Well-known journalist Michael Wolff has written snarkily about Random House passing on a new Norman Mailer book, a collection to mark the 2023 centennial of the author’s birth. Wolff claims that the concerns of a junior staffer about Mailer’s essay “The White Negro” are the underlying cause—a claim disputed by other media outlets.
Random House, who is Mailer’s longtime publisher, says a contract was never signed and Mailer was not canceled. Skyhorse, an independent publisher that is becoming well known for picking up controversial authors, will publish the collection. The New York Times has one of Mailer’s sons on the record saying he was disappointed by the decision but doesn’t blame the publisher for passing on a single work.
The AP reports that, according to NPD BookScan, print sales for four of Mailer’s best-known books didn’t even reach 4,000 copies in 2021.
Jane Friedman has spent her entire career working in the publishing industry, with a focus on business reporting and author education. Established in 2015, her newsletter The Bottom Line provides nuanced market intelligence to thousands of authors and industry professionals; in 2023, she was named Publishing Commentator of the Year by Digital Book World.
Jane’s expertise regularly features in major media outlets such as The New York Times, The Atlantic, NPR, The Today Show, Wired, The Guardian, Fox News, and BBC. Her book, The Business of Being a Writer, Second Edition (The University of Chicago Press), is used as a classroom text by many writing and publishing degree programs. She reaches thousands through speaking engagements and workshops at diverse venues worldwide, including NYU’s Advanced Publishing Institute, Frankfurt Book Fair, and numerous MFA programs.
