High Concept
Am I blogging...or am I pitching my existence?


Tuesday, August 03, 2004

The Pitch: Aw, I got no pitch, I just like this guy's photo.  

I think I like Sam Tanenhaus, the new editor of the New York Times Review of Books, just because of his picture. He looks very, very sad and I appreciate that. Back in the old days, a writer could outsource the sadness to a limply sorrowful labrador that would appear on the book jacket photo with them, but in these leaner economic times for the publishing industry a writer frequently has to be their own dog with mixed results. Tanenhaus' success with the look makes me eager to read anything by him, and I can only hope he moves soon from editing and nonfiction to the world of the woe-struck hardcover novel, where a fictional nation of sad-eyed men and women despairingly bow their heads to dusk-colored steering wheels.

posted by Jeff Lester | 9:54 AM |
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