New publisher of O.J. book revealed

It turns out I actually know the previously secret publisher of the O.J. book! It's Eric Kampmann at Beaufort Books, who appeared on the Today Show and spoke with Publishers Weekly yesterday to explain his decision. Kampmann is also the president for Midpoint Trade Books, the distributor for World Ahead's titles to the retail trade.

While Denise Brown tore into Kampmann on Today and called the book "a manual on murder," my opinion is that this project is now very different than the slimy deal Judith Regan was trying to pull off last year. For one thing, O.J. no longer owns the rights to it and will not financially benefit. For another, Ron Goldman's family is the new owner and they've said they intended to repackage the manuscript in a way that turns it into Simpson's confession. So instead of a PR stunt that puts money into the pocket of a murderer, this book will now use his own words to establish his guilt in the court of history while also benefiting his victims' families.

O.J. Simpson book is back -- with a twist

PW reports that the O.J. Simpson book If I Did It -- which helped cost Judith Regan her job last year -- is back on track to be published, but in a more tasteful form. The Goldman family obtained the rights through a bankruptcy court ruling, and the repackaged will contain additional commentary representing their point of view. The publisher has not yet been identified.

OJ's sick book could make a comeback

In an odd twist to a disturbing story, a judge ordered that the rights to OJ Simpson's pseudo-confessional book, If I Did It, be auctioned off. This means that the book that helped topple Judith Regan may indeed hit store shelves some day. (World Ahead won't be bidding.) The move comes at the request of... Fred Goldman?!

"The Goldmans were horrified as to the content, but the real horror was that Simpson was profiting," Goldman's lawyer, David Cook, said. "O.J. is now on the block. On the right hand we get to sell the book, and on the left we get the money."

Cook said Goldman did not necessarily want the book published but had determined that the rights to "If I Did It" were one of Simpson's few "visible assets." The auction could be held within 30 days, Cook said.

Book of Saddam's poems, letters being shopped

Saddam Hussein's lawyer is planning a book that will contain "many secrets" about the fall of Baghdad, as well as "200-300 letters, poems and other texts handwritten by President Saddam." Khalil al-Dulaimi told the AFP that he hasn't written the book yet, but will soon begin contacting publishers. (No word yet if he's tried tracking down Judith Regan.)

Poetry by Saddam Hussein?!? Good grief. One shudders to think what this madman might have written...

I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by me, flogged tortured gassed,

dragging themselves through my dungeons looking for missing relatives (*)

(But at least he looked the part.)

Wrap-Up: Murdoch on Regan, "24" politics, and libs bash Vanguard

* Rupert Murdoch tells the NY Daily News that the O.J. Simpson book debacle wasn't the reason he axed Judith Regan. Instead, he says Regan "wasn't a team player" and points a finger at the tasteless Mickey Mantle novel that she planned to publish.

* The New Yorker has a lengthy but interesting article about Joel Surnow, the executive producer of "24" and one of the few conservatives in Hollywood. One interesting tidbit: Some Pentagon brass are made squeamish by the show's frequent depiction of torture.

* Liberals wasted little time in attacking TheVanguard.org after Human Events billed it the conservative answer to MoveOn last month. Both Daily Kos and MediaTransparency.org have gotten into the fray.

* Bloggers and other new media watchers should check out the Web 2.0 Expo being held in San Francisco on April 15-18.

The final word on Regan

Happy New Year, and best wishes for the start of 2007.

As you know doubt heard, while I was away Judith Regan got the boot (or was it the bloody glove?) from Rupert Murdoch and is now litigating over her dismissal. No doubt her decision to publish a questionable Mickey Mantle novel was also a factor, although the O.J. Simpson stunt had to be NewsCorp's primary reason for this decision.

I predicted this was coming. Regan has published some interesting books over the years, but she went way over the line with her recent acquisitions. If she thought that her role at Regan Books made her untouchable, she was wrong. Every publisher has to answer to someone for what they choose to publish, and in Regan's case she chose very poorly indeed.

Regan publishing a new novel...by Mickey Mantle?!

If you thought that the OJ Simpson and Fidel Castro memoirs were signs of publishing's apocalypse, here comes another gem. Next March, Judith Regan will publish 7: The Mickey Mantle Novel, a fictional account narrated by a fictional Mantle.

According to the BS, the novel includes "claims that Mantle had an affair with Marilyn Monroe while she was married to Joe DiMaggio and that the late [Bill] Martin was a rapist." The author ironically cites journalistic integrity as his reason for putting words into Mantle's mouth:

“Every time I sat down to outline it, I knew that all of the stories that were told to me over the years were not documentable, and it concerned me, especially after what happened with Jim Frey,” said [author Peter] Golenbock, according to PW. “My choice them became to write a biography and leave these stories out—but that wouldn’t be Mickey Mantle. It really didn’t leave me any other choice.”

Regan had a choice -- it was whether or not to publish this book. And without evidence to back up those claims, she chose poorly.

Murdoch pulls plug on O.J. book -- fallout for Regan?

Rupert Murdoch came to his senses and ended Judith Regan's ill-conceived plans for publishing an O.J. Simpson book and broadcasting an interview on the Fox network:

"I and senior management agree with the American public that this was an ill-considered project," said Rupert Murdoch, News Corp. chairman. "We are sorry for any pain that this has caused the families of Ron Goldman and Nicole Brown Simpson."

ReganBooks is owned by HarperCollins, a subsidiary of Murdoch's News Corp.

This project was beyond tasteless. I'm glad to hear that many of Fox's affiliates and some of its on-air personalities like Bill O'Reilly and Geraldo Rivera resisted going along. (You know you've crossed the line when even Geraldo finds it objectionable.)

I wonder what this will mean for Regan. She's been pushing the envelope in publishing for a long time, but this time she clearly went too far. Her statement this weekend likening Simpson's book to a confession and calling him "the murderer" now looks a lot like spin control anticipating Murdoch's veto. She's going to be made into the scapegoat over this, both in the eyes of the public and (I suspect) within News Corp.

OJ Simpson book deal true after all

It turns out that the earlier rumors about an O.J. Simpson book deal that I posted on this blog (here and here) were true. The AP just confirmed that O.J. has a deal with Judith Regan and will interviewed by the publisher on Fox at the end of this month. The book will be titled If I Did It, and it will contain a "hypothetical" description of how O.J. would've killed his ex-wife Nicole and friend Ron Goldman.

While I can't deny that Regan is good at what she does, this decision is in such poor taste that it simply cannot be defended. And News Corp's decision to air a two-part interview on Fox is just as bad. One "media" outlet that ironically looks good in all of this is the National Enquirer, which first broke the story almost a month ago.