Melville House Books

Rumor has it that a long, thoughtful posting at the popular TomDispatch website run by former conglomerate publisher Tom Englehart (an editor at Pantheon, then Metropolitan) — a piece that looks critically at the firings of “Black Wednesday” and their aftermath — was inspired by the layoff of Scribner’s editor Colin Robinson, formerly the head of prominent indies Verso and The New Press: “His fault, the sap, was doing good books. The sort of books that might actually make a modest difference in the universe, but will be read by no less modest audiences — too modest for flailing, failing publishing conglomerates. If you were talking in terms of cars, his books would have been the equivalent of those tiny “smart cars” you see in increasing numbers, tucked into previously nonexistent parking spots on city streets, rather than the SUVs and pick-ups of the Big Three. It may be part of the future, but who cares? Not now — and too bad for him.”

Dennis Johnson is the founder of MobyLives, and the co-founder and co-publisher of Melville House.