Biz Journalists To Profit On Panic
For all the bloodletting on Wall Street, the financial services meltdown will probably mean handsome profits for at least some finance hacks. The troubles have to actually end before anyone has a shot at writing a popular book about them, but smart writers and publishers are already hunting. Andrew Ross Sorkin at the Times and Roger Lowenstein of the Wall Street Journal are "considering" writing books, according to the Observer, while Newsweek's Daniel Gross is raring to go with a quickie electronic title he's ready to finish in two months flat. The most leveraged proposal (if you will) comes from Bethany "Enron" McLean of Fortune and Times columnist Joe Nocera, who basically drank until they worked up the nerve to demand a million bucks for their definitive insights:
... over some white wine, the two of them decided that a definitive chronicle of the stunning financial crisis was in order, and that they were the team best equipped to produce it.
“We want to write the big book, and I’m not afraid of saying that,” Mr. Nocera said. “It will be a book for the ages and—I know this is going to sound egomaniacal, but—between our contacts and our reporting skills and our writing skills, I think we’ll be pretty tough to beat.”
Well, at least someone in the financial world still has a little swagger, other than James Cramer.
