Akashic Books

Ryan Adams is nothing if not prolific—as a songwriter, drug-taker, rant-maker, blog-hater. So it should come as no surprise that the fella’s publishing a book, or that he’s doing it through Brooklyn’s Akashic Books—the same punky boutique publishers known for pumping out works by Joe Meno, Elizabeth Crane, and Amiri Baraka. Adams’ first literary endeavor is called Infinity Blues, but according to Pitchfork’s report, there’s no word yet on exactly when the book will hit stores or even what the damn thing actually is—poetry? prose? guitar tablature? love letters to Jessica Joffe? Adams’ appropriately titled blog, Foggy, describes it as a “long long sad bookbut some funny too, just like those black and white movies in the heat of the eastern seaboard- rolling through the windows of our home…” Whatever, man.  read more »

The book world jumped a little in its seat last week when HarperCollins C.E.O. Jane Friedman announced that she’d hired Hyperion president Bob Miller to form an “innovative and creative” new publishing unit. It was shocking enough that Ms. Friedman had managed to hire Mr. Miller away from Hyperion after 17 years to run the new shop. But the business model the two of them had in mind?  read more »