, and though we’d give an honorable mention to Random House for stealth re-introducing the lad lit idea, it’s clear the best booth in the house was 2857. New York-based attendees had to cope with the knowledge that this year’s event wasn’t a chance to get away from it all, though Sam Tanenhaus pretended by refusing galleys (expensive and he gets at the office). Editors and other