Beast Books

by Lauren

Galleycat reports on the launch of Beast Books from Tina Brown’s Daily Beast, with books that will be longer than articles but shorter than most nonfiction books. One of the common publishing rejections (from us to authors and from editors to us) is: “It’s fascinating, but it's more of a magazine article.” Often, though, the truth is more that the idea falls in between: it requires greater explication than magazine space allows, but there’s not enough to it to support a book. This model could make for a good home for such ideas. It’s an interesting concept, and I’ll be paying attention to how well it works--particularly since my level of personal commitment to well crafted nonfiction on subjects I don’t find naturally interesting is often longer than an article, but shorter than a book.