“Judith Regan is easy to hate,” author Joni Rodgers admits. Nevertheless, she’s sticking up for the embattled editor-publisher because she thinks the way Regan is being treated by HarperCollins is inexcusable: “She’s tied to the whipping post right now because she did something nice girls aren’t supposed to do. She gave people what they wanted. And she did it better than any man in the business.” Dystel & Goderich agent Michael Bourret makes a similar case: “She got it right more than most publishers, and she always seemed to know what the public wanted. Yes, that sometimes meant appealing to the least common denominator, but in this business, our goal is to sell books. And that’s what she did.”
Which is undoubtedly part of the reason Impetus Press co-publisher Jennifer Banash is offering Regan a new job running their small literary imprint in Iowa City. Mind you, Banash’s tongue is practically poking through her cheek as she writes. “You’d have the run of the house,” she exhorts Regan. “Replace ALL the mezzuzah’s with $100 bills! We don’t care… Willy [Blackmore] and I would welcome your blast of creative energy—even if it came with a barrage of screaming and insults. In fact, such talk would wash over us like a cool wind off the Pacific ocean.”