After an issues-focused morning at Wednesday’s AAP annual meeting in New York, the closing speaker, bestselling author Malcolm Gladwell said, “I took a look at the lineup and it’s pretty clear to me, I’m the party tape.” But what Gladwell provided, to substitute a different metaphor, was red meat to this roomful of publishers: Through a variety of anecdotes that had little to do with books, Gladwell suggested that the world needs great editors, and so does publishing. Along the way Gladwell–whose next book, about power, is coming from Little, Brown in 2013–provided heartfelt recommendations of two very different books. […]
