It was the London Book Fair last week, so all the foreign publishers were in town. I managed to grab lunch with Sally Richardson, the CEO of my American publishing house, St Martin's Press. I was surprised to learn that the American book companies are holding their own during these troubled times, and in the case of SMP, they are slightly up on last year. Sally believes that while the price of books remains so competitive compared with the theatre, ballet, opera and even cinema, they could come through this recession, not unscathed, but at least unbowed. The same could not be said for the newspaper industry, especially at a local level, where some of the most famous names in America are going under.
Sally went on to say she thought Barack Obama had had a good first 100 days, but while America is facing tough financial decisions her first choice for President would still have been Michael Bloomberg, the Mayor of New York. She repeated Mayor Bloomberg's oft quoted remark when asked if he'd considered standing for President: "When you're a five foot two Jewish billionaire from New York, your chances aren't that great." Sally told him firmly that he was wrong - if America can elect a first generation black man to be President, surely he would have had just as good a chance.
Sally went on to say she thought Barack Obama had had a good first 100 days, but while America is facing tough financial decisions her first choice for President would still have been Michael Bloomberg, the Mayor of New York. She repeated Mayor Bloomberg's oft quoted remark when asked if he'd considered standing for President: "When you're a five foot two Jewish billionaire from New York, your chances aren't that great." Sally told him firmly that he was wrong - if America can elect a first generation black man to be President, surely he would have had just as good a chance.
2 Comments:
The news about book publishers somehow doesn't surprise me. In these very uncertain times, I increasingly find I want to "lose" myself in a good story. I much prefer the images of my imagination to those from other sources and, a paperback from a world-class writer costs far less than an evening out and, is far often, for me, of greater value. For example, I can "drink" and read!
I agree with Ms Richardson in all you've quoted and I have a suspicion that the US will come to regret that Mr Bloomberg didn't stand and couldn't therefore be elected. Surely, Mr Obama was "always" going to have a good first 100 days?
But even before the world economic collapse I very much doubt he could have got anywhere near meeting the expectations of those who elected him. Now, there can be little doubt about it and I also see little that indicates the President and his team are doing anything but flounder. Hardly surprising, but as ever he'll probably suffer from guilt by association; in the wrong place at the wrong time. Unfortunate.
anyway, time will, as always, tell...
Always believed in hight as the Americans say "size does matter"...encouraged now, after going through your post...Lord, Archer!
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