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Today in publishing and literature: a rare book thief is sentenced, a look at the decline of the short novel, and Philp K. Dick's estate drops a lawsuit.
Richard Abate, the literary agent tasked with getting New York Knicks point guard Jeremy Lin a book deal, tells Forbes' Jeff Bercovici, that Lin's representatives have put the project on hold. Per Abate, it's a temporary delay, so the Lin camp can give the project "the thoughtful consideration it deserves," and also presumably assemble a top-notch proposal to increase the size of their client's advance, Last week, publishing industry insiders told Bercovici that Lin was positioned to secure an advance of "at least $500,000" for the memoir, a figure that "could climb into seven figures given a strong proposal." So waiting would make some sense. [Forbes]
Historian Douglas Brinkley is taking heat for his New York Times review of Jodi Kantor's The Obamas in which he characterized the book as "chick nonfiction" because it's "about marriage, or at least one marriage, and a notably successful one.” Interestingly, people are less stirred up about the "chick nonfiction" remark than they are by Brinkley's suggestion a politician's relationship with spouse has little impact on their politics. "[A]nyone who thinks politics is not about relationships is hard to take seriously on the subject," notes Washington Post politics writer Melinda Henneberger. Jezebel's Anna North makes a similar point: "if their relationships affects all of us, why is a book about it just for chicks?" [The New York Times]