If Libby's book gets reprinted i'm going to send one to

[AlCzervik]

Concerned woman of America, and one to American family values assoc.

[OldLeftieLawyer]

1. That book

Jesus God, if that's not a strange mind at work.

I'd die of embarrassment if I were Libby.

Of course, I'd have already hanged myself in the attic if I wrote that badly, too.

Or if I were Irv Libby.

[rodeodance]

3. an article on DU said it will be reprinted (yesterday).

[AlCzervik]

4. i think he accurately represents the right wing.

i hope i get a thank you card!

[NYCGirl]

2. From the things I've heard about the book, other than the few paragraphs

that the news media is squawking about, they'll be really BORED by it.

Amazon.com
Setsuo is a young apprentice at a remote mountain inn in turn-of-the-century Japan, who falls in love at first sight of the beautiful Yukiko, one of a roving band of actors who have come to stay. Trapped at the inn by a blizzard is a larger group of strange travelers. Emotionally wrought by his feelings for Yukiko, Setsuo cannot see that he is getting involved in political skulduggery as he tries to fathom the increasingly odd behavior of the guests. The finding of a corpse and a mysterious small box keep the reader guessing too.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly
Although set in Japan in 1903, Libby's first novel avoids the exoticism and antiquarianism of James Clavell and sets its own tightly dreamlike tone. Setsuo, apprentice innkeeper at an isolated mountain hostel in Northern Japan, finds himself marooned with a dubious cast of travelers during a blizzard. His youthful naivete unfortunately draws him not only to a mysterious young woman with a band of itinerant performers but also to a half-frozen and half-crazed visitor. When this stranger flees back into the storm, Setsuo and another guest separately pursue him, leading to robbery and murder. With rumors of political intrigue enveloping the action and the apprentice in possession of a Macguffin as enigmatic as a haiku image, Libby maintains a sense of mystery and claustrophobia through pared-down prose and minimalist characterization. Setsuo's love interest, for instance, is simply the "girl in the cloak of yellow fur" for much of the novel. Even after he learns her name is Yukiko, her actions, history and motives remain ambiguous to the end. Spare and muted, Libby's debut has distilled his diplomatic experiences in Japan with the U.S. State and Defense Departments into a subtle, if sometimes attenuated, story of innocence and temptation halfway across the world and a century ago.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0312284535/002-4763989-5681634?v=glance&n=283155&n=507846&s=books&v=glance

[vademocrat]

5. "Publisher to Reissue I. Lewis Libby's Novel" - Wash. Post 11/9/05

Here's a link to the story:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/09/AR2005110901896.html

[OldLeftieLawyer]

7. Oh, my god, his agent

Binky Urban was once my agent. She's, well, she's something else.

If Hitler wrote a defense of the Holocaust, Binky wouldn't have any trouble representing him.

Oh, she must be thrilled. I should call her, but what would I say?

"Ew, Binky, you old whore, you did it again. Wasn't selling 'American Psycho' good enough for you?"?

[afdip]

6. it'll be reprinted . . . welcome to the amerikan cult of the personality

. . . anything vaguely popular will be gobbled (no thanksgiving pun intended) up by adoring fan-reader sycophants. it starts with the news cycle, then gains momentum with 'people' and 'us' before hitting the tabloids. amerika has an unlimited appetite for this pap. before long the account of the girl & bear in the cage will nudge katie & tom's coming cuddly package off the front page. ain't amerika great??

[OldLeftieLawyer]

9. People will buy it,

but they won't read it.

Remember Michael kinsley's famous experiment of putting cards inside popular books, with a name and phone number to call to get a cash reward for having read the book? He did a bunch of them.

Not one call. Ever.

[napi21]

8. Libby's happy because of the $$, but I'd bet the rest of the Pubs

are dying with this news! Few people would spend a lot of $$ to get this piece of porn, so most Pubs would never have seen it, and probably blamed the LW media for over hyping it. IF it's reisssued though, that could be another story!

[OldLeftieLawyer]

10. It probably didn't earn back his advance

Binky, his agent, gets her authors great big advances, and if the book tanked, as it obviously did, it didn't earn back the advance.

So, most likely, Libby won't make much, if any, from this reissue.

How embarrassing, though. You get reissued because you're indicted and have to resign.

[NewWaveChick1981]

11. Yeah, but...

...Scooter would get royalties off the sale of his book...so if anyone actually bought it, he'd profit. Better to catch it at a library book sale for a nickel...:P (Then again, I wonder how many libraries would actually carry it???)

On edit: come to think of it, the library might have to PAY someone to take it off their hands!!! :nopity:

[Dora]

13. He only gets royalties if the book sells enough.

I work for a small publisher. We don't send author royalties until they exceed the amount of the advance. If Libby's book didn't sell well then it was unlikely that he ever received any royalties on the first go-round, and it was unlikely that he received any if the book was remaindered (liquidated at a huge discount).

Although there is an element of boilerplate, contracts differ from writer to writer, publisher to publisher, and policy about royalties on reprinting may be different, but I imagine that Libby still couldn't get any until his advance had been paid for by sales of the book.

I'm sure that a hell of a lot of books would have to sell before he ever saw another dime of income off of it.

[Book Lover]

12. 25K of them!

:rofl: I'll bet any comer that, barring mass purchasing by the Scooter fan club (a la Scientologists), you'll see 17K of that print run on remainder shelves within 8 weeks of release.