Paperback Talk

This book draws on Ray Walters' column "Paperback Talk" which ran in the New York Times Book Review from 1939 to 1984. It provides an invaluable account of how the trade is carried on -- by writers, agents, editors, sales and promotion people, wholesalers, distributors and booksellers -- and readers.

An editor of the New York Times Book Review from 1958 until his retirement last year, and author of the weekly "Paperback Talk" column that appeared in the '70s and early '80s, Walters provides here an entertaining, attractive history of the Paperback Revolution. His rarely repetitive, topically organized selections, gathered primarily from his column, introduce the reader to the people in softcover publishing, coherently explain industry business practices and offer a commentary on changing American book tastes. His stories about the writers who have left their impress on this branch of publishing are inspiring: from Frank Herbert, who worked on the first book of his bestselling Dune series "in installments, with long intervals in between to support himself by teaching and quickie writing jobs," to Jacqueline Susann's pioneering efforts at promotion"breakfasting with distributors' deliverymen . . . and pleading with them to see that her books got into the best pockets in the racks." Perhaps Walters's greatest contribution is in conveying Publishers Row as a lively, volatile community that has room for both sharp businesspeople and literary dreamers. November
Copyright 1985 Reed Business Information, Inc.

The author has had a long history in book publishing, first with the Saturday Review and then, from 1958 until his recent retirement, as an editor and col umnist at the New York Times Book Re view. These articles, from Walters's ``Paperback Talk,'' column, feature vi gnettes of blockbuster novelists; facts about notable authors in specific genres such as Westerns, science fiction/fanta sy, and books for children and young adults; and trends in the 1970s and 80s to publish in pop psychology, femi nism, physical fitness, and financial planning. The book's most insightful and timely sections for the lay reader are the final extended essays, ``The Book in Our Times'' and ``The Shape of Things To Come.'' Lucinda Ann Peck, Columbus, Ohio
Copyright 1985 Reed Business Information, Inc.