Judith Regan, Misunderstood or Consummate PR Player

JanePublishing NewsHarperCollins / Jane-Friedman / Judith-Regan / OJ-Simpson4 Comments

There is a fascinating article at New York Magazine about Judith Regan and how she became to be the fall person for the OJ Simpson debacle. The author, Vanessa Grigoriadis, seems to have some personal connection with Regan and admits to finding her likeable. The article provides interesting backstory to Regan’s career and suggests that the firing of Regan was the result of Jane Friedman finally ridding herself of a profitable but dangerous rival.

During Friedman’s tenure at Harper Collins, HC has shown record profits. Apparently, much of this can be attributed to Judith Regan’s frontlist. 15 of Judith Regan’s titles have been NYT bestsellers and five have been No. 1s.

Other tidbits include the facts surrounding the OJ Simpson book. We know from the contract papers that were part of the Goldman lawsuit that Jane Friedman signed off on the book, but the NY Mag article shows that Rupert Murdoch had signed off on it as well.

Regan, in the article, appears to be sincere in the desire to publish this book for the purposes of obtaining a confession. During the interview that was not aired, OJ Simpson reveals himself to be delusional but maybe even confessing.

He began to cry when he started talking about the murders. She asked about the knife–"he said it was true, he remembered having a knife. She asked if indeed he did forget his wallet and keys in the pants he wore at the crime scene, and he said he remembered that part for sure, too. She asked if he went to her grave, ever. “He said,” says a source, “'I go to her grave and curse her for ruining my life.'”

The article claims that Regan wanted to insert a preface to the book from a forensic psychologist.

She wanted to make it clear that the book was intended to be read with the understanding that these were the ramblings of a psychopath.

Both women, Friedman and Regan, are fascinating individuals and it seems, destined for conflict.

Jane

Jane Litte is the founder of Dear Author, a lawyer, and a lover of pencil skirts. She self publishes NA and contemporaries (and publishes with Berkley and Montlake) and spends her downtime reading romances and writing about them. Her TBR pile is much larger than the one shown in the picture and not as pretty. You can reach Jane by email at jane @ dearauthor dot com

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