If the publishing industry is dying, it’s not for lacks of books about acquitted murderers.
Mike Gilbert, O.J. Simpson’s former sports agent, is penning a book subtly entitled How I Helped O. J. Get Away With Murder. The book will reveal Simpson’s late night confession to Gilbert and offer new evidence proving that Simpson did in fact do it. As if lack of evidence was the problem.
Lest you think publication of such a book is crass, don’t worry. A portion of the proceeds will go to the Make-a-Wish foundation. Our wish is for no more books about mid-90s murder trials.
It’s hard to find good scapegoats these days. After taking the fall for the O.J. Simpson book deal last year, Judith Regan is back with a $100 million defamation suit against News Corp.
In her case, Regan claims that HarperCollins told her to lie about her affair with Bernard K. Kerik, the former New York police commissioner. How Regan and Kerik got together remains a mystery, but conservative America is starting to seem like one big high school.
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In the December issue of Harper's Bazaar, ousted HarperCollins publisher Judith Regan magically reappears just in time to answer the question everybody wanted to know six months ago: What in the hell ever happened to Judith Regan? As it turns out, not very much. The "retired" editrix claims she's tired of the public spotlight, desirous of a major lifestyle change and finally ready to come clean about her biggest regret, namely:
"Agreeing to reward a known murderer with a hefty book advance in exchange for his detailed how-to guide to committing double homicide."
Kidding! Her much more boring answer: "… that I spent too much time in the office. I gave so much to my work, and honestly, it wasn't worth it."
Weird! We hear her former assistants (who are, coincidentally, all suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder) had the exact same regret!
If I Did It tops Bill Clinton's book, Giving, on the NYT's non-fiction best-sellers list. [Reuters]
O.J. Simpson’s PR crime run has paid off. Beaufort Books is printing an additional 50,000 copies of If I Did It. The book is currently No. 2. on the Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.com.
Simpson faces a total of 11 charges, including kidnapping. If his “sting operation” defense works, it might be time for a new constitution.
Even after abandoning its half-moral stance not to sell If I Did It in bookstores, Barnes & Noble still isn’t doing well.
In April, Barnes & Noble did not renew the lease for its Astor Place location.
Now the chain that put everyone else out of business is closing its branch on 6th avenue and 21st street, which happens to be Jossip’s local B & N. Now where will we go to read the Gossip Girl series for free after work?
The Goldmans can’t say that O.J. Simpson never did anything nice for them. Last week’s bizarre robbery in Las Vegas should do more to help sales of If I Did It than an hour with a disapproving Oprah.
So while Beaufort Books is pumping up for what should be their best selling book of all time—it should do better than Don't Come Back Until You Find It: Tales from an Antiques Dealer—O.J. is sweating it out in a Las Vegas jail waiting for a bail hearing tomorrow morning.
Since he really did do it this time, O.J. can expect to face up to 30 years in jail for each count of armed robbery. But Simpson might get off the hook for the armed robbery charge because his accomplices were carrying weapons, not him. Besides, everyone knows The Juice is not a gun man.
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In the wake of James Frey recreating some sort of literary career, it’s easy to doubt Oprah’s power. But yesterday, she reminded the Goldmans that she’s nobody’s media fool.
Oprah didn’t attack Fred Goldman’s ridiculous moustache, but she did question the ethics of publishing a book describing his son’s murder, questioning if he was making “blood money” off the book.
After Denise Brown dropped out of the live tapping with the Goldmans, Oprah didn’t want to hold interview at all, but she felt obligated to keep her word to the Goldmans. Like everyone else except the Goldmans, Oprah feels a little awkward about the book, and said, "I don't want to be in the position to promote this book, because I, too, think it's despicable."
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Fred Goldman, the long-suffering father of Ron Goldman is stopping by Oprah's revolving couch today to promote -slash-deplore the "hypothetical" confession written by "actual" murderer O.J. Simpson. And apparently, he's decided to let the book speak for itself.
Goldman hasn't changed a word of the text or the title. But, in a stinging bit of irony, he has reduced the size of the word "If" to the level of the microscopic.
To be fair, we wouldn't really call that "a stinging bit of irony" so much as "stating the obvious" and "making utterly fantastic usage of the oft-overlooked teeny font."
Either way, we're still not reading it.
No, no, not him. It was some Polish writer. [AP]
It was about a week ago that Barnes & Noble decided to take a stand against If I Did It, and not stock it in their book stores. The stand was a bit limited considering that BN.com would still carry the book.
So earlier this week, when If I Did It climbed to number one on the BN.com bestseller list, it seemed like time to reconsider that moral middle ground. Yesterday Barnes & Noble announced that it would shelve the book.
Barnes and Noble spokesman explained the change:
We've been monitoring the pre-orders and customer requests and have concluded that enough customers have expressed interest in buying the book to warrant stocking it in our stores. We do not intend to promote the book but we will stock it in our stores because our customers are asking for it.
So basically, “widespread customer outrage and disgust” turned out to be more like widespread customer interest and demand, and Barnes & Nobles wants to make some money.
400,000 – Number of copies ReganBooks had shipped before HarperCollins started feeling awkward about the whole project.
125,000 – Number of copies Beaufort Books began printing yesterday.
116,000 – Number of pre-orders for If I Did It.
0 – Number of copies that will be stocked at Barnes & Noble.
1 – If I Did It’s current position on the BN.com bestseller list.
Good news Jews and book sellers! Oprah, America’s arbitrator of literary taste, will be hosting be the Brown vs. Goldman knock out. The episode will air on September 13, which is also the Jewish New Year. Along with apples and honey, If I Did It will also hit bookstores Internet bookstores on Rosh Hashanah.
By Yom Kippur all the copies should be half off.
Editorial Director
