Talk Books Stays Vocal

In the wake of Talk magazine's demise, executives at Talk/Miramax Books said they expect their business to continue unchanged. "Our relationship with Miramax is very strong," said publisher Kathy Schneider, who said the press hopes to continue to publish about 20 titles per year.

Some of these titles, she said, would be tied to Miramax projects. Editor-in-chief Jonathan Burnham added that he expects "our parent company will have a certain influence on what we acquire." Tina Brown remains the nominal head of Talk/Miramax Books, although in the long term, Burnham said, "It remains to be seen what her role will be."

In the two years since it was founded, Talk Books has built a list ranging across a variety of fiction and nonfiction territory. The press has signed up such authors as Martin Amis, Christopher Rice, Rudolph Giuliani and a breast cancer victim trapped at the South Pole. (Plans for the former mayor's two books will go on as planned, Burnham said.)

Six Talk Books titles were excerpted in the magazine, but publicity director Hillary Bass said she doesn't expect a drop-off in publicity. "I'm disappointed that I've lost an outlet, but our authors get publicity in a lot of other places," she said.

Agents and other insiders wondered about Brown's future involvement, but said that Talk Books has made good on many of its editorial and publicity promises. "I think they're been very successful," said agent Laura Dail, who sold a first novel, Kathleen DiMarco's Cranberry Queen, to Talk. "They do a good job promoting the books, and Jonathan has a certain cachet. When he buys a book, a lot of people pay attention. They'll be around as long as they want to be around."

Talk, which has approximately 12 employees, will continue to be distributed by AOL Time Warner, with additional operational and consulting support from Hyperion, which is part of the same Disney family as Miramax.