Jeremy Lin

When I saw Jason Ashlock take part in a panel on the future of book publishing at the Aspen Summer Words conference a few months ago, I immediately noticed something different about him: He lacked that black cloud of doom floating over his head that many people involved in the book industry tend to cower under these days.

Ashlock, who makes his living as a literary agent and multimedia book packager, was downright chipper even as he discussed the demise of bookstores, book reviews, and the traditional publishing model.

On Thursday afternoon, the Free Library of Philadelphia was ready to go with a Sept. 6 event for Joe Posnanski, the author of Paterno, a forthcoming biography of the famed and vilified football coach. On Friday morning, the books publisher told the library to cross it off the calendar. Theyre holding off on the tour, Andy Kahan, the director of author events for the Free Library, said on Friday, adding that the publisher, Simon & Schuster, had said Mr. Posnanskis work obligations prevented his appearance. Simon & Schuster is backpedaling quickly in the final weeks before the publication of

The recent success of Jeremy Lin has spawned seven insta-books for the Amazon Kindle.

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