Today The Daily Beast launched its publishing line, Beast Books–an experimental step from the blogosphere into the world of publishing.
The series opened with John Avlon’s political book, “Wingnuts: How the Lunatic Fringe is Hijacking America.” According to founder Tina Brown, the imprint will feature a new kind of content: “Beast Books will be longer than conventional long-form magazine articles but shorter than conventional nonfiction books. They will be published digitally and distributed on multiple platforms, and will soon thereafter be available as handy paperbacks.”
Here’s an excerpt from Avlon’s book, a study of political pundit Glenn Beck’s bestseller streak: “In the books, as on air, it’s always a wrestling match between the Good Beck–humorous, self-effacing and calling on a higher power for a sense of purpose–and the Bad Beck, peddling political apocalypse, the opinion equivalent of a horror film: ‘We are a country that is headed towards socialism, totalitarianism, beyond your wildest imagination.’ ‘There is a coup going on. There is a stealing of America … done through the guise of an election.'”