Alyssa Katz » Bloomsbury

Publisher hell (not mine)

Alyssa Katz — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 03:42:59 +0000

I am thankful to Bloomsbury for many reasons, but I never thought I’d have to count “not censoring my book” as one of them. Econoblogger Barry Ritholtz’ account of his editing experience at McGraw-Hill on his (hopefully still) forthcoming book Bailout Nation offers a chilling view of how it coulda gone. Ritholtz’ readers know him to be a sharp and scrupulous commentator who footnotes his sources and fudges nothing. In the view of McGraw-Hill corporate — parent company of ratings agency Standard & Poor’s, which comes in for a hardly revelatory drubbing in Ritholtz’ book — he is an out-of-control diva who will not submit to the editorial process. Ritholtz reports on his blog that his editor, before being laid off last year, warned the author to handle his S&P passages “delicately and diplomatically.” Ritholtz didn’t, and I don’t — luckily I still have a publisher.

Fresh profile of my publisher

Alyssa Katz — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 00:29:40 +0000

Here’s a solid article just out in the New York Observer about my publisher, Bloomsbury USA, and its prospects as a reenergized independent in a battlefield of injured giants like Random House. It includes a mention of Our Lot and some sage observations from my agent, Larry Weissman.

Book begets blog

Alyssa Katz — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 04:06:54 +0000

Welcome! This website picks up where my book Our Lot: How Real Estate Came to Own Us leaves off. The book is coming out in June from Bloomsbury. In the meantime, I’ll be posting occasional takes on mortgage madness, housing policy and elusive paths to a saner future.