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Does the Truth About Hillary Book Stand Up to the Press? After the fan-flaming pre-publication press from both sides of the spectrum regarding Ed Klein’s THE TRUTH ABOUT HILLARY, at least two reports based on the book itself are discernibly cooler. Today’s Washington Post remarks: “The 305-page book relies so heavily on previously reported information about Clinton — sometimes the author repeats rumors and then footnotes them to a prior author who referenced the rumors — that new, corroborated news seems slight. One of Klein’s major contentions is that Hillary Clinton knew about Monica Lewinsky’s relationship with her husband more […]

Franken Airs Complaints About His Publisher’s Sentinel Last week on his Air America radio show Al Franken criticized Sentinel for their forthcoming Ed Klein book THE TRUTH ABOUT HILLARY and discussed his larger misgivings with Penguin — which publishes Franken’s own books through Dutton. Franken points to parent company Pearson’s stated ethos: “Our values: In everything we do, we aspire to be brave, imaginative and decent,” and he comments, “This is not a decent book.” For his own books, Franken says, “Dutton holds us to a very high standard.” But, he maintains, “It appears that their right-wing imprint doesn’t have […]

Barry Back to Doubleday, Religion Bill Barry is returning to Doubleday — where he worked as deputy publisher in the 90s — to take the new post of publisher of Doubleday Religion, starting August 1. Michelle Rapkin, who was director of religious publishing, had asked to cut back to working part-time as an editor and then decided to leave the company completely. Unit president and publisher Steve Rubin says Barry’s “mandate is to more than double the current turnover, and to make us an even greater player in this growing marketplace.” Barry has been president of DK in the US. […]

Exodus at MacAdam/Cage; S&S Scribbles; and other Personnel News Anika Streitfeld will join Ballantine as senior editor in the beginning of August, though she will continue to work from San Francisco, primarily acquiring fiction. She has been an editor at MacAdam/Cage, where she acquired and edited Audrey Niffenegger’s THE TIME TRAVELER’S WIFE and fiction by Amanda Eyre Ward. MacAdam/Cage editor-in-chief Pat Walsh (whose notable books included Mark Dunn’s Ella Minnow Pea) is also leaving, after seven years at the publisher. Publisher David Poindexter comments: “On a personal level both Pat and Anika will truly be missed and we all wish […]

Viacom to Split; Simon & Schuster Goes to CBS — for Now The Viacom board announced their approval of splitting the company in two yesterday, with the “growth” assets retaining the Viacom name and the “mature” assets — including CBS, Paramount TV and King World, Infinity Broadcasting, Showtime, the outdoor advertising group and, yes, Simon & Schuster — going under the moniker of CBS Corp., run by Les Moonves. (Please note, if you rely on the NYT for your news, they get the Simon & Schuster story wrong today.) Viacom will announce more specific details over “the next several weeks.” […]

Soapbox Redux, Now with Extra Bubbles Thanks for the positive feedback to yesterday’s humble suggestion about tipping readers to editors’ lists (and yes, we did mistype “authors” where we meant “editors”). Today’s grist comes from a posting at author Neil Gaiman’s site that’s quickly being passed around the Internet. The jist (come on, how often can you get “grist” and “jist” in the same paragraph?): “Hello Neil, I’ve got more of a complaint that question. But oh well. My problem is that Harpercollins is being really stingy with the Anansi Boys proofs. I’m the manager of a small independent bookstore […]