New York publishers shift right in a drive for readers [More books with a conservative bent] (AP)

AP ^ | 5/21/03 | Hillel Italie

[I_Love_My_Husband]

Where's that book you should be writing? ;) Sounds like NOW is the time for you girlie!

[summer]

bttt

[I_Love_My_Husband]

We don't think we've done enough in this area. We have featured conservative authors like Bill Bennett, but we've never presented them in a coherent way

PRICELESS!

Nope. They never have. But they MIGHT now. Even liberals LOVE money apparantly despite their claims.

[Cicero]

I don't think this will hurt Regnery at all. The saying goes, if you build a new highway it will soon fill with cars. Similarly, if you solicit more conservative books, people will soon start writing them.

There already is a Conservative Book Club, but if Book of the Month Club moves in, the market will vastly increase.

[summer]

I agree with you, Cicero. Meanwhile, I can't but wonder -- what is the real problem with American's left? They seem to be on a sinking ship, going down quicker each and every day.

[summer]

I agree with you, Cicero. Meanwhile, I can't help but wonder -- what is the real problem with American's left? They seem to be on a sinking ship, going down quicker each and every day.

[Valin]

It will be interesting to see if any tv or radio hosts pick up on this trend, and start boradcasting a book of the month chat, like Oprah did -- but, with a conservative bent.

It would be nice but I doubt it will happen.
As we all know conservatives
1 can't/ don't read
2 don't have time as they are too busy destroying the enviroment, throwing little old ladies/children out into the street, opressing minorities, stealing all the money.

[Capriole]

Don't give money to the BOMC conservative book club--stick with the real Conservative Book Club, which is a great organization. The BOMC isn't acting out of any newfound convictions and I have to question whether they'll seek out all the smaller books, the religious books, the homeschooling books the CBC provides, or review them with such care and insight. If you're going to spend money on conservative books, give it to the people who aren't just money-grubbers.

[Rightfootforward]

It's just dandy that the lefties who've darn near controlled what books should and should not be published in this country have finally decided they want a bite of the conservative pie. I'm not impressed, nor am I fooled. Their interest is ALL about money. Whenever possible, MY money will continue to be spent on books from Regnery. Since 1947, the late Henry Regnery, and now his son Alfred S. Regnery, have waged a lone, heroic struggle to hold a position against the anti-right wing publishers in New York. Another way of saying the same thing is, in the not-very-old days, Regnery published conservative titles New York wouldn't touch. I don't plan to forget that soon.

[LibKill]

Publishing is a business like any other. You make money by offering things that sell.

The important part of this is that conservatism is now popular and makes money for those who cater to it.

[summer]

I really respect what you are saying.

Still, I also think this trend may represent a real potential to expand the conservative base.

Readers who previously have not read conservative books might now stumble across some, if more of such books become widely available. And, true, those new publishers of conservative titles will make money; however, it might be also be true that as a result, the conservative audience grows.

[PoisedWoman]

Yes, conservatives will benefit from the trend.

I was editorial director of a publishing house that specialized in books for a certain niche. We could sell a gajillion of anything on the topic we put between covers, and had many national bestsellers. We offered ZERO advances to writers and raked in great big bucks. Then NY publishing figured out it was time to break into the niche, which they had ignored. They did well, we lost our best authors to them and many sales. Our company almost went out of business.....then along came an opportunity to publish Chicken Soup for the Soul, which every house in NY had turned down cold. The chicken books sold 80 million copies-- and counting.

The point is, trends start where they start, and when they become roaring rivers sweeping millions of readers in their path, the NY houses launch a few yachts and do very well with them. But essentially they are riding the wake of smaller houses who have been rowing along for years.

Ah, the entrepreneurial spirit! Almost never seen in large publishing houses! Nevertheless, conservative books will definitely benefit...and let's devoutly wish that other conservative un-PC ideas will now be allowed to filter into fiction, which has been taken over by the ultra-libs to the extent that if a writer wants to publish a romance or a mystery, he/she damned well better find a way to slam white men, the Pope, any and all symbols of traditional American values.

[summer]

Great post. Thanks, PoisedWoman. :)