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BEA 2007 Parties: Grand Central (Galley Cat and Morrow to follow)
June 1, 2007

Last night at the Grand Central party at Charlie Trotter's Metrazur in Grand Central Station (thank you for a lovely evening and delicious Cosmopolitans, more in a moment), one of my colleagues whom I have not seen in a while said "I love your blog! But why aren't you snarkier? You have a reputation to maintain!" She was referring to my first blog on AOL... while I can't claim to be the snarkiest blogger in publishing (whom I met last night, and no, you shall not pry her identity from me with any manner of galleys, swag, or delicious lunches), I thought, well, I'm just feeling out the new territory, here. I'll be back in full form within a month or two.

Meanwhile, Grand Central Publishing was, of course, celebrating its new name and look -- Warner Books no more, the imprint of Hachette Book Group USA has revamped. Publisher Jamie Raab was greeting guests and talking to authors including the nicest guy in America, Brad Meltzer. Brad is working on a new book right now, and as soon as he gives me some more deets about it, I'll let you know. We also talked a bit more about his Justice League comic books, and how cool it is that so many successful authors (like him), including Jodi Picoult and Denise Mina, are also coming out with comic series.

After one "Centralpolitan," I was ready to greet guests, too -- so I spent some time chatting with Karen Murgolo, the publisher of Springboard Press, about why Grand Central Publishing is just right as a moniker for Raab's imprint: "Grand Central is such an icon, and it's also a symbol of how much New York and its media industries depend on people arriving and departing to make things vital," said Murgolo. My colleague Kelly Leonard, the Executive Director for Online Marketing at Hachette, made sure to get me her card with the new address for the group, right around the corner from Grand Central Station itself.

Be sure to check out Karen Holt's blog, "The Morning After," for more BEA party news and views. She had a lot of fun last night... or did she?

Posted by Bethanne Patrick on June 1, 2007 | Comments (0)