Princeton University Press was proud to assist the Center for the Study of Books and Media at Princeton University with a recent afternoon round-table on book reviews. The editorial panels attracted a stellar international group including Sam Tanenhaus of the New York Times Book Review, Sir Peter Stothard of the TLS, Jessa Crispin of Bookslut.com, and Steve Wasserman, formerly of the LA Times and now moonlighting as the book reviews editor for the influential site truthdig.com.  While the reviewers for the second panel were Joan Acocella who focuses on dance criticism, but also reviews books and makes weekly contributions to the Critic’s Notebook at The New Yorker, Jill Lepore, historian extraordinaire and Critic at Large for The New Yorker, Michael Dirda who continues to contribute a weekly column on books for the Washington Post in spite of the loss of the Book World earlier this year, and Mark Greif who acts as both editor and writer for the new(ish) magazine N+1.

These panels represented a perfect blend of print and new media, scholarly and popular, established and growing, so it was appropriate that the discussions focused on precisely these kinds of issues. Are print and new media incompatible? Is print truly on its way out? Does the New York Times Book Review have an obligation to review not only “important” works of literature, but also works important because of their cultural significance (see Maureen Dowd’s review of Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol which led to quite a heated exchange)? How does the TLS continue to attract new readers while offering thousands of reviews–many of them on impenetrable books on impenetrable subjects? And is there room for new magazines like bookslut.com or N+1?

It was heartening to see the campus support for the book review. Attendees included the expected–acclaimed scholars (and frequent book review writers) like Peter Brooks and Sean Wilentz, as well as PUP staffers from the editorial, marketing, and sales departments–but there were also many students armed with notebooks and provocative questions. Provocative (sometimes pointed) questions that led the way in a wonderful discussion about the centrality of good book reviews and literary criticism to our culture.

Here, you can read Sir Peter Stothard’s thoughts on the panels.

Incroyable, n’est pas? C’est dommage…mais je suppose que c’est la vie. September 30 is the day of reckoning for the beloved seventy-four year old bookshop, Librairie de France in Rockefeller Center.  According to this New York Times blurb the rent is too much for the current owner and he will be forced to close.  This saddens me greatly.  I spent many a yuletide visit to New York with widened, childlike eyes, browsing the stacks and imagining myself in Paris instead of packed in, shoulder to shoulder, with the holiday matinee crowds.  The shuttering of theLibrairie means that yet another little relic of Old Manhattan will disappear into the history books.

What are your memories of the Librairie de France and other long-gone vestiges of book culture?

 Our reps, distributors, and friends in Hong Kong, Aromix Books, recently sent this photo from the 2009 Hong Kong Book Fair.  They had a great week from July 22-28, with many people stopping by to say positive things about the Princeton University Press publishing program.  They liked the booth very much, from the decoration to the book selection.  I was just tickled to see our authors Bob Shiller, Ben Bernanke, and John Nash sharing a banner with Mao and Obama! 

Over at the Chronicle, they’ve commissioned an article from Princeton University Press director Peter Dougherty on the future of scholarly publishing and he makes several key recommendations for how UPs can not only survive, but thrive and build on our existing strengths and niche markets.

• Include on our lists more titles from the burgeoning professional disciplines: engineering, law, medicine, architecture, business, the graphic arts, and the information sciences.
• Become much more purposeful and assertive in publishing books that define whole fields, including important advanced textbooks.
• Publish more books for worldwide readerships.
• Work more closely with departments and centers within our host universities to adapt their work — sponsored lecture series, etc. — into books, monograph series, and other such initiatives.

Read the complete article here.

Faceout Books has a great post/interview with Jason Alejandro about the design of the cover and interior of The Invisible Hook. It may hard to tell on a computer screen, but the cover of The Invisible Hook has a very clever glossed invisible hook that is a literal extension of the title.  Faceout blogger says of the book that it is an example of “When a clever title meets an equally clever design.”

When Pete Leeson submitted his manuscript for The Invisible Hook, there was a surprise proposal hidden for his girlfriend Ania in the dedication and preface of the book. This initiated a year-long conspiracy between Pete and the staff of Princeton University Press and we’re happy to report Pete proposed and Ania said yes!

And in response, the blogging world exercised their right to puntificate on pirates to wish the couple well. Here are some choice highlights:

The First

Princeton U.P. Author Proposes Marriage in Book Acknowledgements (Publishers Weekly)

The Romantics:

A Proposal by the Book (Chronicle of Higher Education)

an economist in love (Marbury blog)

Leeson’s Libertarian Love Story (FR33 Agents)

The Rum Punners

Yo Ho, Yo Ho, A Pirate’s Wife for Me (Think Free)

Yo, ho, ho and a bottle of love (Daily Princetonian)

Economist Uses Invisible Hook to Snag Wench (Reason)

The Invisible Hook Indeed (Chris Blattman’s blog)

The Fans

How I’m Going to Propose to My Future Wife (Fragmenta Digitalia)

Better than the Jumbotron (the rugbyologist)

Way too cool (bibliographic: my life in books)

Last, but not Least

Toronto, Philly and Atlanta also sent good wishes, too.

I ran across this lovely gallery of Princeton University Press cover designer Jason Alejandro’s work and he in turn tuned me into these wonderful images of great libraries and bookstores of the world. Enjoy!

Like a lot of writers, I am wondering when Congress and the administration will propose a bailout for the publishing industry. Carnage is everywhere. Advances slashed, editors fired, publicity at subsistence levels, entire imprints vanished into thin air. Moreover, unlike some of the industries that the government, in its wisdom, has decided to subsidize, the publishing of books is crucial to the American way of life.

Seriously.

In an insightful article, Stephen L. Carter argues that the survival of book publishing is imperative for the survival of democracy. Read more over at The Daily Beast.

Our Nobel prize-winner George Akerlof and bestselling author and economist Robert Shiller hit the road recently to promote their new book ANIMAL SPIRITS: How Human Psychology Drives the Economy, and Why It Matters for Global Capitalism, just published last Wednesday. 

The boys started off their tour with a snowy couple of days in Washington, DC, with our good friends Hooks Book Events.  Perry Hooks and Loretta Yenson took George and Bob around a snowy DC, with large book events at The Brookings Institution, the FDIC Coporate University, and the Greater Washington Board of Trade. 

After the stop in our nation’s capitol, the authors headed out to Los Angeles for a very successful event at one of my favorite venues in LA–Zocalo Public Square.  If you’re ever in LA, check them out!

In a moving article in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Philip Martin asks, “If the very act of writing has changed, should we be surprised if the character of reading has changed as well?” This excellent question  leads this publicist to the follow up - “If the very act of reading has changed, should we be surprised that book reviews are also changing?”

In the course of my work, I have opportunity to correspond with book review editors all over the world and, lately, every email is sent off with an extra hope and prayer. See, normally, a publicist is just hoping to get a response, any response, but lately the responses are ones I wish I didn’t have to read. In recent weeks, at least three publications have written back to me to tell me they are a) ceasing publication entirely or b) eliminating the book review pages or the book review editor position. So, yes, an extra hope and prayer is sent with every email as a ward against this type of response.

The most recent bit of bad news comes from the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette where they have eliminated the book review editor position. This was a surprisingly robust book review outlet for academic books, so it is particularly sad news for us.

At the urging of Seth Ditchik– our economics editor — our staff has been considering the question: Have you been to a good bookstore lately?

This question can be bit of a political minefield for most publishers and while you may expect the staff at a publishing house to support local independent stores, we also heard stories about libraries, big box stores, and used books shops. The bookstores ranged from local shops in Lambertville, NJ and New Hope, PA, to New Orleans, Cambridge, and even Shanghai. And the timing of our visits range from the weekly trip while walking the dog, to a “love at first sight” in a library years ago, to a single impressionable moment 10 years ago.

The stories encompass both our favorite stores and libraries and our favorite experiences in those places. We hope you enjoy reading along with us. The inaugural post should be live on the site in a few hours.

Our Director Peter Dougherty was invited by the Seminary Co-op bookstores in Chicago to write about our new book ANIMAL SPIRITS: How Human Psychology Drives the Economy, and Why It Matters for Global Capitalism in their “Editors Speak” forum, and for your reading pleasure, here it is!  According to their website, “Editors Speak” will present a rare opportunity to literary and university press editors to discuss and explain the books they have published. While serving on one hand as a review of the book, we also hope this will offer a unique insight into the publishing process and the choices made before a book goes to press.  You should check out their site regularly to see what’s cooking over there. 

But I digress…. Peter shines a light on the fascinating back story of how ANIMAL SPIRITS came to be, and its role not only in this current financial disaster but for economists and public policy folks of the future.