Random House Inc.

The Stuff White People Like book that Random House published in July is still on The New York Times best seller list. Granted, it's at number 34, just one spot away from falling off (keep hanging on, The World Without Us), but still—it was less than a year ago that this thing was just a blog that some internet people thought was funny. Then in late March, Random House paid its author, Christian Lander, an advance worth upwards of $300,000 and everything changed!

Which accounts, perhaps, for how it came to pass that Zondervan, the HarperCollins-owned Christian publisher that who recently published a quickie biography of Sarah Palin, has acquired Jon Acuff's Stuff Christians Like, a "send-up of all things evangelical in America" based on a  read more »

Media Mob just received an email sent out to all Random House North American employees from Markus Dohle announcing the departure of Deputy Chairman and Chief Operating Officer Edward Volini.

The text of the memo follows. Expect more on this soon:

TO EVERYONE AT RANDOM HOUSE NORTH AMERICA

It is with great regret that I inform you that EDWARD VOLINI has decided to step down as Deputy Chairman and Chief Operating Officer and will leave the company effective September 30.

Ed has had a very distinguished career at Random House, beginning in May 1997 at Ballantine Books, where he rose to Executive Vice President, Deputy Publisher.  read more »

The Wall Street Journal has the story: Peter Olson's successor at Random House Inc. has been selected, and it's a German guy whom none of the publishers in New York have ever heard of. The name is Markus Dohle, and he comes from Arvato, the printing operation at Bertelsmann.

Mr. Dohle took over the top job at Arvato for Hartmut Ostrowski, who became chairman of the entire Bertelesmann corporation this past January. Mr. Ostrowski chose one of his own in nominating Mr. Dohle for the Random House appointment— a move many stateside industry observers predicted in recent weeks amid whispers and speculation that seems to come up basically every time a Random House C.E.O. abruptly leaves his job.  read more »

This past January, Gunter Thielen wrapped up his six year tenure as C.E.O. of Bertelsmann AG, the German corporation that owns the largest American publishing operation, Random House Inc.; today the Bookseller reports that Thielen has been named chairman of the company’s supervisory board.

Bertelsmann was most recently in the news when a German magazine reported (without citing sources) that it had offered Rupert Murdoch a billion dollars for HarperCollins, the book publishing arm of News Corp.  read more »

Jon Bon Jovi is "headlining" BEA, which is actually not a big concert but a book industry expo held in the Javits Center.

PW Daily reports:

The singer will perform, with Amy Grant, at Town Hall on June 2 during BEA. The rockers, who both have forthcoming titles from the Doubleday imprint Flying Dolphin Press, will hit the stage for charity as part of the Saturday Night Benefit, raising money for the Book Industry Foundation.

Rock on!

- Tom McGeveran

Last winter, my best friend Kate Bohner and I decided to do things backward and rent a house in the  read more »

Last winter, my best friend Kate Bohner and I decided to do things backward and rent a house in the  read more »

Last night at Beauty Bar, the retro-themed watering hole in the East Village, a chatty gaggle gathered to laud the publication of the new Random House anthology "Twentysomething Essays by Twentysomething Writers."

The book features 29 essays on topics ranging from the Serious—obsessive-compulsive disorder, rape, being gay when your mom is homophobic—to the more lighthearted, or what one might call the Universal Overachieved Twentysomething Experience, such as moving back in with your parents, discovering New York, and moving to Brooklyn, and how to explain to the kids you tutor in Harlem that you've accepted a freelance writing assignment that puts you up at the St. Regis for a few days.

The anthology's editors are two overachieved 24-year-olds, Jillian Quint (Vassar '04) and Matt Kellogg (Yale '04), who have seen firsthand the benefits of imposing their generational viewpoint upon the august publishing house. "We've both gone from editorial assistants to assistant editors," Mr. Kellogg said. "And our bosses are here!"

The book's authors wore name tags that said, cheerily, "Hi! I'm a Twentysomething." Many huddled in tight-knit groups, nursing the free Brookyn Brewery beer, discussing the weirdness of the almost-fame that had been thrust upon them.

Each had entered a contest run by Mr. Kellogg and Ms. Quint last year, in which they solicited essays from anyone between the ages of 20 and 29, on any topic, with the winner receiving $20,000. The winner was in attendance—Joey Franklin, who wrote about working the night shift at Wendy's.

It was his first time in New York. "People are more skeptical as a generation," Mr. Franklin said, drinking a glass of water. He is Mormon. "I don't drink for religious reasons, but also by choice," he said.

"We're trying to steal back the innocence that was stolen from us," Mr. Franklin said. "By the media, by pop culture."

"The Internet is liberating and confusing," Ms. Quint said, peering through black-framed glasses. One partygoer, an Andy Samberg lookalike, was overheard characterizing the crowd as "geeky librarian chic"; there were many tote bags bearing the names of various publishing companies. "It's a curse and a blessing. Nobody's really listening," she said, and sighed.

When asked if she was on MySpace, one of the authors said that the editors had requested that they each make a profile. "You know, to publicize the book," she said.

—Doree Shafrir

What do you do for a second act when your first novel spent more than a year on the best-seller list  read more »

What do you do for a second act when your first novel spent more than a year on the best-seller list  read more »

With the predictable regularity of a locust plague, Ann Coulter and her enablers at the once-reputab  read more »

With the predictable regularity of a locust plague, Ann Coulter and her enablers at the once-reputab  read more »

If you want to know the facts about the Harvard plagiarism scandal, don't go to the Times' lame and protective coverage. The Harvard Crimson has thrashed the Times and all others on the Kaavya Viswanathan story.

Today the Times failed to include a key statement in the case the Crimson reported, Random House's pointed charge to Little, Brown that its author Megan McCafferty, was robbed:

"We are continuing to investigate this matter, but, given the alarming similarities in the language, structure and characters already found in these works, we are certain that some literal copying actually occurred here," read the letter, which is dated April 22 and was signed by Random House lawyer Min Jung Lee.

More important, The Crimson also offers a reader the only real evidence in these cases, a comparative selection of passages . Real journalism in these cases must provide this information, and let the reader decide. The list here proves to me that plagiarism occured. The only question now is whether you believe it was "unintentional," as Viswanathan claims.

I've been hearing that defense all my life and it has always annoyed me. I think if you believe her, you could also believe that monkeys sitting at typewriters wrote Shakespeare. My friend Dan Swanson takes her side, saying that if someone is going to consciously plagiarize, they would go for something obscure. McCafferty wasn't obscure. Also, he says, the human capacity to memorize is tremendous. "Everyone in the Muslim world knows someone who has memorized the Quran. Children do it."

Points taken. I'm not buying though. I think that's coddling a criminal; I have no compassion for plagiarists. I think they sweat and lay a book next to the typewriter, and copy. They don't go into trances.

(While on the subject of psychology, let me acknowledge two subtexts of this scandal. A, racism. It bugs people that an Indian-American superachiever has robbed the work of someone called Megan McCafferty. B, envy. Viswanathan got $500,000 from Little, Brown for her book deal. Am I guilty of either A or B? Not me; I am a good person who never succumbs to racial stereotyping or material jealousy.)

On Jan. 26, at the Congress Centre in Davos, Switzerland, New York Times publisher Arthur O.  read more »

According to the Oprah Winfrey Show Web site, tomorrow's program will revisit the questions surrounding James Frey and A Million Little Pieces.

A source at Doubleday said that Frey, publisher Nan Talese and Frank Rich will be appearing on the show, which is being taped tomorrow morning for airing at 4 p.m.  read more »

--Sheelah Kolhatkar

On Monday, Jan.  read more »

“Writers don’t retire. How can writers retire?  read more »

Have you begun to pretend to read this season’s hot literary debut, Indecision, by Benjamin Ku  read more »

Have you begun to pretend to read this season’s hot literary debut, Indecision, by Benjamin Ku  read more »

If book publishing is a horse race, this fall we’re being treated to a Nobel trifecta.  read more »

If book publishing is a horse race, this fall we’re being treated to a Nobel trifecta.  read more »

Results of phone calls to offices of publishing executives as of 4 p.m. on Friday, August 12: Daniel Menaker, executive editor-in-chief, Random House: no answer Bill Thomas, editor-in-chief, Doubleday-Broadway Publishing Group: no answer (voice mail indicated he's on vacation until August 29th) David Hirshey, executive editor, HarperCollins: no answer Sonny Mehta, editor-in-chief, Knopf: no answer Nan A. Talese, publisher, Nan A. Talese/Doubleday: no answer Morgan Entrekin, president, Grove/Atlantic: no answer Happy weekend, publishing industry! Tune in next Friday, when the survey will move one hour earlier. --Sheelah Kolhatkar  read more »

Envy, by Kathryn Harrison. Random House, 301 pages, $24.95.

“Can  read more »

Until I Find You: A Novel, by John Irving.  read more »

Envy, by Kathryn Harrison. Random House, 301 pages, $24.95.  read more »

Until I Find You: A Novel, by John Irving. Random House, 824 pages, $27.95  read more »

Out in front of a shimmery glass box located so far west on 34th Street that it's practically in New  read more »

Whatever Makes You Happy, by Lisa Grunwald. Random House, 238 pages, $23.95.  read more »

Rules for Old Men Waiting, by Peter Pouncey.  read more »

My Life So Far, by Jane Fonda.  read more »

Prep , by Curtis Sittenfeld. Random House, 406 pages, $21.95. Yo, prep-school papa!  read more »

The lengthy acknowledgments section of Seth Mnookin's book Hard News: The Scandals at The New York T  read more »

"I have had a crush on Kevin Bacon since seventh grade," said Elli Frank, glimpsing the actor as she  read more »

"I'm an individual with a family and with friends, and my father is an individual with a publishing  read more »

C HICAGO, ILL.-After several years in which the collective mood was distinctly logy, the publishing  read more »

The Mother Knot , by Kathryn Harrison. Random House, 82 pages, $16.95.  read more »

I'm mad for moguls.  read more »

There's always a bit of a mystery when a "small" book hits it big.  read more »

The Epicure's Lament , by Kate Christensen.  read more »

Anyone with a jones for scandal and/or Schadenfreude -which is to say, most of us in the publishing  read more »

Has the recent consolidation of Random House taken its first victim?Whoever wrote the four-page memo  read more »

Poor Ann Godoff, she can't win for losing.  read more »

The Storyteller , which arrives in stores this week, is an engaging, funny novel about an aspiring a  read more »

Since summer is slow in publishing-a few blockbusters courtesy of Hillary and Harry Potter notwithst  read more »

A few years ago, I met with a prominent editor at a major house on a kind of "go-see" to introduce m  read more »

The Devil Wears Prada, by Lauren Weisberger.  read more »

On a recent afternoon, a high-ranking editor at Random House Inc.  read more »

Why Is Ann Godoff Diving on Penguin?

It's a Lovely Match  read more »

After five years as president of Random House, Ann Godoff was dismissed on Thursday Jan.  read more »

World on Fire: How Exporting Free Market Democracy Breeds Ethnic Violence and Global Instability , b  read more »