Morning Brief — Tuesday, August 26

There’s been a lot of debate about Katie Holmes’ baggie jeans and whether they belong to Tom.  The latest issue of US Weekly (yes, I read US Weekly) quotes a stylist confirming the jeans do indeed belong to the hubby.  Which brings me to ask: if 5’9″ Katie is wearing 5’6″ Tom’s jeans, why does she need to roll up the cuffs?

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Oscar Villalon of the San Francisco Chronicle has become the latest book editor to depart (as of this Friday).  Publishers Weekly reported yesterday that deputy editor Regan McMahon will likely take over the book section.

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For authors who may be considering blogging but don’t quite know what makes a good blog, here’s some insight about substance and tone from 43 Folders via BusinessWeek Online’s Blogspotting.

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Rebecca from Oxford University Press discusses the different types of medical / health blogs.  Her breakdown will be helpful for those who work on these types of books.

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Yesterday’s Publishers Lunch excerpted a Poets & Writer’s interview by Jofie Ferrari-Adler with literary agent Molly Friedrich.  As a book publicist, I naturally feel compelled to quote this from their exchange:

Q: Did you like doing publicity?
A: In my opinion, the two jobs that are the most exhausting in this business are the jobs of the foreign scout and the publicist. The reason is that there is never an end to the job. If you’re a scout, there is always another book you can cover, another house you can do well by, another report you can write. If you’re a publicist, for every eighty letters you write, and eighty ideas you try, there are seventy-nine that don’t work. But the only ones that the author hears about–and the editor hears about and your boss hears about–are the ones that work. It is a thankless and really difficult job. But I did it.