Rightward Ho!

I was busy writing book reviews all weekend, so I didn't see the excellent piece Daniel Gross wrote for Slate about big publishers jumping on the conservative bandwagon (or should I say bookmobile?) until just now. But it's pretty much exactly how I feel about the subject of everybody trying to emulate the success of Regnery Publishing. Truest points: "[Mary] Matalin's partisan hackishness almost certainly guarantees she will publish only the most predictable conservative writings" and "Whenever a top executive at a publicly held company says he is doing something because it is 'cool,' it's time to flee."

I'd even add to Gross's analysis by pointing out a crucial element of Regnery's accomplishment was not just that it roped in the hardcore right-wing talent to create its product, but the high visilbility its books got through being Amazon.com bestsellers; buyers turned to the online retailer when they couldn't find Regnery's titles in their local bookstores. Of course, it doesn't hurt to have Robert Novak turning tricks for your authors, either...

(That said, it should not be assumed that the Big Houses are completely boneheaded in their rightward leanings. Crown Forum may be publishing the rantings of Ann Coulter, for example, but they've also brought National Review reporter Byron York into the fold, and his analysis of how the Democrats managed to shoot themselves in the foot in last year's election [The Vast Left-Wing Conspiracy] is going to be a must-read. And of course the Free Press has always been able to come up with consistently interesting books representing a wide range of conservative viewpoints....)