Aug 29 2008
Sarah Palin and the missed publishing opportunity
You probably know by now that Senator McCain has chosen Sarah Palin as his VP. I was really surprised. My initial reaction was: “Ouch, the Dems didn’t see this coming.” Then, “Somebody’s clearly hoping to get some of Hillary Clinton’s supporters.” Then it was, “She’s only been governor for two years?” Clearly, there will be a lot of chatter about his choice and I can’t wait to hear everyone’s reactions. I’m happy to see a woman for a VP slot, but how does McCain explain his reason for choosing a woman with so little experience? If you’re going to pick a woman, there are a hell of a lot of women out there with the experience and cojones to handle the job… Oh wait, they’re all Democrats. (Just kidding! I’m sure there are plenty in the GOP as well.) But I sure am curious to see what McCain can say about her lack of experience after he’s been bashing Obama nonstop for having that same weakness. If Obama isn’t ready to be president, how is Palin ready to be VP (and potentially president if anything were to happen to McCain)? Really interesting developments.
Sorry readers: I know you’re not here for election talk. There are plenty of other blogs for that (although, to be honest, I’m not sure I could recommend any of the ones I’ve been checking out lately). But a huge part of publishing is staying on top of current events and knowing the trends and discussions as they happen. While I discussed McCain’s VP pick with a colleague (Meredith, who I mentioned in an earlier post), she told me that one of our coworkers brought a book about Sarah Palin to Pub Board–the meeting where acquisitions editors pitch book ideas–and the book was declined. “UGH!” I groaned. What a loss for the company! “Can you imagine if we had accepted it and crashed it [to crash a book means to publish it with a very fast schedule]? We’d have the book done in a month and it would be the first thing everyone picked up.”
That’s sad. Nobody could have predicted she would be VP, but props to our editors who saw a great opportunity for a book about an influential individual rising in popularity. Who knows? Maybe we still have time for the book… what a bummer, though!
Palin is an interesting pick. I’m a democrat–and EXTREMELY liberal, and my hubby’s a republican, but we are both pretty interested in politics. You make some good points, and WOW, how interesting that your publishing company might have published a book on her!
So glad you commented on my blog! That helped me find yours (well, one of them). How do you keep up on all of them?
Your word “I know your not hear” requires a correction. The word should be “here” not “hear.”
shakespeare, Thanks for your comment. I’m curious to see if they’re going to try to go ahead with a Palin book. If we had an author in mind when it was pitched, then I think it’s pretty likely they’ll pursue it.
Glad you stopped over! I actually only have one blog, although I do write how-to articles for eHow.com. I’m not sure how I juggle it all either!
Grace, thanks for noticing the typo. I’ve fixed it now.
Best,
Jess