Bookbloggers Snap Fingers, Publishing Industry Jumps

"Mad Max Perkins," the mysterious editorial insider behind Book Angst 101, has been getting top names in the biz to weigh in on the power of the midlist. Gerry Howard points out that "the whole 'midlist-who cares?' mindset scants the highly profitable activities of trade paperback editors, a lot of whose work involves careful list maintenance and below-the radar reissues that really pay off in the long run," while Marjorie Braman makes a useful distinction between those books "that are often very readable, but in the end, just don't seem necessary" and the "good kind," the ones that are necessary to not-so-large but very passionate readership.

Meanwhile, Sarah Weinman grumbles about "international edition" trade paperbacks of brand new American hardcover novels that have been showing up at her Canadian bookstore, and within hours gets an email from a HarperCollins Canada spokesperson explaining the policy behind their release.