Citing the American economy and its own publishing schedule, Time Warner Trade Publishing chairman Larry Kirshbaum acknowledged that TWTP has sputtered recently, but he pledged a rebound. "We had a weak second quarter," Kirshbaum said, responding to an AOL Time Warner press release citing a decline in trade book publishing revenues.

"The economy certainly hurt, but I think it was the fact that most of our big titles seem to fall in the second half." The house has just come out with a new book from James Patterson and in September will release Jack: Straight from the Gut, a memoir from the CEO of General Electric. "For the year we're projecting that we'll be up into double digits," Kirshbaum said.