Book Publishing moves West?

New York Times reported a few weeks back: “Judith Regan, whose ReganBooks imprint has produced string of celebrity-driven and highly profitable best sellers, says she is moving her publishing and media group to Los Angeles by end of year to spend more time on television and film projects; ReganBooks, part of HarperCollins, would be one of few major book imprints to be based outside Manhattan and one of first to leave New York for West Coast; move could shake up industry that has long operated in parochial, Manhattan-centric fashion, even as technology has made location of company less important; Regan was first publisher to seize potential of popular radio personalities like Rush Limbaugh and Howard Stern, professional wrestlers like Mick Foley, and interest in pornographic film stars like Jenna Jameson; all their books were big best sellers; she says she intends to continue publishing 100 books a year, while expanding her television and film efforts.”

Looks like there is more stir in the Book Publishing world, besides my earlier article on Peter Redford’s Browse experiment. Check out vidlit which Barb Rybka tipped me on – yet another experiment on how people foresee the evolution of books into some sort of a democratic new media publishing. There is a little flash clip about freedom from the power of the editors in mainstream media.

It also looks like there is an ensuing marriage of technology and content creation in which the wild west of the United States will need to tie a knot with the old-school New York-centric power structure and challenge its authority!