After the barest of mentions in Thursday’s art section, the NY Times takes serious (if somewhat belated) interest in the publication of the book formerly known as If I Did It, devoting an article in the Sunday style section to the deal Sharlene Martin brokered for the Goldman family with Beaufort Books. The day the deal was announced, Martin praised Beaufort president Eric Kampmann‘s “stellar reputation” in the publishing industry; to the Times, she stressed “his ability to publish quickly and… his ‘extraordinarily generous’ offer, whose terms she refused to disclose.” (Both Martin and Kampmann say that it’s the involvement of the Goldmans that, in Kampmann’s words, “changed the moral landscape” with regard to publishing.”)
Times reporter Mireya Navarro is quick to point out that the book, in which OJ Simpson (or his ghostwriter) describes the murder of his ex-wife and Ron Goldman, “remains an object of revulsion, one that mainstream publishers spurned.” (Martin, on the other hand, says that she got offers, although she wasn’t saying who from.) And Jonathan Karp at Twelve dismissed the book—”about as much commercial appeal as Osama bin Laden’s love sonnets,” he said. That might be the case now, but let’s not forget this thing got pre-ordered all the way into Amazon.com’s top 20 list last winter…back when the mainstreamiest of the mainstream was, if only briefly, fully embracing it.