Gay Moroccan Poetry Is Not Going To Save Our Publishing Business

Good morning.  Last night, I had dinner with Cyrus Weinstein - President of the Manka Bros. Publishing Group.  He informed me that the publishing business is in danger - books, magazines and newspaper sales are way down.  And it's not just because of the recession - it's a full-scale shift in the way people consume media.  The increase in digital downloads and advertising from online publishing sites (including our own Mankazines and Manka Books websites) are not making up the difference.  The only glimmer of a bright spot was our MC Comics division which we continue to mine for feature film franchises.

As we proceeded to eat our $200 steaks at Cut in Beverly Hills (which I hope Cyrus will not attempt to put through in his expense report!), I asked him what he thought, if anything, could turn things around.  He told me one word... "niche."  He has developed a "long tail" niche publishing strategy that will focus completely on his target audience - people who buy books (i.e., old people, gay people, lonely widows, etc.). 

He punctuated his thought by telling me that Manka Iambic (our Poetry Publishing imprint - who knew?) had just signed gay Moroccan poet Ahmet Ghary Cool to a two book deal worth over $1 million dollars.  His first book for us will be called Awake In My Dreams and will come out this fall.

"How many poetry books by this guy do you expect to sell?", I asked.

As Cyrus drank from his glass of 1982 Mouton-Rothchild, he said... "Two to three thousand in the first year and then a few hundred every year after that - mostly to gay Moroccan college students.  It's not about sales.  It's about prestige.  We'll win awards with that guy and that will drive other authors to our labels."

After a long pause and a couple of shots of Slivovitz, I asked him what else was on the drawing board.

"We have a terrific new cook book coming out called Great Recipes By Unknown Chefs and a user-generated travel book called Best Of The Internet Travel Blogs."

For some reason, I thought I was on some sort of Gotcha/Punk'd television show where the host would come out and Cyrus would say it was all a joke.

But it wasn't a joke.  This is the future of our Publishing Group and it seriously scares the shit out of me. 

Cyrus Weinstein has been a trailblazing executive in the world of publishing for over 40 years but I think his dinosaur bones are starting to show and it may be time to bury him so that future generations can dig him up and say "Oh, so this is what a publishing executive looked like."

But... he has earned my respect over the years and he deserves the shot to make his new strategy work. 

God help us all.

Khan Manka, Jr. - Chairman & CEO - Manka Bros. Studios - The World's Largest Media Company