false 512744 <![CDATA[Book Business: Publishing Past, Present, and Future]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1175410787m/512744.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1175410787s/512744.jpg New York Review of Books, and created of the Library of America, the prestigious publisher of American classics, and The Reader's Catalog, the precursor of online bookselling. In this short book he discusses the severe crisis facing the book business today—a crisis that affects writers and readers as well as publishers—and looks ahead to the radically transformed industry that will revolutionize the idea of the book as profoundly as the introduction of movable type did five centuries ago.]]> 512744 2 1724258 2001 Book Business: Publishing Past, Present, and Future total:65|5:6|4:26|3:22|2:10|1:1| 65 221 108 18 285061 3.38 77 24 8166564 133661 512744 0393322343 9780393322347 17 <![CDATA[Book Business: Publishing Past, Present, and Future]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1175410787m/512744.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1175410787s/512744.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/512744.Book_Business_Publishing_Past_Present_and_Future 3.44 59 New York Review of Books, and created of the Library of America, the prestigious publisher of American classics, and The Reader's Catalog, the precursor of online bookselling. In this short book he discusses the severe crisis facing the book business today—a crisis that affects writers and readers as well as publishers—and looks ahead to the radically transformed industry that will revolutionize the idea of the book as profoundly as the introduction of movable type did five centuries ago.]]> 2001 4 1 false Tue Oct 23 23:59:43 -0700 2007 Thu Mar 13 08:12:31 -0700 2008 more...]]> 47334663 1826682 512744 0393322343 9780393322347 17 <![CDATA[Book Business: Publishing Past, Present, and Future]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1175410787m/512744.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1175410787s/512744.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/512744.Book_Business_Publishing_Past_Present_and_Future 3.40 65 New York Review of Books, and created of the Library of America, the prestigious publisher of American classics, and The Reader's Catalog, the precursor of online bookselling. In this short book he discusses the severe crisis facing the book business today—a crisis that affects writers and readers as well as publishers—and looks ahead to the radically transformed industry that will revolutionize the idea of the book as profoundly as the introduction of movable type did five centuries ago.]]> 2001 4 0 false Sun Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Mon Feb 23 20:37:41 -0800 2009 Thu Feb 26 20:50:28 -0800 2009 Siste...more...]]> 55534823 2302067 512744 0393322343 9780393322347 17 <![CDATA[Book Business: Publishing Past, Present, and Future]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1175410787m/512744.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1175410787s/512744.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/512744.Book_Business_Publishing_Past_Present_and_Future 3.40 65 New York Review of Books, and created of the Library of America, the prestigious publisher of American classics, and The Reader's Catalog, the precursor of online bookselling. In this short book he discusses the severe crisis facing the book business today—a crisis that affects writers and readers as well as publishers—and looks ahead to the radically transformed industry that will revolutionize the idea of the book as profoundly as the introduction of movable type did five centuries ago.]]> 2001 4 0 false Fri May 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat May 09 19:56:12 -0700 2009 Sat May 09 19:56:12 -0700 2009
This book, written in autobiographical style, s...more...]]> 80092370 405949 512744 0393322343 9780393322347 17 <![CDATA[Book Business: Publishing Past, Present, and Future]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1175410787m/512744.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1175410787s/512744.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/512744.Book_Business_Publishing_Past_Present_and_Future 3.40 65 New York Review of Books, and created of the Library of America, the prestigious publisher of American classics, and The Reader's Catalog, the precursor of online bookselling. In this short book he discusses the severe crisis facing the book business today—a crisis that affects writers and readers as well as publishers—and looks ahead to the radically transformed industry that will revolutionize the idea of the book as profoundly as the introduction of movable type did five centuries ago.]]> 2001 4 0 false Tue Nov 10 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sun Dec 06 13:47:36 -0800 2009 Sun Dec 06 13:56:38 -0800 2009 more...]]> 43604900 1397058 512744 0393322343 9780393322347 17 <![CDATA[Book Business: Publishing Past, Present, and Future]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1175410787m/512744.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1175410787s/512744.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/512744.Book_Business_Publishing_Past_Present_and_Future 3.40 65 New York Review of Books, and created of the Library of America, the prestigious publisher of American classics, and The Reader's Catalog, the precursor of online bookselling. In this short book he discusses the severe crisis facing the book business today—a crisis that affects writers and readers as well as publishers—and looks ahead to the radically transformed industry that will revolutionize the idea of the book as profoundly as the introduction of movable type did five centuries ago.]]> 2001 2 0 false Mon Jan 19 12:54:21 -0800 2009 Mon Jan 19 13:00:22 -0800 2009
I think the problem was that his account of the book business was more personal than I was looking for, though his person...more...]]> 19502892 1002740 512744 0393322343 9780393322347 17 <![CDATA[Book Business: Publishing Past, Present, and Future]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1175410787m/512744.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1175410787s/512744.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/512744.Book_Business_Publishing_Past_Present_and_Future 3.40 65 New York Review of Books, and created of the Library of America, the prestigious publisher of American classics, and The Reader's Catalog, the precursor of online bookselling. In this short book he discusses the severe crisis facing the book business today—a crisis that affects writers and readers as well as publishers—and looks ahead to the radically transformed industry that will revolutionize the idea of the book as profoundly as the introduction of movable type did five centuries ago.]]> 2001 5 0 false Fri Apr 04 23:19:35 -0700 2008 Fri Apr 04 23:32:17 -0700 2008
meditations on the book industry past and present--fascinating, and a nice, sharp quick read--my thoughts:...more...]]> 36713004 1212162 512744 0393322343 9780393322347 17 <![CDATA[Book Business: Publishing Past, Present, and Future]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1175410787m/512744.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1175410787s/512744.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/512744.Book_Business_Publishing_Past_Present_and_Future 3.40 65 New York Review of Books, and created of the Library of America, the prestigious publisher of American classics, and The Reader's Catalog, the precursor of online bookselling. In this short book he discusses the severe crisis facing the book business today—a crisis that affects writers and readers as well as publishers—and looks ahead to the radically transformed industry that will revolutionize the idea of the book as profoundly as the introduction of movable type did five centuries ago.]]> 2001 3 0 false Sun Nov 16 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sat Nov 01 18:00:42 -0700 2008 Sun Nov 23 15:04:34 -0800 2008 1 more...]]> 7623138 514956 512744 0393322343 9780393322347 17 <![CDATA[Book Business: Publishing Past, Present, and Future]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1175410787m/512744.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1175410787s/512744.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/512744.Book_Business_Publishing_Past_Present_and_Future 3.40 65 New York Review of Books, and created of the Library of America, the prestigious publisher of American classics, and The Reader's Catalog, the precursor of online bookselling. In this short book he discusses the severe crisis facing the book business today—a crisis that affects writers and readers as well as publishers—and looks ahead to the radically transformed industry that will revolutionize the idea of the book as profoundly as the introduction of movable type did five centuries ago.]]> 2001 4 0 false Tue May 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Fri Oct 12 09:20:42 -0700 2007 Fri Oct 12 09:23:43 -0700 2007 more...]]> 62573023 270152 512744 0393322343 9780393322347 17 <![CDATA[Book Business: Publishing Past, Present, and Future]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1175410787m/512744.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1175410787s/512744.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/512744.Book_Business_Publishing_Past_Present_and_Future 3.40 65 New York Review of Books, and created of the Library of America, the prestigious publisher of American classics, and The Reader's Catalog, the precursor of online bookselling. In this short book he discusses the severe crisis facing the book business today—a crisis that affects writers and readers as well as publishers—and looks ahead to the radically transformed industry that will revolutionize the idea of the book as profoundly as the introduction of movable type did five centuries ago.]]> 2001 4 0 false Wed Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Jul 07 20:37:17 -0700 2009 Wed Jul 08 10:16:25 -0700 2009 71469815 2508566 512744 0393322343 9780393322347 17 <![CDATA[Book Business: Publishing Past, Present, and Future]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1175410787m/512744.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1175410787s/512744.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/512744.Book_Business_Publishing_Past_Present_and_Future 3.40 65 New York Review of Books, and created of the Library of America, the prestigious publisher of American classics, and The Reader's Catalog, the precursor of online bookselling. In this short book he discusses the severe crisis facing the book business today—a crisis that affects writers and readers as well as publishers—and looks ahead to the radically transformed industry that will revolutionize the idea of the book as profoundly as the introduction of movable type did five centuries ago.]]> 2001 2 0 false Tue Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Sep 16 16:17:32 -0700 2009 Wed Sep 16 16:18:15 -0700 2009 14956958 888658 1726822 0393049841 9780393049848 1 <![CDATA[Book Business: Publishing: Past, Present, and Future]]> http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-111x148.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-60x80.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1726822.Book_Business_Publishing_Past_Present_and_Future 3.00 6 It was in that era that Epstein came of age as a publisher, first at Doubleday in the 1950s, where he founded the successful Anchor Books, the first line of high-quality paperback reissues of classics. The four succeeding decades he spent at Random House, which in that time grew from a family-type shop into one of the largest and most profitable trade publishing houses in the U.S. (currently owned by the German media titan Bertelsmann). Epstein's chronicle of New York publishing jumps around nimbly in time--at one point, all the way back to the 19th century--but it is in recounting the heady, culturally efflorescent postwar years that he waxes most tender, regaling us with vignettes of Ralph Ellison, Mary McCarthy, John O'Hara, Frank O'Hara, W.H. Auden, Chester Kallman, and John Ashbery. Throughout, his entrepreneurial spirit in the service of good books is evident--first in the founding (along with, among others, his wife Barbara) of the still-extant New York Review of Books, then in the thorny 30-year process of publishing the classics imprint Library of America, and in the launching of The Reader's Catalog, a mail-order service from which customers could choose from what nearly every book on the planet in print--and which deservedly has been called the hard-copy precursor to the very site you're browsing right now.

Like The Business of Books, the recent memoir from former Pantheon Books head Andre Schiffrin (Epstein's longtime colleague within Random House), Epstein's book decries the extent to which superstores like Barnes & Noble have forced the high-stakes (and seldom fruitful) corporatization of book publishing. But Epstein prefers to look past the current situation to an imminent day when writers will sell directly to readers over the Internet, a format that will still demand the services of editors, publicists, and marketers but will cut out the costly middlemen of publishing companies, distributors, and superstores (though not small booksellers, he assures us, which nurture bonds among booklovers that even the Web can't sever). Yes, there's money to be made in trade books, Epstein asserts, but not necessarily overnight. And in this brisk, affable, and forward-looking volume, Epstein's own broad-ranging experience in the book biz seems to bear out his recurring theme: do it for love, not money, and the money (if not necessarily the millions) will eventually follow. --Timothy Murphy

]]> 2001 2 0 false Thu Nov 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Fri Feb 08 20:19:56 -0800 2008 Sun Feb 10 21:27:40 -0800 2008 New York Review of Books and longtime editor at Random House Jason Epstein's memoir of his life as a publisher. Epstein waxes nostalgic for the days of publishing-houses-as-gentleman's-clubs. Epstein catalogs his successes.* Epstein pats his friends on the back. Etc.

*Which...more...]]> 17193699 653611 512744 0393322343 9780393322347 17 <![CDATA[Book Business: Publishing Past, Present, and Future]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1175410787m/512744.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1175410787s/512744.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/512744.Book_Business_Publishing_Past_Present_and_Future 3.40 65 New York Review of Books, and created of the Library of America, the prestigious publisher of American classics, and The Reader's Catalog, the precursor of online bookselling. In this short book he discusses the severe crisis facing the book business today—a crisis that affects writers and readers as well as publishers—and looks ahead to the radically transformed industry that will revolutionize the idea of the book as profoundly as the introduction of movable type did five centuries ago.]]> 2001 2 0 false Thu Mar 06 16:15:33 -0800 2008 Thu Mar 06 16:20:52 -0800 2008
Th...more...]]> 11933493 749238 512744 0393322343 9780393322347 17 <![CDATA[Book Business: Publishing Past, Present, and Future]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1175410787m/512744.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1175410787s/512744.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/512744.Book_Business_Publishing_Past_Present_and_Future 3.40 65 New York Review of Books, and created of the Library of America, the prestigious publisher of American classics, and The Reader's Catalog, the precursor of online bookselling. In this short book he discusses the severe crisis facing the book business today—a crisis that affects writers and readers as well as publishers—and looks ahead to the radically transformed industry that will revolutionize the idea of the book as profoundly as the introduction of movable type did five centuries ago.]]> 2001 4 0 false Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Mon Jan 07 20:05:25 -0800 2008 Mon Jan 07 20:08:11 -0800 2008 more...]]> 20885749 836035 512744 0393322343 9780393322347 17 <![CDATA[Book Business: Publishing Past, Present, and Future]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1175410787m/512744.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1175410787s/512744.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/512744.Book_Business_Publishing_Past_Present_and_Future 3.40 65 New York Review of Books, and created of the Library of America, the prestigious publisher of American classics, and The Reader's Catalog, the precursor of online bookselling. In this short book he discusses the severe crisis facing the book business today—a crisis that affects writers and readers as well as publishers—and looks ahead to the radically transformed industry that will revolutionize the idea of the book as profoundly as the introduction of movable type did five centuries ago.]]> 2001 3 0 false Fri Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Thu Apr 24 09:23:12 -0700 2008 Thu Apr 24 09:25:43 -0700 2008 15667614 170549 512744 0393322343 9780393322347 17 <![CDATA[Book Business: Publishing Past, Present, and Future]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1175410787m/512744.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1175410787s/512744.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/512744.Book_Business_Publishing_Past_Present_and_Future 3.40 65 New York Review of Books, and created of the Library of America, the prestigious publisher of American classics, and The Reader's Catalog, the precursor of online bookselling. In this short book he discusses the severe crisis facing the book business today—a crisis that affects writers and readers as well as publishers—and looks ahead to the radically transformed industry that will revolutionize the idea of the book as profoundly as the introduction of movable type did five centuries ago.]]> 2001 4 0 false Fri Nov 16 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Sun Feb 17 20:25:58 -0800 2008 Thu Mar 06 08:31:27 -0800 2008 17791059 989811 512744 0393322343 9780393322347 17 <![CDATA[Book Business: Publishing Past, Present, and Future]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1175410787m/512744.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1175410787s/512744.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/512744.Book_Business_Publishing_Past_Present_and_Future 3.40 65 New York Review of Books, and created of the Library of America, the prestigious publisher of American classics, and The Reader's Catalog, the precursor of online bookselling. In this short book he discusses the severe crisis facing the book business today—a crisis that affects writers and readers as well as publishers—and looks ahead to the radically transformed industry that will revolutionize the idea of the book as profoundly as the introduction of movable type did five centuries ago.]]> 2001 2 0 false Sat Mar 15 02:08:10 -0700 2008 Sat Mar 15 02:08:25 -0700 2008 14488830 818201 512744 0393322343 9780393322347 17 <![CDATA[Book Business: Publishing Past, Present, and Future]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1175410787m/512744.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1175410787s/512744.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/512744.Book_Business_Publishing_Past_Present_and_Future 3.40 65 New York Review of Books, and created of the Library of America, the prestigious publisher of American classics, and The Reader's Catalog, the precursor of online bookselling. In this short book he discusses the severe crisis facing the book business today—a crisis that affects writers and readers as well as publishers—and looks ahead to the radically transformed industry that will revolutionize the idea of the book as profoundly as the introduction of movable type did five centuries ago.]]> 2001 4 0 false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sun Feb 03 20:01:51 -0800 2008 Sun Feb 03 20:02:35 -0800 2008 28299660 359975 512744 0393322343 9780393322347 17 <![CDATA[Book Business: Publishing Past, Present, and Future]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1175410787m/512744.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1175410787s/512744.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/512744.Book_Business_Publishing_Past_Present_and_Future 3.40 65 New York Review of Books, and created of the Library of America, the prestigious publisher of American classics, and The Reader's Catalog, the precursor of online bookselling. In this short book he discusses the severe crisis facing the book business today—a crisis that affects writers and readers as well as publishers—and looks ahead to the radically transformed industry that will revolutionize the idea of the book as profoundly as the introduction of movable type did five centuries ago.]]> 2001 4 0 false Thu Aug 07 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Fri Jul 25 15:25:48 -0700 2008 Thu Aug 07 18:28:00 -0700 2008 80114951 1219534 1726822 0393049841 9780393049848 1 <![CDATA[Book Business: Publishing: Past, Present, and Future]]> http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-111x148.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-60x80.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1726822.Book_Business_Publishing_Past_Present_and_Future 3.40 65 It was in that era that Epstein came of age as a publisher, first at Doubleday in the 1950s, where he founded the successful Anchor Books, the first line of high-quality paperback reissues of classics. The four succeeding decades he spent at Random House, which in that time grew from a family-type shop into one of the largest and most profitable trade publishing houses in the U.S. (currently owned by the German media titan Bertelsmann). Epstein's chronicle of New York publishing jumps around nimbly in time--at one point, all the way back to the 19th century--but it is in recounting the heady, culturally efflorescent postwar years that he waxes most tender, regaling us with vignettes of Ralph Ellison, Mary McCarthy, John O'Hara, Frank O'Hara, W.H. Auden, Chester Kallman, and John Ashbery. Throughout, his entrepreneurial spirit in the service of good books is evident--first in the founding (along with, among others, his wife Barbara) of the still-extant New York Review of Books, then in the thorny 30-year process of publishing the classics imprint Library of America, and in the launching of The Reader's Catalog, a mail-order service from which customers could choose from what nearly every book on the planet in print--and which deservedly has been called the hard-copy precursor to the very site you're browsing right now.

Like The Business of Books, the recent memoir from former Pantheon Books head Andre Schiffrin (Epstein's longtime colleague within Random House), Epstein's book decries the extent to which superstores like Barnes & Noble have forced the high-stakes (and seldom fruitful) corporatization of book publishing. But Epstein prefers to look past the current situation to an imminent day when writers will sell directly to readers over the Internet, a format that will still demand the services of editors, publicists, and marketers but will cut out the costly middlemen of publishing companies, distributors, and superstores (though not small booksellers, he assures us, which nurture bonds among booklovers that even the Web can't sever). Yes, there's money to be made in trade books, Epstein asserts, but not necessarily overnight. And in this brisk, affable, and forward-looking volume, Epstein's own broad-ranging experience in the book biz seems to bear out his recurring theme: do it for love, not money, and the money (if not necessarily the millions) will eventually follow. --Timothy Murphy

]]> 2001 1 0 false Sun Dec 13 06:48:56 -0800 2009 Sun Dec 06 17:38:58 -0800 2009 Sun Dec 13 06:48:56 -0800 2009 77003198 2917749 512744 0393322343 9780393322347 17 <![CDATA[Book Business: Publishing Past, Present, and Future]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1175410787m/512744.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1175410787s/512744.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/512744.Book_Business_Publishing_Past_Present_and_Future 3.40 65 New York Review of Books, and created of the Library of America, the prestigious publisher of American classics, and The Reader's Catalog, the precursor of online bookselling. In this short book he discusses the severe crisis facing the book business today—a crisis that affects writers and readers as well as publishers—and looks ahead to the radically transformed industry that will revolutionize the idea of the book as profoundly as the introduction of movable type did five centuries ago.]]> 2001 0 0 false Sat Nov 07 07:54:14 -0800 2009 Sat Nov 07 07:54:14 -0800 2009 8 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=512744