To book or not to book, that is the question

From Publishers Weekly:

A Dilemma for Authors: Solidarity or Book Sales?
By Claire Kirch — Publishers Weekly, 1/10/2008 9:08:00 AM

For authors, this week’s return of the Colbert Report and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart is a case of good news/bad news. The good news is that authors once again have a shot at appearing on two of the most effective book publicity outlets on TV. The bad news—especially for the kind of left-leaning nonfiction authors likely to find a receptive audience on these shows—is that they’d have to cross a picket line of fellow writers.

Authors are split on whether to go on the shows, which started airing new shows on Monday without their writers after a two-month hiatus because of the ongoing Writers Guild of America strike. The striking writers have been picketing outside the Comedy Central studios in Manhattan since Nov. 5.

. . .

University presses, which often have a better shot at getting their serious current affairs books on these fake news shows than on other media outlets, may have the most at stake. Melissanne Scheld, director of trade sales at Cambridge Univ. Press, said Karen Greenberg, author of The Torture Papers, had her appearance on Colbert cancelled in November when the strike was just starting. Now that the show is back, she said decisions about sending an author across the picket line would be made on a “case-by-case basis.” Another university press publicist, who asked not to be named, said he has booked authors on The Daily Show and Colbert this spring. “We’ll have to play it by ear,” he said, “People are concerned. They don’t want to be seen as strikebreakers, crossing the picket line. After all, they’re professional writers, too. But, then, it’s every writer’s dream to appear on Colbert or The Daily Show. People aren’t sure what to do.”

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Full text of article here

Yet another reason for me to be utterly disgusted by the AMPTP right now. Not only are they keeping writers from their well-deserved pay, they’re ticking off the book nerd in me. NOT COOL, greedy moguls!