Remember Snoopy decorating his doghouse for the “spectacular, super-colossal neighborhood Christmas-lights-and-display contest” and Charlie Brown groaning, “oh no—my own dog gone commercial, I can’t stand it”—I felt that. In fact, I was beside myself.

And you know with HAUS RED and our love for process and publishing, we are not even searching for the true meaning of Christmas, whether Snoopy and Woodstock really understand each other, or to make sense of the particular sadistic pleasure of Lucy van Pelt denying Charlie Brown’s foot from ever making contact with that elusive football—though, that, I guess, is neither here nor there. 

What I want to understand is where publishing is going. Because in 2017, Publishers Weekly named the president of Simon & Schuster, Carolyn Reidy, their Person of the Year. PW, while noting the National Book Award winner Jessmyn Ward, does not mention the signing of Milo Yiannopoulos and the subsequent cancellation of that book deal, amidst much outrage. 

As a subsidiary of CBS Corporation, Reidy was appointed by Les Moonves the former executive chairman of CBS (who stepped down in 2018 amidst numerous sexual assault allegations). And when discussing the 2016 Republican primary, Moonves stated, “It may not be good for America, but it’s damn good for CBS. […] The money’s rolling in and this is fun. I’ve never seen anything like this, and this is going to be a very good year for us. Sorry, it’s terrible to say. But, bring it on, Donald.”

In 2018, PW’s person of the year was “the publishers of the bestselling Trump-related books. [They] took this approach to reflect the importance of the role that the Trump administration played in spurring the publication—and sales—of dozens and dozens of books. . . . With so many Trump books flooding the market, we selected the publishers of the five top-selling titles as of mid-November.”

My own dog gone commercial, I just can’t stand it! And so shameless at that—the write-up doesn’t even attempt to recognize the best analysis of the current state of affairs or ones that received substantial critical attention. If you, like me, believe publishers to be not only merchants of culture but also guardians and purveyors of culture, the balance is off and there is a need to step back and reassess.

—Nicholas Grosso

New York
September 2019