I don’t fault publishing companies for chasing money. After all, what else is there in life? HarperCollins, amid restructuring and layoffs and a faltering economy, has announced a new imprint uncreatively titled “It Books.” This imprint will focus on celebrities and pop culture and internet fads, and include books by such literary heavyweights as comedienne Lisa Lampanelli and porn star Jenna Jameson. When asked by the New York Times about this move by HarperCollins, “It Books” publisher Carrie Kania had this to say:

“It’s a response to the economic times in many ways,” she said in an interview. “It’s escapism and fun. We want to publish books that people want to buy and read. As people turn to movies and television, we want them to turn to books as well, and this seems like a perfect fit for them.”

Ah yes, the great storytelling skills of Lisa Lampanelli and her humor about how many black guys she’s slept with is going to warm me during these cold economic times. For those of you who don’t know who Lampanelli is, she’s the fat white lady on all those Comedy Central roasts and, if you’re not aware, is known for sleeping with black gentlemen. No, she’s not famous but she does like to sleep with black dudes. She’s an unfunny comedienne who never made it big but has been in the business so long that she, and a bunch of other C-list comedians, were given a show where they get to roast some B-list celebrity. Lisa Lampanelli sleeps with black men.

You don’t have to buy the book now. I just told you everything in it.

While HarperCollins does infuriate me because it’s becoming so lowest-common-denominator, I always squint my eyes as much as they’ll go to see the silver lining. The silver lining here being that the publishing industry is most certainly going the way of the record industry. That is, the big dogs have devolved to the point where they mostly produce pop sludge to sell to the celebrity-obsessed heathens and this paves for the way for independent labels to pick up the talent and put out the worthwhile stuff that will stand the test of time. Does anybody think “How to Make Love Like a Porn Star,” a memoir by Jenna Jameson, is going to be around in 100 years? No. Nobody does. In 100 years we’ll all be having virtual sex like in Demolition Man. But for now, a passionless sad nymphomaniac is a fine example of how we should all behave so let’s put her sex book out.

The publishing industry is just pathetic.

To read the article in the New York Times, click here. If you don’t have a New York Times account and don’t want one, check out BugMeNot.

Extended reading: here is another New York Times article about how HarperCollins is cutting author advances and other profit sharing with authors because they’re not making enough money. Of course, HarperCollins deserves all the money because they did all the work, right? Seriously, it is time for the independent publishers to rise.

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Tags: bugmenot, carrie kania, demolition man, harpercollins, internet, jenna jameson, lisa lampanelli, new york times, pop culture, publishing