Field Guide: Leigh Haber

It's always surprised naive little us how easily certifiable krazies seem to thrive in book publishing. Sure, everyone knows about Judith Regan, thanks to Vanessa Grigoriadis, Vanity Fair, gossipy hyperventilating, and a certain hot off the presses roman a clef (not to mention, uh, Judith Regan). But what of publishing's lesser tyrants, snakes, and weirdos? To our mind, they're woefully underreported on (maybe because of lawyers, or some sad bookish omerta). Well, we're here to rectify that, and we're starting with a lady who recently accused us of being "people who have absolutely no inkling who [she is]." She was right, unfortunately: we didn't know nearly enough about the woman who Page Six recently called the new Judith Regan. So we set out to rectify the situation. After the jump, we share our findings with you.

Haber got her start, not in editorial, but in publicity, first at Putnam and then at Harcourt. She segued from booking authors on talk shows to acquiring books at Scribner, where she rose quickly through the ranks despite reported clashes with legendary Scribner E in C Nan Graham, who's known for her, uh, strong opinions. Haber's next move was to Hyperion (where one of us used to work, though not during Haber's tenure there). There, she famously edited Steve Martin — a 2003 profile of Martin in Publishers Weekly has her describing her work with Martin on Pure Drivel as "a wonderful collaboration." (Pure Drivel is a collection of essays, most previously published in the New Yorker). She also acquired Glen David Gold's Carter Beats The Devil, which she described in a 2001 PW article as "a great fit with the publishing house." (With a few notable exceptions, Carter Beats The Devil being one of them, Hyperion has never been known for publishing literary fiction.)

Haber left Hyperion in 2003, in what we'll call, in deference to the previously mentioned lawyers/sad bookish omerta, "mysterious circumstances." She landed next at Rodale, hired there by CEO Steve Murphy, whose acquaintance she'd made when he was a high-ranking executive at Disney publishing, which owns Hyperion. More than one source told us that Haber's hiring as a Rodale editor at large was a surprise ("amazed that anyone hired her again—she'd burned her bridges all across town," one put it) and chalked it up to her longstanding chumminess with Murphy ("she'd always been kissing Steve Murphy's ass.")

The gamble seems to have worked out for all concerned, though. Haber's been on a roll at Rodale, most notably with the success of the book adaptation of Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth, which hit #1 on the Times nonfiction bestseller list. This triumph proved Haber's marketing savvy — the acquisition wasn't initially thought of as particularly smart one, and the book's success had PW's Sara Nelson memorably eating crow. An editorial success? Well, since the book was packaged by Melcher Media, Haber didn't need to do much heavy lifting (which, according to our sources, is the way she prefers it). Still, that bestseller and others prompted Murphy to promote Haber to editiorial director, overseeing her own imprint, Modern Times. Haber's vision, as per PW: "We plan to cultivate the efforts of modern pilgrims, mavens and political, social and cultural observers whose writing, viewpoints and profiles are original, important and promotable." We look forward to following Haber and her promotable pilgrims on their future adventures.

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