Here’s an odd turn of events. In the midst of two simultaneous collapses–the finanicial system and the mediascape–Newsweek’s lead financial writer, Daniel Gross has found a way to turn both into a benefit.
It’s no secret that last September’s market swoon started a mad rush in publishing to “tell the story.” Even before the late Summer seize up, books had been commissioned that might explain the unprecedented failure of leadership, markets and regulation.
To date, only William Cohan’s book about Bear Stearns has been published. Charlie Gasparino, Andrew Ross Sorkin, Joe Nocera and Roger Lowenstein–accomplished writers and reporters all–are hard at work trying to wrestle the hydra-headed story onto the page. Will they succeed? And when their books are written will they get the publicity that is so essential to starting the sales cycle?
Dan Gross isn’t waiting to find out. He’s already published Dumb Money: How Our Greatest Financial Minds Bankrupted the Nation as an e-book. Now his publisher, The Free Press, has released the 106-page book as a $9.99 paperback. The Washington Post recently covered the innovative publishing strategy:
E-book exclusives — as opposed to e-books published as spinoffs of a printed version — remain rare, because the market is still too small to sustain them. But Gross’s book offers a revealing window on how such exclusives could reshape “p-book” publishing. The decision to bring “Dumb Money” out in paperback, for example, was made only after the e-book’s appeal had been established.
Gross told the Post:
“If I could do something quickly, get out before all the people who are doing doorstoppers,” he thought, “then I will have had my say, got a book out, everyone will have to account for me or ignore me — and I’ll move on.”
Which the Post saw as a smart move:
Besides, he was writing only 30,000 words. He had most of his material in his notebook already, so he could keep his day job. Most important, he could avoid the traditional, tortoiselike book publication schedule — and with it, months of anxiety about “Dumb Money” being overtaken by events.
According to Gross’s publisher, the e-book sold in the thousands, enough to feel they had seeded the market for a paperback edition that is priced lower than the e-book (smart!)
If you’re wondering what Gross has to add to our understanding of the collapse, you can read his Newsweek story:
On Wall Street—and in the culture at large—those who embraced the mentality of the bubble with the most fervor were richly rewarded. In the 1990s, the investment bankers who brought in hot technology IPOs were the new Big Swinging Dicks. In the Dumb Money decade, the more you borrowed to make bets on stocks and bonds, the more capital—social and financial—you acquired. Like real-estate brokers who realized they could make more money flipping condos than collecting commissions, large investment banks decided they would rather be principals than mere agents. Executives who preached caution were ritually shunned. [ . . . ]
Leverage was like an elaborate pulley system that allowed us all—from the humblest consumer to the most exalted private-equity baron—to hoist a mammoth weight. Then, in 2008, the rigging broke. The large weight plummeted, propelled by the twin forces of mass and gravity.
Or you could just go and buy the book.
Sources:
‘Dumb Money’ is Smart Gamble on the Allure of E-Books
by BOB THOMPSON
Washington Post; April 14, 2009
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/13/AR2009041302805.html
Reigning in Bubbles So They Won’t Pop
by DANIEL GROSS
Newsweek; February 28, 2009
http://www.newsweek.com/id/186949
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